We kick off Feb. with a rather modest week's worth of comics, but that isn't a complaint. I liked everything I got, more or less.
The only thing that raised my eyebrow was the inserts that Marvel has to promote the YOUNG X-MEN, which apparently are a team of teenage mutants that Cyclops is specifically training...to be killers. Yeesh. And you thought the Initiative was hardcore. It seems off to me, and if the X-World really is that bleak, then I am not sure how this isn't the 90's all over again. Mark Millar also gives an interview about his FF run, which starts this month, and actually mentioned he will be using Claremont's Alyssa Moy character, rather than go the usual approach of making a character exactly like another, but is HIS (called "The Bendis Method"). Plus, his UFF run was the best title had and is underrated. Against my better judgment (Millar is often more about shocks than stories, least in 616), I may stick on FF to give it a try.
But, that's just musings on directions; now for the actual thoughts on issues. Spoilers ahoy.
Oh, and Happy Ash Wednesday to those who practice. I don't.
Dread's BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 2/6/08:
DETECTIVE COMICS #841: The end of the Ra's crossover brings me back for more one-shot Dini goodness, and he doesn't disappoint. There may be some who merely claim that most of his run is merely a PG-13 version of his cartoon series. To that I say, SO!? In some ways it is better as it does use minor subplots (like the Riddler on occasion, or some of the goons who turn up here). The Mad Hatter is plaguing Gotham with a new Wonderland Gang, this time made up of top-notch professional thugs capable of giving Batman a fair challenge (at least for a panel or two). Some things about Hatter's pattern fit, but others feel off, as it something is off with his hat. The mystery is simple yet effective and Nguyen provides some great art. The only quibble was sometimes Kalisz's colors made Batman and the Batmobile look purple, but only in about 1-2 panels. But that's just a smidge on yet another solid story from Dini on Batman. This is the low-key run compared to the bigger dog Morrison on BATMAN, but it is a far better one. Solid, easy to follow Batman stories. Just skip the crossovers and fill-in's. Perfect for a Marvel Zombie who only occasionally peeks at the DCU like me. Or Batman fans in general who like mysteries with their Bat-fu.
ANNIHILATION CONQUEST #4: The issue is titled, "HOPELESS", and it almost doesn't get bleaker than that about the state of the battle this issue. Things continue to go from bad to worse for our heroes, perhaps showing that Ultron's best move was getting rid of Nova so he couldn't tear HIM inside out, too. Because without him, the odds seem the bleakest yet. Of course, that sets up a climax very well, so that is cool. All past comics with silver boobies are forgotten as Ultron is another rogue that Annihilation has dusted off and allowed readers to be reminded of how hardcore he is, or can be. Ultron is using the Phalanx as his latest ore in his war against organic life, which started when Pym built him as an angry looking bucket, and naturally once he finishes off the rest of Kree space, the Earth is next. Yeah, I would be pissed if I spent about a year as a nekkid woman professing love for humanity and being punched out by Sentry, too. Peter Quill feeds the Phalanx a lie to keep them from assimilating him, but Ultron doesn't buy it and tries to break down his mind with his Encephalo-Ray (say that 3 times fast), and not even the psychic aid of Mantis can help Peter for long, as she and Bug are discovered. Rocket and Groot (who FINALLY manages to say a second line) go off to set up a Plan B. Phyla is sobbing about the murder of Moondragon and the loss of her Quantum Band's power, and literally needs WARLOCK to get her to stop angsting. That's pretty bad. Granted, the ever-evolving Warlock is starting to regrow a pair, especially after landing on Hala and "feeling" all the souls of the dead (but being unable to channel them properly without his Soul Gem. Thanks, Mr. Fantastic! I swear, between this, once accidentally blowing up a star and saving Galactus, he's done more harm to the universe than Jean Grey ever did, and where and the Shi'ar and their combat trials?
) Still, Warlock gets in a line I am proud of:
"A joke? Yes, maybe you are! Perhaps you'd like to blame yourself for Moondragon's death while you're at it! What manner of heroes has this new generation bred? Your whining disgraces the PROUD legacy of Mar-Vell! Can't you smell it? It's all around us. Death, misery, destruction. There's a world to save, Phyla. An empire. BILLIONS of souls. But it's all about poor little you, isn't it!?"
That was awesome, and it worked, Phyla got it together, and started looking at Warlock as if she might actually be bi. Hey, lines like that helped Nova rise up, you never know. About time someone besides Peter and Ronan got some cajones. Unfortunately, they walk right into a trap set up by High Evolutionary, who'd made a deal with the Phalanx. Oh, right, and Ra-Venn talks again, and Ronan's big secret cache is 15,000 Sentry robots that via Wraith and Prax are immune to assimilation. Eh, not quite as bad ass as, a suped up hammer or something, but it is practical at least. I still get the feeling that DnA are hardly taken with Wraith and he really is only there for his power (Prax may be too, but she wasn't the star of a mini like Wraith was), which makes him seem more plot conviant than a character unto himself. AC is still a well drawn thrill-ride with defined heroes and one bad-ass villain, and while not quite capturing the "thunder in a bottle" of the Giffen work on the prior event, it still is very thrilling for me, and is among Marvel's better "events". Part of me secretly wishes Ultron actually COULD invade the Earth and basically go, "**** Skrulls, THIS is what a real invasion is!" but that would put him in the hands of others and that wouldn't be as hot. I wonder if any space types will hold Pym responsible for now having constructed a universe threatening being. I could imagine the Kree being irked. Anyway, there isn't a whole lot to say. Still a great story to read, and I actually started liking Warlock a little this issue, which is a plus. And hey, maybe Rocket Raccoon really will save the day at the end.
MOON KNIGHT #15: Benson & Texeira may have an arc to try to right MK's ship as the sales are starting to sag, but part of me doubts they can save the book in the long run. Hey, maybe 18-24 issues of Moon Knight is about the best one could hope for these days. After some growing apathy last issue, this one is better. Moon Knight finishes his mauling of Killer Shrike and Tony Stark seems to FINALLY get wind of what a manic Marc is and about to do something about it. Black Spectre is released from jail and becomes inspired to go be a super-villain again. Jean-Paul argues with his boyfriend over being Marc's trainer after he "accidentally" gets a bloody nose. And Marlene tries to engage in a "FWB" sort of relationship, but is further weirded out by Specter's Khonshu stuff; he even starts to wear Bushmaster's severed face (kind of like one of the Mr. Fear's). Moon Knight really is bat-****-insane. Texeira's art is good as usual. I still like this book enough to stay on, but when it eventually gets cut, I probably won't miss it too much. Need some dose of dark heroism, after all.
THE TWELVE #2: Continuing from JMS & Weston's breakout first issue finds our WWII heroes struggling to cope in the world of 2008, either because of new technology, new accepted opinions on race relations, ties to old masters, or dead family members. The issue does a good job of embellishing about half the team and naturally more will probably be established as we go along. Blue Blade, who is murdered months into the future, was only a hero for the glory, and sees their situation as a goldmine for that. Captain Wonder was an ol' American boy who is devastated that his entire family is gone, and he collapses in a touching scene at the family plot. Black Widow still has a demonic master to serve, who has not forgotten their "deal" and apparently owns her soul in exchange for power (and for her bringing him the souls of the wicked). I am curious as to who this demon, who was once called "Satan" as many of Marvel's demons are, is. Naturally, because this is JMS, the first suspect is Mephisto. But it could be any number of demons (Marduk Kurios was the one who often went by "Satan" and was naturally the father of the Defenders mainstay, Hellstorm, and mucked with Hellcat to boot), or maybe a new one. Rockman still is yearning for his underground kingdom, but no one can prove whether it really exists, either now or in the 40's. And Dynamic Man is energetic, brash, bold, and eager to get back into the hero game, regardless of still being ignorant about things (and more than willing to gloat about being superhuman to a "tourist" like Phantom Reporter). Basically, Dynamic Man is a bit of a jerkwad, albeit a well intentioned one. The robot Electro is brought in for storage, but who knows what will be done with it. While the fanboy in some of us would like some crossovers with other characters that survived WWII with this troupe, but there is always time for that. I like the sort of world and story JMS is writing here and Weston's art fits things very well. After allowing their Golden Agers to languish a bit, Marvel's starting to invest in them and is digging up some gold so far. Comparing it to WATCHMEN is a bit unfair at this stage (like no one is ever allowed to write superhero stories that have mature themes, character development and a murder mystery without being called a Moore-imitator) and besides, shouldn't everyone try this hard? So far between this and THOR, JMS leaving ASM has been the best thing for him. I like the feel and tone of the book, the pace is alright, the art is good, and I like the direction so far. Nothing negative quite yet, or at least nothing that hopefully won't be looked into within the next 10 issues. JMS claimed on Newsarama that by the time the first issue printed, he was "handing in the script for issue #7", so hopefully a lead-in of about 6 months keeps everything running smoothly. That is, hopefully Weston isn't Cho or Hitch. Can't wait for more, which is as it should be.
WHAT IF? - SPIDER-MAN VS. WOLVERINE #1: This technically came out last week, but I bought it this one. In a way it seems like an odd purchase. I have only read a handful, literally, of the original volume of WHAT IF stories that were published over 20 or so years. I haven't touched any of the ones Marvel has spat out as one-shots over the past few years. Plus, the timing of this seems odd. The latest WHAT IF one-shots are based around recent events; HOM, CIVIL WAR, ANNIHILATION, that sort of thing. This one is based on a pre-marriage one-shot from 1987, written by the writer who would rename himself Christopher Priest. It was reprinted in 1990, which was the version I first read via a friend's copy when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, but nothing since. The story was a then-current thriller about KGB stuff which now is outdated. It begs the question, "why now?" aside for maybe having a product on the shelf for a week that had Spider-Man & Wolverine in it. Still, a few things brought me to it. One, a positive review I read online somewhere. Secondly, that dynamic cover by John Romita Jr. Thirdly, that Jeff Parker co-wrote it, and I usually enjoy his work (AGENTS OF ATLAS, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, and 'Ringo's last work, SPIDER-MAN & THE FANTASTIC FOUR from last year). And finally, as a kid I thought that story was cool because it had my two favorite Marvel heroes slugging it out. I wouldn't understand the full darkness of the story, "High Tide" until I would reread it later on as an adult. That story is recapped in the first two pages. It was essentially Spider-Man stumbling into a dark, morally ambiguous Wolverine story and feeling completely out of his element, and agast about all the death around him. Despite the fact that the original one-shot had Spider-Man literally kill a woman, albeit by accident (she committed "suicide by Spidey", literally), the only lasting effect from the story was the ASM retcon that Ned Leeds was the Hobgoblin, or one of them, and he was murdered by agents of the Foreigner hired by Jack O'Lantern. Apparently the one-shot killed Leeds before ASM had the chance to weave him into the then-dragging Hobgoblin story, so it created issues. Anyway, this WHAT IF tale essentially asks the question, "Instead of going home, what if Spider-Man stuck around Berlin & Wolverine to save the sister of the woman he accidentally killed?" Basically, instead of fleeing to the comforts of home to avoid the bleak hero stuff, if his sense of responsibility led him to embrace it from that point. I'm sure there have been no end of "dark Spider-Man" stories done, and maybe child nolstalgia for the original story clouded my judgment (although I recall WIZARD once deeming "High Tide" one of their Top 10 Spidey stories), but I liked this. Partly because it avoided the WHAT IF cliche of having the "change" made to the established story leading to the death or otherwise misery of the character involved. Turning to the world of black ops alongside Wolverine, the trainer Nebo, and Alex, the sister of Charlemagne, DIDN'T result in Spider-Man's death or even misery. He gets trained, he adjusts to the world and while there is a sense of the loss of his innocence, he gets the girl in the end and turns out rather well. An extra tidbit that I liked was the Soviets cranking out then-current agents like Crimson Dynamo (I think Model 5) and Bora to fight Spidey & Wolverine. Wolverine, for his part, gets to wear his fantastic brown suit and doesn't hog the story; this is a Spidey story with Logan in it, not the other way around. He also apparently grew to appreciate the "jokes", and Spider-Man's "spider-sense" was honed into a very strong ESP, which makes sense considering Peter in normal 616 has literally had prophetic dreams on occasion. The one bit I didn't like from the writers (Paul Tobin wrote alongside Jeff Parker) was Black Widow claiming Alex looked like Gwen Stacy, and thus that was why Peter fell for her. It irked me somewhat because Peter has dated quite a few women besides Gwen and MJ who didn't look at all alike. There was Betty Brant, Felicia Hardy, Cissy Ironwood, and even Debra Whitman, and those were before "High Tide". About the only common detail is that most of those gals are blonds, who classically have more fun. The oversimplification of Peter's love history that is perpetuated annoys me sometimes, although it could have been a case of Black Widow speaking an opinion that was inaccurate, or something. Granted, it was a minor quibble. Clayton Henry does solid work for the story, and I kind of liked his "black ops Spidey" redesign, if only for a one-shot. Sometimes you can't help what you liked, and I liked this. Call it a guilty pleasure. At least I won't have to worry about Marvel getting this alternate Spidey, along with a bunch of others, and having them fight in a mini called ARENA.
D
Head!) and the bad 
Jia!) and, well, now it's done. I highly doubt that anyone is going to have as good a handle on the quirkiness and the fun of Ryan Choi than his creator did.
