Bought/Thought for 6/13/12... WEDNESDAY, THE THIRTEENTH! (Spoilers Probable)

[TheCorpulent1]

Batman #10: Eh. The big reveal is one of my all-time biggest pet peeves in fiction, especially ongoing serialized fiction. So that's a strike against it right off the bat. There's even more "heretofore unrevealed nonsense" shenanigans in the backup. Strike 2. But I enjoyed the rest of the issue, and the backup at least looked pretty thanks to the inimitable Rafael Albuquerque. Just wish he weren't slumming it with this random-ass tale of Alfred's dad.

Avengers Assemble #4: Oh hai Bendis! This series was uncharacteristically solid for him... and then this issue comes along. Pretty terrible all around. Thanos sounds a little off, but that's not too bad. Iron Man, however, is a f***ing mess in this issue. He freaks the hell out when Thanos turns up and the President consequently orders some mysterious doomsday measure, which winds up being the destruction of the entire Helicarrier. So... now the Helicarrier doesn't just get its ass kicked and explode whenever a villain attacks, which it's been doing for some time now; it's actually an approved method of dealing with threats? And, of course, it doesn't even deal with the threat, since Thanos obviously survived that nonsense--which Tony himself should've easily known and informed the President about. But it's not a total loss; they take one of the Zodiac as prisoners... who the Black Widow proceeds to torture into revealing information about Thanos' plan. Yay, these are our greatest heroes now. And then, once they've gotten some information, everyone freaks out about how the information sucks and didn't really tell them anything. Then Iron Man freaks out even more and starts yelling at Cap about how incompetent the Avengers apparently are, since Thanos--a guy they've dealt with on a couple occasions now, at least--is so far out of their league that they're just flat-out not equipped to deal with him. NO ONE on the Avengers knows how to deal with cosmic threats... he says with Thor, one of Marvel's earliest extremely cosmic heroes, standing not ten feet away. And then the Guardians of the Galaxy show up at the end all smarmy and full of themselves, like they didn't disband and get scattered across the universe a year or two ago. Oh, Bendis, you cray!

Oh, and the Hulk gets mind-controlled by Thanos and one-shots Thor. So their once-great 'rivalry' continues to be a mockery of the word.

Man, bad week for comics so far.

 

[runawayboulder]

Avengers Assemble sucks....?

What is this that I'm feeling........? What am I experiencing right now.....is it lack of surprise?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Shut your cynical face, boulder.

 

[spiderbob]

I was surprised

Spoiler

that Rhino and Silver Sable died. A bit of a bitter sweet victory for Spidey. Sucks too. Was hoping for more build up between the relationship between Sable and Spidey. If we have to have a single Spider-Man forced upon us and split from MJ, might as well utilize the possibilities such a scenario creates. One such possibility arises and she dies.
Should have seen it coming with her character's sudden increase in panel time and sudden reveal of romantic feelings for Spidey. Ah well.

In ten years it'll just be revealed that they both survived. Some how. And their development will be restarted or forgotten or what have you.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Much like Black Cat after BND. Although, honestly, those feelings were kinda outta nowhere. Last romantic interest I recall her having was Sandman.

 

[CConn]

Any of you people read Spider-Men #1?

 

[JewishHobbit]

I skimmed that Amazing Spider-Man issue and the deaths were off panel right? That's not very definitive. Honestly, if Slott killed off Rhino that'd just unforgivably suck.

Anyhow, on to the books I DID read...

Green Lantern 10 - This was a pretty good conclusion. The secrets of the Indigo Tribe are revealed, as well as the fact that their rings do infact change them for the better in time. Black Hand is freed from them (in a fairly awesome and pure Black Hand way) and this leads the way to what could be an awesome next arc. I dropped this book a while ago but regretted it and jumped back on an issue or two ago. I'm glad I did. I've missed it.

I nearly got caught back up on New Guardians today but decided not to. I might still but now's not the time.

Grifter 10 - This book might be dropped... I'm not sure. I really enjoyed the title when the last writer was in charge but last issue, when Liefeld and Tieri took over, just felt off. I was hoping maybe it was just a changing of the guard issue with them killing off the last member of the original supporting cast rather quickly and creating their own, but even the writing felt forced. This issue felt just as off. I didn't enjoy it near as much as before and where before it was a personal story of Cole Cash suddenly it's some messianic story of Grifter being "the chosen one" (a cliche I'm oh so tired of). Oh, and suddenly Grifter's a telekinetic or something.

I don't know. I just REALLY liked this book before and the art continues to be great (which was a relief since I thought Liefeld was going to be drawing originally) but the storytelling has just fallen several notches. Maybe I'll stick it out for a few more issues but we'll see. I'll likely take it issue by issue.

Batman & Robin 10 - This issue was good. I think Tomasi has done the best job with Damian. He's a very interesting character under Tomasi pen and it's obvious that the writers enjoys writing him. In this issue we have some antimosity between him and Tim leading to a conflict between the two where Damian calls Tim out on his own thoughts of murder in the recent Teen Titans annual (which I know nothing about). Ultimately it just looks like Damian's getting under Tim's skin.

Earlier in the book Tim does something that's got me very interested. He pulled together Tim, Dick, and Jason and pretty much promised them that he will, at some point in the near future, confront each of them in a challenge that they each feel unbeatable at, and best them to prove that HE is the best Robin. They all laugh at him but chances are "War of the Robins" will be an interesting read.

Oh, and this villain is odd. He kinda reminds me of Apocalypse. I almost wish there WAS no villain and that this arc can focus squarely on the Robins but we'll see how it plays out. I really want to see how Damian plans on besting Dick, who he actually kinda likes, and Todd... who's just as dark as he is.

Batman 10 - The penultimate chapter of the Court of Owls storyline and it has its ups and downs. The whole issue is an up really. It's well written and pulls you in perfectly, from the beginning to the end. The "big reveal" though is a bit of a downer for me. From the very beginning when we saw Lincoln March I thought "whatever the threat of this story is he's going to be behind it" then he vanished from the story and I thought it was blatantly obvious. Then he died last issue and my interest was peaked because I thought maybe Snyder was going in a less obvious direction. Nope, his death was somewhat faked and he really was behind it all along. The twist though, which makes it a bit better, sorta, is that Lincoln March isn't actually a person at all but a facade. As it turns out Lincoln March is, apparently, Bruce's brother (that he knew nothing about). That reveal, sadly, made my eyes roll a bit. I really hope it's revealed that he isn't actually Bruce's brother but the backstory is making it look true.

None the less, even with the disappointing reveal, the issue was good, this story has been fantastic (and not overplayed provided you didn't bother with the Night of Owls tie-ins, like I mostly didn't) and I'm eager to see how it ends next issue.

Also, with this reveal I'm starting to wonder if Lincoln March is the Talon in the new ongoing series. They may have already stated that it was or wasn't but I've not read anything on it. If he is then I'll likely pick up that series.

Avengers Assemble 4 - Eh, this issue wasn't as good as the previous 3. I don't think Bendis has a grip on Thanos and I didn't like several parts of the issue, such as Hulk being mind controled, KOing Thor so easily, and Wanda threatening torture (or actually doing it, we aren't showed). I did like that the Zodiac are revealed to be underlings of major crime organizations, such as the Hood's cousin, John (the only named one).

I'm only continuing with this book for the Guardians of the Galaxy and they show up at the end of this issue... and Starlord's blonde hair still bugs me. I'll probably finish out this arc for their sake but when this cosmic story is done so am I.

Uncanny X-Force 26 - This was a good issue and I'm glad to be getting some major villains in this new arc. Mystique, Shadow King, and Sabretooth show up with an intent to form a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and this cast is starting to really stand out for them. AoA Blob looks to be joining them next issue, which is interesting, as is Sabretooth's scouting Genesis with the intent of possibly adding Apocalypse to their number. Even the Skinless Man from last arc has me intrigued (now that we have tolerable art again).

The only part I don't like are the Omega people. Sorry but these three are a poor substitution for the original Omega Red. I loved that guy and wished beyond belief that he'd get a big push. Never happened sadly. I guess we'll see how they play out.

X-Men 30 - This is the X-Men series I'm buying hit or miss depending on the arc. Unlike most I liked Gischler's take on the series but with Brian Wood taking over with this issue I thought about dropping it. To be fair I bought the first issue and it did absolutely NOTHING for me. I'll likely get another issue or two to let him spread his wings but if this is the quality we'll be seeing I'm not impressed.

The last time Wood was on X-Books was in Generation X. His writing was decent but I'll never forgive the guy for killing off Synch. He will forever be a bad man for that

X-Men Legacy 268 - This was a pretty good issue, though calling it an AvX tie-in is a stretch. Frenzy gets the focus as she's dropped into a waring country recently calmed by Phoenix-Cyclops. She's to uphold order until it can be sorted out and ends up getting pulled into a small bit of mess dealing with abuse and all that. In the process of it we get flashbacks to her untold origin and it's fairly tragic. Abused by her father, mentally and physically, until her powers kick in and she punches a hole through his chest in self-defence. She nearly goes nuts on some men who try to kill/hurt women of that country but makes a better choice and lets them live, showing some sign of her becoming a better person, despite the attitude she clings to.

I'm really growing to like Frenzy, despite my indifference toward her when Carey first pulled her to the side of the angels. If Gage leave the book post AvX I hope she still has a place with the X-Men. She's definately blossoming of late.


Best and Worst of the Week

Best: Green Lantern 10 - This was the only issue this week that had me from page one. Legacy was a close second and Batman COULD have been up there if not for the reveal. This issue itself was just really good and a great conclusion to an interesting arc.

Worst: Grifter 10 - While Assembled was hit or miss, and X-Men was just indifferent, Grifter just felt bad. The writing was forced and the direction from the previous writer to this feels wrong. I went from strongly enjoying every issue to feeling like there's a stick in my throat while reading it. It's just distracting and feels wrong. I don't care for it and don't see myself buying this book for much longer, if at all.

 

[runawayboulder]

I'm not totally buying into the "events" of ASM either. There still is the EotE epilogue coming up next issue, so we'll have to wait and see. EotE was a great story though, terrific last page. Slott gets Spidey in an era where not many others do.

Uncanny X-Force was pretty awesome. The book is back to it's A+ quality after the step backwards that was the Otherworld story.

Another guy who's gotten back into classic form is Jason Aaron. I was ready to drop the Incredible Hulk but call me crazy, I'm getting into this storyline.

 

[Web face]

So, should I get the last two issues of EOTE? I planned on getting the whole thing from the beginning but IGN gave the last issue a really bad score, so I just want to know if it is worth it

 

[runawayboulder]

Eh, f**k IGN. They're not as good as they used to be if you ask me.

I thought it's been as solid if not better than Spider-Island. I enjoyed the team up of Spidey/Sable/Widow.

 

[Web face]

Ok thanks, I'm going to get it. I am already four issues in, no point in not getting the last two.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Avengers #27: Meh. I don't have any feelings one way or the other about Noh-Varr, so this story has felt like just a bunch of stuff happening. It's over now and Noh is apparently an outcast from both the Avengers and the Kree. I guess he's on his way back to Earth to settle down with his random Earthling girlfriend? I don't know. Whatever. Not too fond of Beast's threatening to kill Noh, but I guess I'll chalk it up to his temper getting the better of him. Thor gets to shoot a sun in its big, stupid, gaseous face, too. That was all right. I'm considering this series officially re-dropped, though. It's not aggressively terrible like Bendis' Avengers comics used to be but it's not particularly good either, and Simonson's art just isn't enough to keep me interested.

The Mighty Thor #15: Why? God, why? Please, just make it stop.

 

[runawayboulder]

LOL, uh-oh. What did Fraction do now....?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Thor spends the whole issue in this nightmare realm proving that he's still a total man-child by fighting a nightmare version of Odin. Meanwhile, Don Blake is somehow on Earth as a disembodied head, apparently helping the Enchantress create some mud-looking monster thing. And there's a third subplot about some goth kid who ultimately winds up in the nightmare realm, gets drafted by... um, gerbil-looking wizards... to try and conjure up a hero to save everyone from the nightmare realm, and he comes up with... some twisted version of Thor from his band's album cover called the Deconsecrator.

Hence: Please, just make it stop.

 

[runawayboulder]

Heh heh heh...ahhhhhhhhhhh I'm sooooooo glad I dropped that stinker.

 

[JewishHobbit]

That's so horrible it hurts! So what really happened?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Exactly what I said. Like, for real, I'm not even exaggerating anything.

 

[CConn]

IUncanny X-Force was pretty awesome. The book is back to it's A+ quality after the step backwards that was the Otherworld story.

Honestly, as I think back to the Otherworld story...the actual story was pretty awesome. With the Braddocks and all. It was just that damned awful art that ruined it all.

Another guy who's gotten back into classic form is Jason Aaron. I was ready to drop the Incredible Hulk but call me crazy, I'm getting into this storyline.

How on Earth was he able to write a good issue after the utter garbage that was the last issue?

 

[CConn]

Corp, it's time to drop Thor.

 

[Max J Power]

Batman #10 was, like the annual a couple weeks ago, a well written, well drawn issue based on a bad idea ([blackout]unless Lincoln March is just delusional and thinks he's Bruce's brother. That'd be OK[/blackout]). Snyder's let me down on the last couple issues. I loved the Black Mirror and thought Gates of Gotham was cool, but this is too much. The Batbooks have already had too many retcons and "secret history" plots; we don't need any more. The Court of Owls should have ended after 7 or 8 issues. At that point, the Owls were still cool and creepy; now they've just been drawn out to the point of being cannon fodder and the history aspects are feeling more and more like a gimmick.

Fantastic Four #607 was solid. It's clear that the big impact Hickman's run has happened, and he's treading water with small stories until he leaves the book, but that's still good.

Captain America and Hawkeye #632 was pretty fun, and better than the last issue. I'm still probably dropping this series after the Iron Man arc, though. I've been enjoying Bunn's scripts but I don't know if these plots will stand out enough for me to buy the issues over other books. The art's pretty rough too. I liked Vitti a lot more on Secret Warriors; I suspect all the double-shipping has caused him to rush. Shame.

 

[runawayboulder]

Honestly, as I think back to the Otherworld story...the actual story was pretty awesome. With the Braddocks and all. It was just that damned awful art that ruined it all.

I kind of feel that way too. If they re-released it with a different artist and the same dialogue, it would come across 10 times better. That artist was an old buddy of Remender's. They did some indie book together, so that's why he was on for the arc.

How on Earth was he able to write a good issue after the utter garbage that was the last issue?

I think that was another case of the art killing the story. I adore Steve Dillon but he fits on a Hulk book like a hockey player would fit playing Centerfield for the Yankees. A 7 foot tall Dog man would seem less silly if another artist drew him that could make it look more menacing. Dillon's art is so straightforward and simple, it ended up looking comical and disrupted the story.

Come to think of it, this new volume of TIH has had nothing but crappy art since Silvestri left a couple of issues in. This issue was the first time there was good artwork.

 

[chamber-music]

X-Men Legacy - was good issue was all about Frenzy with flashbacks to her origin.
I like it when heroes and villains are fleshed out and Frenzy has been around since the late 80s although its only in recent years she switched to the good guys side.

Standard tortured supervillain upbringing but it was still good.

 

[Spider-Jay420]

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN kinda ended on a downer, but yes, Ends of the Earth has been great. Better than Spider Island. I feel like it kinda peaked a few issues ago though. Sucks about Rhino and Sable.

BATMAN was solid too. I like the Lincoln March is a paper man thing, and I'm choosing to not believe he's Bruce's brother. He wishes he was a Wayne.

AVENGERS was garbage. Bendis clearly came up with this "script" 10 minutes before it was due while he was sitting on the crapper. Again, people freaking out for no reaso. Like everyone is new at superheroing. Dumb. And Simonson's art is just bad. Chucky, outdated. Not a pleasent experience. Sorry.

SPIDER-MEN was good. Cool set up so far. This will be my first exposure to Miles so I'm going in blind. But I'm looking forward to next issue. I guess Miles is in Grade School? How old is he supposed to be?

 

[CConn]

I think like he's like 14 or 15.

 

[Spider-Jay420]

That makes sense. He looked small. Ill see if he's cool, I guess.