Dread
TMNT 1984-2009
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Small week with only 4 titles (and a day late due to Labor Day), but next week will have at least 10, so I'll enjoy it while I can. A decent week all around, but one that proves that I am one of many fans with no conviction or backbone.
As always, Full Spoilers ahead.
Dread's BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 9/6/07:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #544: Yes, yes, Part 1 of the 4 part crossover ONE MORE DAY, that will end in "bold new directions" for Spidey and seek to tighten up his books by having all of them merged into ASM, the one that has always outsold them and been the focal point of Spidey. Granted, ASM in one way or the other has been involved in crossovers for over two calender years, which helps it stay atop. I was 50/50 on getting this and I really, REALLY wanted to just say "F You!" to Joe Q and his mad dream to end the Parker Marriage and officially screw up EVERYTHING about Spider-Man during his tenure (hey, at least Peter was still married and had a secret ID when clones were running all over). But despite my resolve and the $3.99 pricetag, I bought it anyway. I'm a spineless, pathetic fan at heart sometimes, I know. There are two covers and I got the non-Joe Q one because I liked it more; technically the price tag is justified because the story has 2 extra pages and a 7 page handbook style Bio on Spidey, who out of all heroes likely didn't need another; he has had Handbook bio's in 2004, 2005, and 2007. The 2004 one was rather lengthy and inserted most of the recent retcons, and the rest covered recent events and power boosts (he's had two power boosts in the last 3 years). Still, it is well written and brings things together, covering all the main beats of his life. The story so far is naturally from JMS and has art by Joe Q, who to give credit, unlike Todd McFarlane of years past, still seems eager to do artwork on the side of running the comic company. Some of his covers ranged from mediocre to awful but the art here isn't bad. It continues from last issue with May being shunted to another hospital and Peter still on the run now that he has no ID (and makes zero attempt to hide it; he rarely wears his costume anymore and any supervillain who says, "Parker" to him, Spidey all but confirms it, tells them his middle name and social while he is at it), and his life has hit rock bottom since he deliberately had to assault a cop to escape last issue. Fortunately, they conveniently run into a doctor at the new hospital who owes a debt to Spider-Man and is willing to help Peter stall the authorities as best he can. With no options, Peter breaks into Stark Tower to appeal to Tony's heart to provide money for top care for May, who remains comatose (judging by that handbook Bio, May's been laid out on a deathbed for a good dozen times by now). Either he intended to beg Stark for money or sought to steal some if he couldn't find it, it isn't revealed because immediately Iron Man battles him. Considering this man just manipulated the entire nation and beyond to win the Civil War, expecting him to appeal to aiding a felon out of mercy is somewhat laughable to a jaded fan (Stark used his dead friend Cap to trick the New Avengers, including Spidey, into an arrest attempt not long ago in NA, and I could go on), and I can only agree with Peter's narration that all of this is his fault because he chose to be Stark's toadie, unmask, and got punished for it when what everyone knew was going to happen since CW #2 happened. Still, Stark allows Peter to escape and Jarvis trots out to provide a blank check for May's care. Nothing medically can be done to save her, but Peter dashes out, seeking other superhero means, like perhaps Dr. Strange or pretty much other allies he knows. Iron Fist has used his "chi" to heal people before. The list goes on. It is more of the same that Peter has been on lately, all dark and depressing and whatnot, and it still doesn't negate the belief among many that Spider-Man should have known better than to have made the choices he made pre-CW. Nearly 1 out of every 2 friends or loved ones he has ever had has been injured, attacked, and/or killed because of identity issues and he thought unmasking was a good idea!? He's been on the wrong end of the law dozens of times and yet he felt siding with the fed wouldn't eventually bite him in the arse!? Some of his own enemies have been offered deals by the fed (like Venom)! But, after a year that is water under the bridge at this point, especially with the hotly anticipated Slott due to arrive on the title he was seemingly born to write. Part of me still feels a mention of the 90's when May was believed dead for years in real time (and at least months in Marvel Time) would make for some interesting dialogue besides, "I gotta do anything I can for May, wait here, MJ, off I go" in various ways for the 100th millionth time. Still, I understand Peter being desperate to save May and being emotional about it and all that. And, well, so far MJ hasn't been revealed to be a Skrull yet or whatnot, so it's not bad. Good money is still on this event undoing the Parker marriage, Joe Q's top priority in life (at least from what he says on Joe Fridays), which will likely suck, at least until Jackpot. Part 1 of 4 in the can and it's plenty readable. I just am disgusted with myself that I couldn't thumb my nose at my childhood hero one more time when an event came around seeking to upheave his universe. It's been upheaved enough.
ANNIHILATION CONQUEST: WRAITH #3: The Prenultimate chapter of SPACE EMO arrives and it is chock full of action after some exposition last issue revealing his emotastic origin and powers. Wraith continues to fulfill the role played by Drax last time, that is of a stoic warrior of great power and few words who get wrapped up in the epic event not because he wants to fight in it, but because he wants to kill a single person (in this case, the Kree with the Ring who killed his parents). In a way Wraith is reminding me of Dante from DEVIL MAY CRY; a character who seemingly seems to have traits that seem to provide checks in a "Coolness Checklist" to try too hard to be cool. The fancy origin, revenge motive, dark fashion, emo past, even a nifty weapon and being the second alien other than Lobo to fly around space on a flying motorcycle. Despite all this, however, the series is still enjoyable enough to read from Grillo-Marxuach, who makes sure to have Wraith free his pet characters from the last mini he did, Super-Skrull and Praxagora. The Phanalax have hooked up the Supreme Intelligence's corpse to their machines to hypnotize all Kree in one fell swoop and Ronan is unable to resist them. That leaves Wraith, Super-Skrull, Prax, and a bunch of Kree on a space-faring flying pirate ship who seem to be affected by a FINAL FANTASY virus to stop their conquest. The fact that it can be buried in so many flashy cliches and still be readable is commendable. Still, out of all of the AC titles, this is still the worst. But that doesn't mean it is terrible. Just more flash than substance. Wraith could make a good bandmate to Dante and Vampire Hunter D at this rate.
NEW WARRIORS #4: Another successful relaunch from Marvel is budding into one of my most anticipated monthly titles. The only nagging flaw, besides the fact that Grevioux may be overdoing a good thing with his Night-Thrasher mystery and re-creating B and C list X-characters for his team, is the fact that it has been 4 issues now and not all of the teammates are named. It has made me miss some of those old Claremont issues when he'd bring out some random collection of cliche enemies to fight, and they'd all stand in a stock pose next to a panel with their name on it. NEW WARRIORS needs that. There still is at least one member without a name, and one that finally revealed one is killed this issue. No, it isn't Sophia, Wondra, or Thrasher himself, but a gal named Longstike who was using variants on Stilt-Man's armor (of all things) to have telescoping limbs. It also is revealed that Tempest is actually Angel, the formerly buggy bride of Beak, who has also had some intensive plastic surgery and lipo alongside "Blackhawk" to suddenly look like a different character. If I cared more I would be insulted, but I never did about her, so I don't. It's totally subjective, but I am being honest. Longstrike's brother, FYI, I believe was named Phaser. Aside for that, the mystery of Night-Thrasher continues as the cops he shrunk last issue meet with Yellowjacket and learn that his "shrinking particles" are variants of Bill Foster's tech, not Pym's. Jubilee seems to be the second-in-command of the team and starts to confront Night-Thrasher's mysterious ways, which fits how the last New Warriors went (Dwayne would often confound his allies with mysterious behavior and secret motives that rarely matched their own). Scorpio leads another version of the Zodiak Gang (if you want to see how conveluted this team has become, check out their Handbook bio, they make the Royal Flush Gang look consistent), and after seemingly defeating Slott's Initiative creations off-panel, they have a go with the Warriors and "Cancer" wastes the aforementioned Warrior. They also have the nerve to stage a fight across the street from Sophia's diner sitcom job, causing much destruction. The CSA is also hounding Stark to take down the rogue teen team before they send the Thunderbolts at them, which is an incredible irony; a team of convicted killers and psychopaths being ordered to stop some kids who take down actual villains or actually take steps to protect civilians in the crossfire, all with a federal authority. Night-Thrasher shows off his fighting skills here and seems able to conjure hard-light versions of his sticks as well as a shield to use in combat, presumably from his armor. The trail to who is under his mask even involved Wakanda (since his last armor was made of Vibrainum). As usual, Medina's art is solid and very good for action with superheroes, just like it was for MARVEL TEAM UP some time back. Despite some concerns about overmilking a cute gimmick here and complete re-imagining of C-Listers, Grevioux had created a great book when we all were bashing some of his previews on Newsarama; I wouldn't call this YOUNG AVENGERS calliber yet in terms of the results totally burning low expectations, but it is getting close to me. I like that Jubes/Wondra has so key a role given her experience and while completely redesigning some characters is drastic, I like this new approach rather than keep them in X-Limbo appearing in already clogged X-Books. Scorpio was always a cool looking villain visually and Medina has no issues here, and even his token Zodiak goons look fine. As a last tantilizing bit to the mystery, Jubilee seemingly has an idea of who he really is, but that naturally is kept hidden for now. Hopefully it is revealed by issue #6 because any longer would be too much. Considering what a dead-in-the-water franchise this was, this is really working. Shame some other actual New Warriors couldn't be in on it.
SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP: MODOK'S 11 #3: Technically, a speedy installment as it was only 3 weeks since #2 came out; in the age of late comics that is refreshing, although I always wait for the shoe to drop with inevitable lateness, especially considering Portela's high quality art. This mini also has the best recap page on the racks today; recaps everything with as little text as possible. The "minions" of MODOK infiltrate The Infinicide to steal a Hypernova, which AIM Scientist Supreme Monica Rappaccini believes MODOK will use to undo all life with another Cosmic Cube (the ultimate Marvel MacGuffin device for 45 years and counting). Rocket Racer seems to have been completely omitted this issue, which was bizarre. Chameleon is still Monica's Ultra-Adaptoid spy and Mentallo still seems toasted from last ish. Puma, Living Laser and "Chameleon" breach the Infinicide with Nightshade, Armadillo and The Spot below ground, but as soon as they steal the device, Spot turns traitor and leaves them all hanging, while Puma's tribal elders have finally cut off his connection to their totem, rendering him powerless (and near suicidal). I liked how their individual personalities still come through, from Nightshade's backstory to Laser wanting to be human again and all that. Van Lente FINALLY utilizes the new Mandarin, who was seemingly collecting dust for years, who Portela made VERY cool looking as he repays Spot's services with banishment. Sigh, between backstabbings and ungrateful bosses, this is why villains never organize and win, like they did in WANTED (and even that had backstabbings and ungrateful bosses). This is becoming a fun caper book that seems to have more fun with itself than some of the more doir "Maggia" stories from a year or so ago (like UNDERWORLD). It'll sell terribly, but for what it is worth it will be a good ride. And I loved Monica's dispatching of Hendricks; "double standards", indeed. This is a solid caper story with a lighter tone than many "hero" works these days, shame if you miss it.
As always, Full Spoilers ahead.
Dread's BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 9/6/07:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #544: Yes, yes, Part 1 of the 4 part crossover ONE MORE DAY, that will end in "bold new directions" for Spidey and seek to tighten up his books by having all of them merged into ASM, the one that has always outsold them and been the focal point of Spidey. Granted, ASM in one way or the other has been involved in crossovers for over two calender years, which helps it stay atop. I was 50/50 on getting this and I really, REALLY wanted to just say "F You!" to Joe Q and his mad dream to end the Parker Marriage and officially screw up EVERYTHING about Spider-Man during his tenure (hey, at least Peter was still married and had a secret ID when clones were running all over). But despite my resolve and the $3.99 pricetag, I bought it anyway. I'm a spineless, pathetic fan at heart sometimes, I know. There are two covers and I got the non-Joe Q one because I liked it more; technically the price tag is justified because the story has 2 extra pages and a 7 page handbook style Bio on Spidey, who out of all heroes likely didn't need another; he has had Handbook bio's in 2004, 2005, and 2007. The 2004 one was rather lengthy and inserted most of the recent retcons, and the rest covered recent events and power boosts (he's had two power boosts in the last 3 years). Still, it is well written and brings things together, covering all the main beats of his life. The story so far is naturally from JMS and has art by Joe Q, who to give credit, unlike Todd McFarlane of years past, still seems eager to do artwork on the side of running the comic company. Some of his covers ranged from mediocre to awful but the art here isn't bad. It continues from last issue with May being shunted to another hospital and Peter still on the run now that he has no ID (and makes zero attempt to hide it; he rarely wears his costume anymore and any supervillain who says, "Parker" to him, Spidey all but confirms it, tells them his middle name and social while he is at it), and his life has hit rock bottom since he deliberately had to assault a cop to escape last issue. Fortunately, they conveniently run into a doctor at the new hospital who owes a debt to Spider-Man and is willing to help Peter stall the authorities as best he can. With no options, Peter breaks into Stark Tower to appeal to Tony's heart to provide money for top care for May, who remains comatose (judging by that handbook Bio, May's been laid out on a deathbed for a good dozen times by now). Either he intended to beg Stark for money or sought to steal some if he couldn't find it, it isn't revealed because immediately Iron Man battles him. Considering this man just manipulated the entire nation and beyond to win the Civil War, expecting him to appeal to aiding a felon out of mercy is somewhat laughable to a jaded fan (Stark used his dead friend Cap to trick the New Avengers, including Spidey, into an arrest attempt not long ago in NA, and I could go on), and I can only agree with Peter's narration that all of this is his fault because he chose to be Stark's toadie, unmask, and got punished for it when what everyone knew was going to happen since CW #2 happened. Still, Stark allows Peter to escape and Jarvis trots out to provide a blank check for May's care. Nothing medically can be done to save her, but Peter dashes out, seeking other superhero means, like perhaps Dr. Strange or pretty much other allies he knows. Iron Fist has used his "chi" to heal people before. The list goes on. It is more of the same that Peter has been on lately, all dark and depressing and whatnot, and it still doesn't negate the belief among many that Spider-Man should have known better than to have made the choices he made pre-CW. Nearly 1 out of every 2 friends or loved ones he has ever had has been injured, attacked, and/or killed because of identity issues and he thought unmasking was a good idea!? He's been on the wrong end of the law dozens of times and yet he felt siding with the fed wouldn't eventually bite him in the arse!? Some of his own enemies have been offered deals by the fed (like Venom)! But, after a year that is water under the bridge at this point, especially with the hotly anticipated Slott due to arrive on the title he was seemingly born to write. Part of me still feels a mention of the 90's when May was believed dead for years in real time (and at least months in Marvel Time) would make for some interesting dialogue besides, "I gotta do anything I can for May, wait here, MJ, off I go" in various ways for the 100th millionth time. Still, I understand Peter being desperate to save May and being emotional about it and all that. And, well, so far MJ hasn't been revealed to be a Skrull yet or whatnot, so it's not bad. Good money is still on this event undoing the Parker marriage, Joe Q's top priority in life (at least from what he says on Joe Fridays), which will likely suck, at least until Jackpot. Part 1 of 4 in the can and it's plenty readable. I just am disgusted with myself that I couldn't thumb my nose at my childhood hero one more time when an event came around seeking to upheave his universe. It's been upheaved enough.
ANNIHILATION CONQUEST: WRAITH #3: The Prenultimate chapter of SPACE EMO arrives and it is chock full of action after some exposition last issue revealing his emotastic origin and powers. Wraith continues to fulfill the role played by Drax last time, that is of a stoic warrior of great power and few words who get wrapped up in the epic event not because he wants to fight in it, but because he wants to kill a single person (in this case, the Kree with the Ring who killed his parents). In a way Wraith is reminding me of Dante from DEVIL MAY CRY; a character who seemingly seems to have traits that seem to provide checks in a "Coolness Checklist" to try too hard to be cool. The fancy origin, revenge motive, dark fashion, emo past, even a nifty weapon and being the second alien other than Lobo to fly around space on a flying motorcycle. Despite all this, however, the series is still enjoyable enough to read from Grillo-Marxuach, who makes sure to have Wraith free his pet characters from the last mini he did, Super-Skrull and Praxagora. The Phanalax have hooked up the Supreme Intelligence's corpse to their machines to hypnotize all Kree in one fell swoop and Ronan is unable to resist them. That leaves Wraith, Super-Skrull, Prax, and a bunch of Kree on a space-faring flying pirate ship who seem to be affected by a FINAL FANTASY virus to stop their conquest. The fact that it can be buried in so many flashy cliches and still be readable is commendable. Still, out of all of the AC titles, this is still the worst. But that doesn't mean it is terrible. Just more flash than substance. Wraith could make a good bandmate to Dante and Vampire Hunter D at this rate.
NEW WARRIORS #4: Another successful relaunch from Marvel is budding into one of my most anticipated monthly titles. The only nagging flaw, besides the fact that Grevioux may be overdoing a good thing with his Night-Thrasher mystery and re-creating B and C list X-characters for his team, is the fact that it has been 4 issues now and not all of the teammates are named. It has made me miss some of those old Claremont issues when he'd bring out some random collection of cliche enemies to fight, and they'd all stand in a stock pose next to a panel with their name on it. NEW WARRIORS needs that. There still is at least one member without a name, and one that finally revealed one is killed this issue. No, it isn't Sophia, Wondra, or Thrasher himself, but a gal named Longstike who was using variants on Stilt-Man's armor (of all things) to have telescoping limbs. It also is revealed that Tempest is actually Angel, the formerly buggy bride of Beak, who has also had some intensive plastic surgery and lipo alongside "Blackhawk" to suddenly look like a different character. If I cared more I would be insulted, but I never did about her, so I don't. It's totally subjective, but I am being honest. Longstrike's brother, FYI, I believe was named Phaser. Aside for that, the mystery of Night-Thrasher continues as the cops he shrunk last issue meet with Yellowjacket and learn that his "shrinking particles" are variants of Bill Foster's tech, not Pym's. Jubilee seems to be the second-in-command of the team and starts to confront Night-Thrasher's mysterious ways, which fits how the last New Warriors went (Dwayne would often confound his allies with mysterious behavior and secret motives that rarely matched their own). Scorpio leads another version of the Zodiak Gang (if you want to see how conveluted this team has become, check out their Handbook bio, they make the Royal Flush Gang look consistent), and after seemingly defeating Slott's Initiative creations off-panel, they have a go with the Warriors and "Cancer" wastes the aforementioned Warrior. They also have the nerve to stage a fight across the street from Sophia's diner sitcom job, causing much destruction. The CSA is also hounding Stark to take down the rogue teen team before they send the Thunderbolts at them, which is an incredible irony; a team of convicted killers and psychopaths being ordered to stop some kids who take down actual villains or actually take steps to protect civilians in the crossfire, all with a federal authority. Night-Thrasher shows off his fighting skills here and seems able to conjure hard-light versions of his sticks as well as a shield to use in combat, presumably from his armor. The trail to who is under his mask even involved Wakanda (since his last armor was made of Vibrainum). As usual, Medina's art is solid and very good for action with superheroes, just like it was for MARVEL TEAM UP some time back. Despite some concerns about overmilking a cute gimmick here and complete re-imagining of C-Listers, Grevioux had created a great book when we all were bashing some of his previews on Newsarama; I wouldn't call this YOUNG AVENGERS calliber yet in terms of the results totally burning low expectations, but it is getting close to me. I like that Jubes/Wondra has so key a role given her experience and while completely redesigning some characters is drastic, I like this new approach rather than keep them in X-Limbo appearing in already clogged X-Books. Scorpio was always a cool looking villain visually and Medina has no issues here, and even his token Zodiak goons look fine. As a last tantilizing bit to the mystery, Jubilee seemingly has an idea of who he really is, but that naturally is kept hidden for now. Hopefully it is revealed by issue #6 because any longer would be too much. Considering what a dead-in-the-water franchise this was, this is really working. Shame some other actual New Warriors couldn't be in on it.
SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP: MODOK'S 11 #3: Technically, a speedy installment as it was only 3 weeks since #2 came out; in the age of late comics that is refreshing, although I always wait for the shoe to drop with inevitable lateness, especially considering Portela's high quality art. This mini also has the best recap page on the racks today; recaps everything with as little text as possible. The "minions" of MODOK infiltrate The Infinicide to steal a Hypernova, which AIM Scientist Supreme Monica Rappaccini believes MODOK will use to undo all life with another Cosmic Cube (the ultimate Marvel MacGuffin device for 45 years and counting). Rocket Racer seems to have been completely omitted this issue, which was bizarre. Chameleon is still Monica's Ultra-Adaptoid spy and Mentallo still seems toasted from last ish. Puma, Living Laser and "Chameleon" breach the Infinicide with Nightshade, Armadillo and The Spot below ground, but as soon as they steal the device, Spot turns traitor and leaves them all hanging, while Puma's tribal elders have finally cut off his connection to their totem, rendering him powerless (and near suicidal). I liked how their individual personalities still come through, from Nightshade's backstory to Laser wanting to be human again and all that. Van Lente FINALLY utilizes the new Mandarin, who was seemingly collecting dust for years, who Portela made VERY cool looking as he repays Spot's services with banishment. Sigh, between backstabbings and ungrateful bosses, this is why villains never organize and win, like they did in WANTED (and even that had backstabbings and ungrateful bosses). This is becoming a fun caper book that seems to have more fun with itself than some of the more doir "Maggia" stories from a year or so ago (like UNDERWORLD). It'll sell terribly, but for what it is worth it will be a good ride. And I loved Monica's dispatching of Hendricks; "double standards", indeed. This is a solid caper story with a lighter tone than many "hero" works these days, shame if you miss it.
