BOUGHT/THOUGHT for Dec 13th, 2006

[Dread]

Dread, those are probably literal translations of the chinese and not Americanized names. It's more than likely that they're speaking Chinese to each other and their translating it almost verbatim, for all we know their names could be made of 2 words in Chinese or maybe even one, that's pretty much the same as American names. Sorry if I seem snarky, but I don't see what's your beef with it. Considering: Doctor Mid-Nite, Lucy in the Sky, Matter Eater Lad, Arm-Fall-Off Boy, etc. BTW, the PC term is Asian, Oriental is the food.

Touche'.

Although no one said the Legion of Superheroes had cool names either.

 

[MaskedManJRK]

None of you read The Spirit?

Y'all suck, then.

 

[nite-owl]

I did and it was awesome.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

BOUGHT:
52 #32
AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #3
AVENGERS NEXT #3
BATMAN #660
BLADE #4
BULLET POINTS #2
DCU INFINITE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
DMZ #14
EXILES ANNUAL #1
FANTASTIC FOUR: THE END #3
GEN 13 #3
GHOST RIDER #6
HUNTER KILLER #10
INCREDIBLE HULK #101
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #4
MAGICIAN APPRENTICE #4
MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #19
MARVEL MILESTONES ONSLAUGHT
NEW X-MEN #33
OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF INVINCIBLE
ULTIMATE X-MEN #77
VENOM SINNER TAKE ALL #1-5
WHAT IF? VOL 1 #10, 12. 14-15, 17-18, 21, 25-26, 30, 33, 36, 38, 41-42, 44, 46
WHAT IF? VOL 2 #5, 8, 18, 21, 24, 26-28, 32-34, 40-41, 43, 45, 48, 54, 61, 63-65, 67-69, 72, 74-75, 77, 79, 82, 85, 87, 92-94, 100, 112
WOLVERINE #49
WONDER MAN #1
X-23 TARGET X #1
X-FACTOR #14
X-MEN PHOENIX WARSONG #4

THOUGHT:
52 #32 - Titan membership drives and Dibny still searching while a space battle is about to heat up. All good stuff that keeps ya riveted.

AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #3 - This one lacked a little bit of the kick the others had, but was still a good read. New villain, deepening of the plot, and sub-plots gallore. Still the best book for oldschool readers.

AVENGERS NEXT #3 - Another good addition from MC2. We get a glimpse at how devious the foes can be and seeing how the all-new A-Next crew is dealing with threats even the old Avengers had troubles with. So far? I like it!

BATMAN #660 - The story continues as we get some clues into the mystery, and Bats kicks some total ass. Not as good as Detective, but good in it's own right.

BLADE #4 - Blade fights Santa. Really. And more glimpses into his past. Ho-hum. I'll stick with this book probably for no other reason than the belief it'll get axed soon. And if it doesn't, there's truly no justice in Marvel. BRING BACK MY THING!

BULLET POINTS #2 - Peter Hulk smash! Another strange chapter where things get twisted. What I still wanna know is...what the hell was Peter doing out of Queens? And if he was in Queens, why the hell are they doing bomb tests there?!

DCU INFINITE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL - Several Xmas themed tales from the DCU. Guess they got tired of Marvel stealing the holiday thunder. A couple heart warming tales with some humor mixed in, and of course uber bratty Supergirl. Although, she used her brattiness this time to actually make a difference somewhere. Whoda thunk? Oh, and two words: Bat-Santa.

EXILES ANNUAL #1 - You demanded it, Marvel gave it! Sort of. The original Exiles (plus Magnus) return as a ploy to lure the REAL Exiles to a reality so they could be pawns in a cosmic game. Fights ensue followed by a titanic team-up. As enjoyable as the regular series by far, and nice to see some old faces once again. Even if they were alternate reality ones.

FANTASTIC FOUR: THE END #3 - TWO She-Hulks! Oh boy... Torch and Thing reunite, Sue gets caught in underwater perils, and Reed gets technical difficulties. So far the story is moving along at a nice pace, and with two of them together again that means the lines will start to converge bringing it to a head. Love to see who's behind the final fate of the FF.

GHOST RIDER #6 - Holy crap art, Batman! The art was the only thing I really enjoyed a lot on this book, and boy did they just kill that. So we take a break from our Satan hunt to have Johnny hafta deal with a corrupt legal system and get help from equally corrupt people. The art just really killed this story. It was too goofy and, well, crappy.

HUNTER KILLER #10 - Ellis goes awol and ends up finding a soulmate. I dunno, I haven't been enjoying this book since it started up again. Think I might drop it after #12 to see if the story manages to grab my interest again. But with the delays and the weirdness going down, it just can't hold it now.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #4 - The secret of the Starros revealed! Ya know, if it wasn't for the cartoon this'd be yet ANOTHER villain I'd have no clue about. The cartoons rocked! Anyways, the stories are starting to come together...but what will this mean for the league?

MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #19 - Mr. Fantastic vs. Arcade in a battle of wits! A cute little story that teaches a lesson too. Art was horrid, though.

NEW X-MEN #33 - They tried to give you some misdirection in the story, but they failed. Hey, it is hard to pull off sometimes (just a tip; probably not a good idea to have your story title reveal a major clue...)

OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF INVINCIBLE - Haven't read it yet, but you know by default I love handbooks. Gonna dedicate some time to reading this and maybe getting a clue into the Invincible U.

ULTIMATE X-MEN #77 - Bishop and the X-Men take on Cable's Six-Pack, and we learn that Ultimate Xavier is jonesing for Jean much like it was established that our Xavier was. (What, you didn't read X-Men #55? For shame!) Anyways, some action but not much story progression, but hey, it's an Ultimate book. That's expected.

WHAT IF? VOL 2 #34 - What if no one was watching the Watcher? Well, Galactus would be turned into Elvis and then later squash Ant-Man in a fight, the Leader would go hat shopping, Punisher would become a hall monitor AND administer justice in a stern fatherly manner AND be killed instead of his family who become a family of Punishers, Spidey would have a mutant baby that would cause a lot of misadventures and a whole mess of silliness. The tales were quirky and administered a few laughs, but overall as far as comedy books go this one just went too silly in some places without the charm of say Assistant Editor's Month. Still, a decent enough read.

WOLVERINE #49 - A Christmas tale that's anything but jolly. Call me crazy, but this actually felt like a classic Wolvie tale to me. Right place, wrong time, and casually taking care of it without over-the-top dialogue or skeleton rendering blasts. I liked it. My only gripe would be the really morbidly dark ending. Yeesh!

WONDER MAN #1 - Well, the art sucks right off the bat. The plot...I dunno, just not feeling it. I don't think we really needed another Wonder Man book.

X-23 TARGET X #1 - Love the art. Book gives a recap of what happened in the last mini, but overall the pacing was way too quick and sporradic. We were jumping all over the place with little nuance. Hopefully things flow better in the remaining issues.

X-FACTOR #14 - Another good issue with some funny moments. It makes me sad that other David books usually end up sub-par, especially when compared to this one.

X-MEN PHOENIX WARSONG #4 - You know, the fact I even read all 4 issues makes me the dumbest person in the world. Even dumber is the fact I'm gonna get #5 just because I got this far. If I'll read it or not, that remains to be seen.

 

[Max J Power]

Ultimate X-Men #77
The X-Men go after Cable at the Weapon X facility and fight the Six Pack. Xavier reveals that he is in love with Jean. I consistently enjoy this book, but I am often conufsed by the decisions Kirkman makes when writing it. You really can't judge one of his arcs until the end. He definately delivered on the "things are going to be really different from 616 Marvel" statement.

 

[GNR]

Ultimate X-Men #77
The X-Men go after Cable at the Weapon X facility and fight the Six Pack. Xavier reveals that he is in love with Jean. I consistently enjoy this book, but I am often conufsed by the decisions Kirkman makes when writing it. You really can't judge one of his arcs until the end. He definately delivered on the "things are going to be really different from 616 Marvel" statement.

My god how that book has gone down the pooper.

 

[bored]

My reviews won't come up until later, but I'd just like to say that "X-Factor" is amazing and Peter David should win many, many things for just how well he writes these characters.

 

[Darthphere]

My god how that book has gone down the pooper.

It happened in 616, but with more pedophilia.

 

[Not Jake]

WOLVERINE #49 - A Christmas tale that's anything but jolly. Call me crazy, but this actually felt like a classic Wolvie tale to me. Right place, wrong time, and casually taking care of it without over-the-top dialogue or skeleton rendering blasts. I liked it. My only gripe would be the really morbidly dark ending. Yeesh!

I skimmed this in the store, I thought the ending was pretty cool. However, you find that the dialogue wasn't over-the-top? I think that when Wolverine is saying "sez" instead of "says," that's a little over-the-top. It's stupid. Also, when he says "I'm the best at what I do...and what I do isn't...shopping"...that's a little over-the-top.

 

[Darthphere]

I skimmed this in the store, I thought the ending was pretty cool. However, you find that the dialogue wasn't over-the-top? I think that when Wolverine is saying "sez" instead of "says," that's a little over-the-top. It's stupid. Also, when he says "I'm the best at what I do...and what I do isn't...shopping"...that's a little over-the-top.

What are you trying to say?

 

[supermarvelman]

Bullet Points is great!!!

 

[gildea]

Ultimate X-Men #77
The X-Men go after Cable at the Weapon X facility and fight the Six Pack. Xavier reveals that he is in love with Jean.

of all the obscure and forgotten 616 concepts to ultimize..

 

[Darthphere]

of all the obscure and forgotten 616 concepts to ultimize..

Like I said, it sucks because it has 100% less pedophilia.

 

[gildea]

Like I said, it sucks because it has 100% less pedophilia.

true.

We need more comics about kiddy fiddling. It's an untapped market.

 

[bored]

52 Week 32: Black Adam Jr. and his crocodile friend want to join the Teen Titans. And a bunch o' b-listers are still out in space (sorry if that offends fans of them, I don't read a lot of DC). And Dibny and his sidekick, Floating Dr. Fate Head, are in the Himalayas, where they meet that oddly-named Chinese hero that was complained about in an earlier review. How is it that a title with so much going on can be consistently interesting at this kind of rate? Somebody tell Mark Millar about this, stat! 7/10

X-Factor #14: Peter David writes fantastic character interaction, and he puts it to good use in this issue, which is basically all what stems from the meetings the members had with Doc Samson last issue. Guido's encounter with the wife of the man he killed while under mind control is moving, and it's nice to see Layla written as something other than that creepy girl. Jaime and Rictor's conversation in the bar is easily one of the funniest things that this extremely witty title has had. 9/10

New X-Men #33: Hellion's powers are a bit out of control since Emma amped them up to save X-23/Talon(?). Speaking of her, her crush on Hellion is addressed, as Mercury takes her out for coffee and 'girl talk', which is interrupted by soldiers who have been set up the entire issue, apparently going after X-23, though it turns out on the last page that Mercury was their target all along. If not for the arc being called "Mercury Falling", I'd put that in spoilers. Oh well. Still a great title. 9/10

Ghost Rider #6: So, I read all the reviews complaining about the art. I hadn't picked this up yet, so I didn't know what was up. Issue 5's art was certainly alright. Well, this Corben guy just blows. I'm sorry, but there was no need to switch it up, and hopefully he won't stick around, because I'm not going to stick with this if he does. Focusing on the story itself is just not doable when everything looks so stupid. 5/10

Cable and Deadpool #35: Imagine my delight when I saw that my LCS was selling a copy of this a week earlier than they were supposed to. I was looking forward to some Wilson-centric stories, and this gave me one. While Cable and Domino are off being cute together (which royally pisses off Irene), Deadpool is being haunted by visions of people he's killed in the past. There were some great moments of him being forced to look at how violent he is, and feel some degree of remorse for it, even if he was mostly confronted by people like Ajax (the jerk who tortured him and the other failed test subjects from Weapon X), and Tiamat (the space monster he was hired to save the world from). As it turns out, it was all because Cable used a subliminal message to freak Wade out, and hopefully get him to come back to him. Okay, that's out of the way, so hopefully next month can give us some of the Merc With a Mouth being fun again (looks like he's going to take on Taskmaster). Too much of this would get depressing. 8/10

 

[samurai black]

Personal Pick of the week
JLA #4, thought it solid, great action scenes and a set-up for the trinity to start cracking some heads. This book is slowly making me a fan of R-Arsen...Red Arrow (Roy:"Red Arrow?).

 

[Not Jake]

What are you trying to say?

WOLVERINE25TH doesn't like good Wolverine

 

[Colossal Spoons]

HUNTER KILLER #10 - Ellis goes awol and ends up finding a soulmate. I dunno, I haven't been enjoying this book since it started up again. Think I might drop it after #12 to see if the story manages to grab my interest again. But with the delays and the weirdness going down, it just can't hold it now.

Yeah, I'm with you there. Cool concept for a comic and with issue #0 being only 50 cents! I'm def done with this book after this story wraps up unless I'm blown away.

WONDER MAN #1 - Well, the art sucks right off the bat. The plot...I dunno, just not feeling it. I don't think we really needed another Wonder Man book.

I didn't pick it up but I skimmed it. Simon looked like a cross between Johnny Bravo and Quagmire from family Guy lol
X-MEN PHOENIX WARSONG #4 - You know, the fact I even read all 4 issues makes me the dumbest person in the world. Even dumber is the fact I'm gonna get #5 just because I got this far. If I'll read it or not, that remains to be seen.

Once again, I'm with ya. I think a ton of people gut lured into this story because of Endsong's success and the two stories are so far apart in awesomeness. I'll read 5, but I'll be damned if I recommend the series to anybody.

...

 

[Dread]

I feel Ultimate X-Men is at least better than USM right now and is a little less confusing to read than UFF, where Carey is being a bit too ambitious for his own good. Hokey time travel crapola aside, it's an action story, and with Oliver gone they have an artist who excells at that now. The "Xavier loves Jean even though she's barely legal and he's middle aged" is a concept that got tossed around 616 during the Onslaught bit, but they made it seem as though Xavier had a crush on her since she joined, which was during high school. In Ultimate, Xavier never revealed when his crush happened yet so for all we know it could have been recent. Hell, Logan could be about as old and no one said boo when he literally joined the X-Men and put off killing Xavier to shag her.

Hey! That's a tidbit I forgot; originally during Millar's first arc, Wolverine was technically sent to the X-Men to kill Xavier, but he put it off to sleep with Jean and then came to adopt their philosophy (although he still remained a *****e until the end of Millar's launch, even attempting to kill Cyclops in the Savage Land and then lie about it). Subsequent writers have smoothed Ultimate Logan's edges a bit since. As lame as "Ultimate Cable = Future Logan" is, the concept of him going back in time to murder Xavier at least ties into Millar's stuff and has some sort of basis. Maybe 30-100 years into the future, Logan regrets sparing Xavier after all.

But as for the "Xavier/Jean/pedo" issue, naturally it was a tidbit that went no where because the 90's were not a time for gritty innovation (plus, the fanbase would be rightfully outraged, whereas in a new universe like Ultimate, you can go more hardcore). In retrospect, I am surprised Grant "Let's show two fetises strangling each other in the womb because I am a freaky bastard" Morrison never even went near this bit. The fans wouldn't accept it and while the 616 X-verse is dark enough to survive endless slaughter of C list characters, mutant lynchings, endless alien attacks, endless resurrections of Jean Grey, and an overall premise that goes nowhere, it wasn't launched in cynical darkness like Ultimate X-Men and in a way UXM is in better position to possibly explore it. I mean, it's a universe where the X-Men got captured and mutilated by Weapon X in their SECOND ARC, where Pietro & Wanda border on incest almost every issue of Ultimates 1 & 2 they appear in, and where Wolverine didn't just imagine trying to kill Cyclops to get Jean, ACTUALLY TRIED IT (only Scott's guile and luck saved him, and after getting some payback actually took the high road). The 616 X-Men started off like superheroes and it took them a while to get darker, whereas Ultimate X-Men started in a cloud of cynical darkness and only since Vaughan has begun to lighten at times.

Besides, it sets up Xavier for...no, that'd be telling. If you want to guess, check out the March solicts, where Marvel spoils it for you.

 

[Kevin]

But he DID have a crush on her when she joined.

 

[Dread]

But he DID have a crush on her when she joined.

True. But I still think Ultimate is in a better position to do a little something with it. It's a darker universe, an alternate universe, and doesn't have 40+ years of continuity. Plus, Ultimate Xavier has been far darker than his 616 counterpart, at times almost seeming like a creepy cult leader (especially under Millar's launch, and Bendis' yearlong stint). So it makes more sense for Ultimate Xavier than it did for 616 Xavier. Considering Kirkman is actually remembering that Cyclops is a major character, it should hopefully bare fruit. UXM is his worst book but he still has SOME talent.

Considering Cyclops, during Millar's first arc, once got so fed up with Xavier that he briefly joined the Brotherhood, this should really add fuel to the fire.

And yes, it doesn't matter, because Xavier is....

Spoiler

Likely going to die, according to March solicts for an issue after this arc.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

^That spoiler isn't really as shocking. Maybe we didn't already think that for months during HoM.

 

[Dread]

^That spoiler isn't really as shocking. Maybe we didn't already think that for months during HoM.

True, the X-books have used that ploy several times.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Why don't they off somebody new....like Scott

 

[Dread]

Why don't they off somebody new....like Scott

NO! I almost wish X3 never happened. Plus, they played that card in 616 too. Besides, Ultimate Cyclops is argueably my favorite character in the Ultimate X-Men, and it was Millar's hardcore portrayal of him years back that helped me appreciate and even like him as a character (X-Men Evolution and yes, even James Marsden helped).

Why doesn't Ultimate run with some of the innovative ideas that Morrison tried, and failed, to make appealing and make them work out better?