Bought/Thought for 10/10/07: HEAVIEST OF SPOILER ALERTS!!

[PhotoJones]

Or don't think it's funny, or is supposed to be funny, or was marketed as being a "humor book".

Who cares how books are marketed? It's pretty obvious while reading it and interviews with Fraction that it's his intention to make Frank's adventures absurdly funny.

 

[Not Jake]

It's a humor book. I don't understand how people could hate unless they have no sense of humor.

people hated Nextwave

 

[PhotoJones]

Now THAT's understandable.

 

[Darthphere]

Who cares how books are marketed? It's pretty obvious while reading it and interviews with Fraction that it's his intention to make Frank's adventures absurdly funny.

People do? I mean, if someone tells me, "Punisher War Journal marks the return of The Punisher to the Marvel Universe as he faces down some of your favorite Marvel villains!" and ends up being "Punisher War Journal follows the cooky and zany antics of your favorite gun toting vigilante as he goes over the top killing villains in this hilarious book!" Um yeah, some people will be disappointed.

people hated Nextwave

And rightfully so.

 

[PhotoJones]

People do? I mean, if someone tells me, "Punisher War Journal marks the return of The Punisher to the Marvel Universe as he faces down some of your favorite Marvel villains!" and ends up being "Punisher War Journal follows the cooky and zany antics of your favorite gun toting vigilante as he goes over the top killing villains in this hilarious book!" Um yeah, some people will be disappointed.

How can "zany antics" and "gun toting vigilante" in the same book be disappointing?

 

[Darthphere]

How can "zany antics" and "gun toting vigilante" in the same book be disappointing?

Easily. Punisher War Journal proves it can be done.

 

[PhotoJones]

Nah, it just proves you have no taste.

 

[Darthphere]

Sticks and stones.

 

[Not Jake]

it would be sweet if punisher beat someone to death with those

 

[PhotoJones]

I'm sure he has. He dismembered an alien bug with the bug's own arm which was clutching a sword.

 

[SouLeSS]

How can "zany antics" and "gun toting vigilante" in the same book be disappointing?

One "Deadpool" is enough.

 

[PhotoJones]

One "Deadpool" is enough.

The difference, is that Deadpool is zany. Frank's not.

 

[venom892]

I don't know I tried war journal and didn't feel like the punisher to me.Also Garth Ennis's Punisher has basically made the character what it always should have been and war journal pales in comparison to Max.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Thoughts:

Stormwatch PHD #12: In this issue, Stormwatch PHD are after the cop killer, The Walking Ghost, and it's personal. Also, it's the final issue of the best series in the Worldstorm titles. Wildstorm's Worldstorm started out big, and has pretty much whimpered along. Worldstorm and The Authority only has had two issues come out, Gen 13 is beyond bad, Deathblow and Wetworks are only passable, and Midnighter is now the best title after this one bows out. This issue ties up the series in a way most series enders tend to do: It all seems rushed, the characters and personal situations are wrapped up too quickly and easily compared to what's gone on before, and while still enjoyable, it cannot compare to past issues. I'll miss this book; but, they will be back for at least one issue with Stormwatch PHD: Armaggedon in December. 8/10

Graveslinger #1: Decent first issue; kind of a cross between Jonah Hex and Walking Dead. The Graveslinger is Frank Timmons, a man who tracks escape prisoners; except, these prisoners are already dead. While I'm tired of all the Zombie comics, I love westerns; and these Zombies aren't just braindead eaters of living flesh. They have some brains and can still talk. The art is pretty bad, but the writing is better than some of the Shadowline titles I've read in the past. 8/10

Hiding In Time #3: Another Shadowline title. This is the final issue of the time traveling saga involving the witness protection program, where the government sends state's witnesses back in time. This all action issue wraps up the story with the final witness being targeted by elimination. Not the best story, but the premise is kind of interesting. It's all just very predictable. 6/10

The Clockwork Girl #1: This Arcana title is definitely worth picking up, especially considering the first issue is only 99 cents. As the opening page says, "A nameless robot girl has recently been given the gift of life from her creator, while exploring the wonders of an ordinary world she meets an amazing mutant boy and they share a friendship that must overcome their warring familes." The art is drawn in a cartoonish fashion, and it works well with the material. The warring families are two scientists, one who works with technology and the other with nature, who compete in the fairs as to who builds the better prize. Very cute comic, and everything about it lends itself beautifully to the story. 9/10

First Born #2: This Witchblade and The Darkness tie-in continues as the original Witchblade, Sara, discovers that Jackie is the father of her baby in some attempt by the Darkness to produce a pawn powerful enough to finally eradicate the Angelus. The title is absolutely beautifully drawn; the art is just fantastic. The problem is that it has no life to it. The various panels don't flow well, the characters tend to pose more than actually relay a story, and the story is pretty simplistic and not worthy of all the verbage within the pages. I haven't ever read a Witchblade or The Darkness comic before this series (unless it was a tie-in with Marvel), and this miniseries doesn't make me want to start, either. 3/10

The Deadlander #1: Another Zombie Western, but this time the Zombie is the anti-hero. In this first issue, a downright evil gent called The Cobra is searching for The Deadlander, killing anyone who gets in his way. By the time you get to the end of the first part, many questions still remain, like who is The Deadlander and how did he come into being an undead gunfighter living his undead life as a zombie; but, the story captures the reader's interest for them to be waiting for the following issue. The art blends itself beautifully with the story, reminding me of classic Tales From The Crypt stories of the past. Plus, it's not a quick read, like with many comics today. (There is even some decent humor in the story.) 9/10

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Damn it, I knew Clockwork Girl was gonna be awesome. My shop didn't order any so I had to special-order it and now I've gotta wait another week or two to get it.

This week's Runaways wasn't terrible. The characters still don't have much of their familiar personalities under Whedon, but the rest of the stuff makes up for it. The redhead, Spieler, is ****ing awesome. I'm so hoping she and that little girl from Bern who's married to a man at least three times her age go back to the future with the Runaways and join the team. Vic and Spieler are great together.

 

[PhotoJones]

Graveslinger #1: Decent first issue; kind of a cross between Jonah Hex and Walking Dead. The Graveslinger is Frank Timmons, a man who tracks escape prisoners; except, these prisoners are already dead. While I'm tired of all the Zombie comics, I love westerns; and these Zombies aren't just braindead eaters of living flesh. They have some brains and can still talk. The art is pretty bad, but the writing is better than some of the Shadowline titles I've read in the past. 8/10

My shop didn't order that, even after I told them to weeks ago. It was in stock, so hopefully it'll ship next week. I was really looking forward to it. You say the art's bad, but I thought it looked pretty cool judging by the preview images.

The Clockwork Girl #1: This Arcana title is definitely worth picking up, especially considering the first issue is only 99 cents. As the opening page says, "A nameless robot girl has recently been given the gift of life from her creator, while exploring the wonders of an ordinary world she meets an amazing mutant boy and they share a friendship that must overcome their warring familes." The art is drawn in a cartoonish fashion, and it works well with the material. The warring families are two scientists, one who works with technology and the other with nature, who compete in the fairs as to who builds the better prize. Very cute comic, and everything about it lends itself beautifully to the story. 9/10

I did pick this up, but I haven't read it yet. The premise sounded cute.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The cover of Graveslinger looked good. I don't know if the cover artist is the interior artist, though. I haven't gotten to it yet.

 

[PhotoJones]

Yeah, the trade dress for Graveslinger looked pretty awesome.

 

[Phaedrus45]

More Thoughts:

WWH-Frontline #5: There are so many things about World War Hulk that is so sub-par; and Frontline is one of those glaring examples. What was so right with Civil War's Frontline fails miserably with World War Hulk. First, while we've been following the life of Sally Floyd since the events of House Of M, her backslide within these pages just ring false. (And, really, Marvel just seems to want to depict their female leads as ****es nowadays. It started (in my mind) with Alias, and it seems to be leaking into other comics now. Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Jessica Jones, Sally Floyd...heck, they even have turned Julie Power into a lesbian recently with The Loners...they seem to want to focus just as much on the sexual side of females as with anything else.) Second, this World War is so much not a World War, that all the action has been relegated to Manhattan. Third, the events in World War Hulk is so limited in its timeframe that Frontline has to focus its attention on the circulation war between the Daily Bugle and Front Line, so much that even the television is reporting on how great Front Line has been doing. (Why the hell would television be singing the praises of their competitor? And, really, who the hell is picking up the newspaper when you can get faster and quicker information from CNN or the internet?) Finally, this first story in this issue is just Sally and Ben walking around Manhattan.

The second story is exceptionally ridiculous. The Warbound are so underutilized in this whole World War Hulk event, that we have Korg walking around with a detective trying to find out who killed a robot pilot looking for justice. And, worst of all, in the end they share a drink of cola, like Korg is Mean Joe Green. (Just what I wanted out of WWH...a feel good moment to bring a tear to my eye.) Lastly, we get an extremely unfunny two page top ten list. 2/10

Heroes For Hire #14: Now, while I've been enjoying this Heroes For Hire tie-in with World War Hulk, I do realize how idiotic it is, as the Warbound are supposedly doing their own thing while everything in Manhattan with the Hulk is happening. These tie-ins just don't fit in too well with the World War Hulk main story. It's as if the various writers were given complete leeway with doing whatever they wanted with the characters in this event without little regard to what's gone on before or currently happening with the main title. This issue is kind of gross. The Brood Queen has mated with Miek and Humbug is now the carrier. Now, it makes no sense to me how Miek can mate with the Brood Queen; most of the things involving WWH doesn't make sense. I'm more interested now in World War Hulk ending so we can get back to our normal stories. 7/10

Punisher War Journal #12: Ugggg....I guess I need to suspend by disbelief a little more to enjoy some of these comics. So, in the beginning of this issue, a little girl is looking for her cat in Manhattan, where Mung is about to eat her, only to have the Punisher show up with two chainsaws in either hand to save the day. Yet, in my mind I picture Frank having to pull up, start on chainsaw, put it down, start the other chainsaw (of course, in this amount of time, the girl would have been eaten), when he usually just uses a big old gun quite easily. Next, the Punisher is driving her to her home...Wow, the cat was so far away and the girl found her that far away! Finally, wasn't New York suppose to be pretty much abandoned, yet her family stays there during all of this because they are more concerned with the mother's father's emphysema than being apart and keeping their child safe. After that, Frank uses a gun that shoots knives (not just knives...they are large bullets that have enough time after being shot to quickly eject the blade as they hit their intended target). To add to the stupidity of this comic, Frank arrives at the girl's house in his white van...yet, when the try to escape Mung and his horde, they go on foot and don't even bother just driving away like they did before. (I won't even get into the Venomech armor.) Another completely idiotic tie-in to World War Hulk. Marvel should be embarrassed. 4/10

 

[PhotoJones]

You honestly don't feel that PWJ is all tongue in cheek?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Even if it is, it was supposed to be the Punisher's triumphant return to the larger Marvel universe landscape. Why would anyone want that return to be as a goofy, tongue-in-cheek character? Yes, I know Frank's as grim as ever, but in the context it comes off feeling as cartoonish and forced as the goofy antics around him.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Yeah! What he said!!!!

 

[PhotoJones]

Well, up until the Hate-Monger arc, it was Frank's big return. That arc stubled a bit, but these past two issues have been solid. And I don't think anything feels forced, really. When you think about it, alien Warbound coming to Earth to support the Hulk is pretty goofy in and of itself.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Eh, it didn't suit my tastes when I read it earlier. To each his own.

 

[PhotoJones]

Do you like Olivetti's art?