Bought/Thought for 1/23/08

[JTStarkiller]

Nobody picked up Superman Confidential? Long wait sucked, and I completely forgot what happened in the first five parts, but a great final scene.

 

[GNR]

I never liked Bishop anyway.

The panel of Cap kicking his head into the ground in CW was the best thing ever.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Nobody picked up Superman Confidential? Long wait sucked, and I completely forgot what happened in the first five parts, but a great final scene.

Yeah, I usually don't pick up comics that have been delayed for over a month. If the publisher can't bother to get it out within a month of its scheduled release date, I can't be bothered to give them my money for it.

X-Men #207
Solid issue, but an anticlimactic ending to the Messiah Complex crossover. I mean, really, Professor X gets shot? Wow. I'm. So. Shocked. It's not like he's been presumed dead like 3 or 4 times already or anything. But at least Marvel's making no bones about the fact that he'll be back, judging by that X-Men Legacy description. Anyway, the rest of the crossover's threads don't get much closure either: the X-Men beat the Marauders, as we expected; X-Force beats Predator X, as we expected; Cable gives Scott the baby after a little speechifying from Professor X, then Scott gives her right back to Cable, which sets up Cable's new book nicely but made me roll my eyes as a conclusion to this whole crossover she started; mutantkind is still on the verge of extinction; Bishop's now evil, but he sucked anyway so no one really cares; Rogue's angsty and Gambit's inevitably going to chase after her, as always. That's pretty low-key stuff for such an intense crossover. I suppose it was a necessary evil, though, since this is a crossover of ongoing comics which must necessarily lack any sort of real closure on everything. I still can't help feeling writers of Carey, Brubaker, et al.'s calibre couldn't come up with something more impressive for the big finale than this, though. Oh well, onto the new X-Men comics next month.

X-Men First Class #8
Good stuff. I was confused about Curt Conners' having two arms, but I guess one of them might've been a prosthetic? Or something? Anyway, the team meets Man-Thing and goes on a charming jaunt through some alternate futures--and by charming, of course, I mean horrific. One future sees Jean go Dark Phoenixy again and kills everyone, and another sees Iceman evolve into a new frost giant and Thor in the process of stomping his ass while yelling about how he warned Bobby (which he did, back in the original X-Men First Class mini-series). Professor X explains that Man-Thing and the Nexus of All Realities are empathic--the kids were afraid when they went through the Nexus, so they wound up in futures that would terrify them. Kind of a cool take that extends Man-Thing's empath powers to the Nexus itself (I don't know if that's how it's always been, since my experience with Man-Thing is limited). The art was by Eric Nguyen and, while it wasn't terrible, it was muddled and kind of boring at times. It looked like it would be better suited to a dream sequence than actual events.

 

[PhotoJones]

Guess Messiah Complex doesn't look so great now, huh?

It was decent up until the last chapter. And for as bad as the last chapter was, I like what it set up for future stories.

 

[yenaled]

I bet him getting shot is a way to make him a cripple again.

 

[PhotoJones]

I bet him getting shot is a way to make him a cripple again.

He shot shot in the head, dude.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Haha, yeah, he got hit right in the part of the brain that controls the motor functions of his legs by some fantastic coincidence.

 

[PhotoJones]

Karma's a *****.

 

[yenaled]

He happened to get shot right in the bit of the brain that controls motorneurone functions! That can make your legs stop working.

--

Edit: Corp knows!

 

[PhotoJones]

Or he just got shot in the head and his brains splattered all over the floor. And then his body disappeared.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, I don't understand if that was intentional or Bachalo just forgot to draw him.

 

[PhotoJones]

Maybe Bachalo gets payed on a per character basis and Marvel was holding out on him.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

At that scale, I imagine he would only have gotten paid like a quarter for one figure anyway.

 

[PhotoJones]

He draws a kickass Cable.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yes. My only problem with Bachalo at the moment is that if he's drawing bulky characters like Cable, Wolverine, or Colossus, he sometimes tends to make them look like over-inflated blow-up dolls.

 

[PhotoJones]

Well, to be fair, most of the time he was drawing these characters, he was drawing them in pulled back, wide shot panels. There wasn't a lot of room for closeups in this story.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

True.

 

[PhotoJones]

The art was by Eric Nguyen and, while it wasn't terrible, it was muddled and kind of boring at times. It looked like it would be better suited to a dream sequence than actual events.

I thought he was just doing the covers?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

He drew the whole issue this time.

 

[PhotoJones]

Huh. His art in Strange Girl was off-the-wall awesome.

 

[Doc Destruction]

So anyone else think the baby is Jean?

 

[PhotoJones]

I think we're supposed to think that.

 

[Doc Destruction]

Yeah I bet you right, mang.

 

[PhotoJones]

Carey mentioned some stuff about using misdirection in regards to the baby's identity.

 

[yenaled]

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #5

I was scared that this series wasn't living up to the original mini.

But slowly things have been getting more and more interesting though insect seem to be a really popular thing in DC right now (Red Bee here, OhNo! Bees in Amazons Attack, Belthera in Countdown and Lana Lang Insect Queen in Superman) it is working best in this and Red Bee is a rather scary and complex villain, we finally get to see origins of Human Bomb, I don't believe Joan is gone her powers can explain away that. Have to mention that the art is really good I was upset when Acuna wasn't on the title but Arlem has been a great replacement - I also love how Jimmy & Justin seem almost passively able to create new government sponcered characters - just to get killed in violent ways later.

Plus Happy Terrill and NEON THE UNKNOWN! (sporting a very, very different look to his Golden Age apperance) I had a geekgasm on the train home while reading this.

Simply can't wait for the next issue.