Solid week. I also got the Official Handbook, which I haven't absorbed yet. As always, spoilers ahoy.
Dread's Bought/Thought for 12/15/10:
AVENGERS ACADEMY #7: If one goes by alphabetical order, this week's Marvel offerings lived up to their A-titles. Both this and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #650 (see below) were quite good. Why did this win out to take my Examiner column's top spot? A more emotional story featuring yet another attempt to revision Hank Pym, an appearance by Absorbing Man where he gets to do more than be a dumb thug, and finally, being the best Avengers book in terms of quality while being the lowest selling of the four. In fact the only foibles of this issue are behind the scenes. Shipping two weeks later than originally solicited, that seems to be because there was a change in penciler. Mike McKone is still credited as the solo artist in the recap page, while the cover credits Tom Raney. The artwork within is definitely Raney's; McKone only drew the cover. That isn't to say that Raney's artwork is bad; he has worked on such hits as ANNIHILATION CONQUEST in the past. As always, writer Christos Gage continues to tell solid Avengers stories that give many characters things to do, while focusing on a star of the issue.
The first six issues sought to introduce us to the cadets, who aside for Reptil were all new characters made specifically for this series. With a format like that, this means that eventually one runs out of students. Thus, Gage has started to give their instructors some focus, and this first issue delves into Hank Pym. A founding Avenger and an older character than the rest of the cast, Pym is a character who has gone through no end of turmoil, revisions, and costume changes. As the cover displays, this time he goes back to one of his original mantles, Giant-Man. The angle is that all of his other identities were to attempt to be someone he is not, or to deny that he was a superhero. His latest, as the Wasp, was to honor the memory of his ex-wife, Janet Van Dyne, who died at the end of SECRET INVASION. The fact that Pym is Giant-Man in DISNEY XD's "AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES" cartoon which is viewed by more people than buy most comic books is perhaps too much of a coincidence to ignore, but Gage is able to genuinely pull off the move as a character growth moment. Pym isn't the only character who develops this issue; Tigra, who Gage has been very fond of since his days on AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, shares the issue with him. Jocasta and Justice also get more to do here than in some prior issues. This issue successfully combines Hank Pym's development in Dan Slott's MIGHTY AVENGERS (which Gage assisted on for some issues) with his past and manages to bring a "back to the future" approach to him. If one is reading for the youngsters, this could be a problem as they do very little this issue, although after dominating it for six, it isn't too bad to see them take a back seat for once. The main cliffhanger revolves around the idea that Pym may be able to resurrect Janet, but whether or not he should, or if it would succeed without a hitch. Is his heart clouding his mind's judgment? And does another party desire her to be alive even more?
Tom Raney's style is perhaps closer to that of Jorge Molina, the last fill-in artist, than it is to Mike McKone. The fact that there are two inkers (Dave Meikis and the regular Scott Hanna) and two colorists (the regular Jeromy Cox flanked by Andrew Crossley) is a sign there was some rush to make deadline, or to make December at all. While Raney seems to draw many faces in a similar fashion, especially in terms of eyebrows, his style is as effective as always for the superhero antics, and doesn't clash with that of McKone too much. The Giant-Man costume sees some modest new details but is by and large the same as it was in the 60's, complete with the scary eyebrow antennae. Overall, this series remains what it has become; the best Avengers title for the lowest cover price (all the rest are $3.99). It utilizes the whole of Avengers history for both it's old and new characters, and manages to find interesting angles to even the most mundane or simplistic villains. While a twelfth issue has been confirmed by Gage via Twitter, it is a near travesty that sales for this title were below 30,000 copies in November. In this volatile market, it seems many of the better books have borne the brunt for the higher prices of the larger ones. This is a comic too good to wait for the trades on; if one hasn't given it a try, run to your local comic shop and snap it up, pronto.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #650: Not only a large issue number that ends in a zero as well as an issue in which Spider-Man changes his costume (to something that vaguely resembles TRON, because Disney owns Marvel), but the third chapter of "Big Time". New solo writer Dan Slott continues on with his initial arc as the lone narrative voice of the franchise (after sharing it with 2-3 other writers since 2008), with Humberto Ramos aboard on art and Edgar Delgado handling the colors (alongside three inkers for deadline purposes). Spider-Man has to deal with a brand new Hobgoblin, who seems to be deadlier and better equipped than the last few versions. Caught in the crossfire are Peter Parker's genius boss and co-workers from Horizon labs, where he's just landed the best gig of his life.
Although the lead story is "only" 22 pages this month, Slott is a master of having quite a lot happen in a typical modern-day comic than many other writers do. The fact that he maintains this pace for individual issues despite the fact that two ship a month makes the story feel even more fast paced. While it is no mystery who the Hobgoblin is this time, there still is plenty of tension about who he is and what he is up to, even as his civilian life is followed - this time he is more akin to a disturbed serial killer who doubles as a mobster mercenary than someone who is flat out insane, or solely a mercenary. Because the villain has upped his game, Spider-Man has upped his - with a new costume to cancel out this new Hobgoblin's powers, and a tag-team with Black Cat. As bonuses, Kingpin comes to grips with his new Hobby, SHADOWLAND is acknowledged, and Peter's current gal Carlie meets his ex-wife/never-wife Mary Jane.
Slott also writes an eight page back-up strip featuring his new Spider-Slayer (who is an older one with a newer design) and continuing his subplot with Mac Gargan, formerly Scorpion and Venom. Neil Edwards and Scott Hanna pencil and ink the strip, alongside Morry Hollowell's colors. Given how many Marvel comics are $3.99 for little to no reason, at the very least "Big Time" has offered either a longer main story than many "typical" comics (as in over 22 pages), and/or offered a back-up strip. Readers who haven't read the series in a while haven't been punished by this new launch, and the quality of these issues remains as high as it was in #648 - the story has simply progressed. It offers thrills, chills, and spills in the form of comedic interludes (Peter's "cover story" for his Horizon buddies is classic). Three issues in, and this is already not only a run that sells within the Top 10-15 sellers of the comic sales charts, but actually deserves to.
CHAOS WAR #4: The last issue, which shipped at the start of November, wasn't good enough to warrant a review; a rare hiccup in the constant gravy train of quality that writers Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente have brought to the Hercules franchise all these years. This issue, however, gets things back on track, despite depicting two heroes on the cover who barely appear within (Thor has one panel, and Silver Surfer is in a recap page image). In terms of this "mini event", December is the heaviest month; a total of eight chapters of it appear, whether as this core mini, side mini's (such as DEAD AVENGERS), a crossover with INCREDIBLE HULKS, or one shots. To a degree this has watered down the basic story somewhat, although the crux of the action remains with this main series, and the reader isn't as punished for not reading the side material as they were down the stretch with SHADOWLAND. In the last series, the Chaos King all but literally consumed all of reality, or at least most of it, in his quest to return existence itself to a blank void. Hercules' God-Squad team have been swiftly scattered and defeated, and not even the Hulk or Alpha-Flight (!) can save the day. Hercules and Amadeus Cho retreat to one of the last bastions of reality, where the few remaining gods have piled up with Gaea to say their final farewells. Some, such as Balder and Hercules himself, wish to make a final stand. Meanwhile, Athena, goddess of wisdom, once again displays her duplicity by joining forces with the Chaos King and claiming that she had planned this all along - to either give "reality" a chance to reset and get things right, or to mold the proper hero to be a bastion for the new era. While she intended for Cho to be her "hero of the mind", it turns out that Hercules may be able to learn some new tricks as well. The biggest question remains: who will be alive when this is all said and done? Greg Pak continues to write INCREDIBLE HULKS and is launching a new SILVER SURFER series, and one could imagine Cho showing up in either. But will Hercules cheat death for a third time?
The issue is perfectly paced and the cliffhanger leaves one almost fuming that this won't be concluded until 2011, as it should be. Khoi Pham continues on his excellent pencils while Thomas Palmer handles inks and Sunny Gho continues to almost steal the show with exceptional color work. Next month looks to see Pak and Van Lente's INCREDIBLE HERCULES saga come to an end after over three years, and it looks to be ending in style. It would be nice to see a Marvel event sent on earth do that.
IRON MAN LEGACY #9: This is the fourth part of the Industrial Revolution arc of this, which is Iron Mans B-title which is set in past continuity an editors note states that this was the era of Iron Man circa 1984, when he was deposed from his company by Obadiah Stane and left penniless on the streets. Secondary titles that are set in the past and thus dont count in terms of modern continuity tend to sell poorly, and this title is no exception. This arc is set to end with issue eleven or twelve and I would be surprised if this title was not canceled by then. That actually is a shame because if one doesnt only read important comics, Fred Van Lente has done a solid job of writing an Iron Man story set in the past during his lowest period. The pace is faster than that of the important Iron Man book, INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, and Stark actually fights villains very often. The main goal of this story is to tell a story based in the 1984 era with modern day retro-active continuity inserted that wasnt there before. Thus, Tony Stark is being menaced by the Pride, who in RUNAWAYS were set up as the secret crime syndicate who ruled California until very recently.
This issue is more of a set up issue for the next than most issues of this run have been. Stark has virtually no funds and can barely keep his armor running. He has stumbled into the home of a mentally challenged man and his daughter and has used that experience to invent a new gadget to rebuild his fortune with. He has attempted to rally the citizens of the low income neighborhood around him, which has proven difficult. Neither Stane or the Pride want him to succeed, and have employed both criminals and bureaucratic cronies to make sure he cannot purchase a factory to manufacture his prototypes in. In this issue, Tony learns that he cant do everything alone. James Rhodes, who is the official Iron Man now, alongside Reed Richards help Stark out with trying to get investors, and Stark decides that it is time he stopped playing by the rules, since his enemies arent. Having exploited the media and the negative view of the LAPD to be able to squat in the factory, the Pride have decided to take care of Stark with the most predictable villain tactic in fiction; kidnap his current girlfriend.
Steve Kurth does the pencils, alongside John Rauchs colors and Allen Martinez. It isnt the best artwork ever, and there is one error with She-Hulks glove (as she was part of the Fantastic Four of the time), but it is perfectly effective for the story. The armors look fine, and Kurth manages to capture elements of the Pride, as well as their magical benefactors, that were once drawn by Adrian Alphona. Kurth is able to pencil normal people, armored heroes and even monsters and have it all flow dynamically.
With INVINCIBLE IRON MAN adjusting (or raising) its price to $3.99, this comic is your only method of getting any sort of Tony Stark adventures for three dollars.
THUNDERBOLTS #151: With the anniversary issue done, this series reverts back to a $2.99 price tag. As the cover states, this issue is about Ghost, and goes over his origin. While he was introduced in 1987, barely a mention of his origin was ever mentioned beyond that he was once a business executive and they made him what he is. Jeff Parker has finally seen fit to detail this origin. Aside for that, however, little else happens. Ghost shares his origin with Moonstone, and to signify that Juggernaut's way down in strength class, the next mission is so intense that Hyperion is being dusted off to join the T-Bolts (especially since Crossbones is officially off the team). Kev Walker continues on art with Frank Martin on colors; Greg Land does the cover art, and it's actually one of his best covers in a long time. Man-Thing, however, does not appear within, and Juggernaut himself only pops up in one panel. It's distinctly a Ghost issue, with Moonstone tagging along.
The tricky thing here is, actually, figuring out where Ghost's origin would fit in terms of continuity vs. history. As the slide scale of Marvel time always shifts, that means that the FF didn't debut until the mid 1990's, and that the Soviet Union of Marvel didn't fold in 1991. At any rate, that might mean Ghost's origin of the late 1980's Marvel could be shifted into being, possibly, part of the dot-com boom corporate era of the late 90's until about 2000-2001. His name isn't revealed but he was exploited by three executives as part of Omnisapient, one of many I.T. companies out there. He survived their attempt to forever "silence" him after years of exploitation and manipulation and has become the Ghost. He's both some sort of armored cyber-space metahuman as well as someone who was driven mad by corporate shenanigans. It isn't a bad origin, although one could likely fathom that in 1987, a writer might have told it in 2-3 pages, while in 2010, it fills about 16.
One could probably call this "filler", but I probably enjoyed this issue more than the last. The "Crossbones gets super powers" subplot wraps up almost too quickly, as if Jeff Parker has no expectation of any other editor or writer to acknowledge it, so he reverts Rumlow back to status quo. Now, I'm not saying I would have exactly wanted to see Crossbones having weird eye beam powers forever; between he and Shaodow-Knight (from SHADOWLAND: MOON KNIGHT), it seems eye-beams are the powers du jour for formerly powerless villains. I do feel it is an testament to the sheer inability of writers and/or editors to communicate that some writers distinctly feel the need to tie up their own loose ends neatly because they know if they don't, someone else will ignore it.
At any rate, not a bad issue, but AGENTS OF ATLAS/ATLAS was somehow better than T-Bolts is even for some of it's worst issues, which were probably AVENGERS VS. ATLAS for me. While Fred Van Lente took four issues to tell Taskmaster's origin, on the whole it was executed a lot better. Once the team is back on a real mission again, I am sure things will pick up.
I thought it was great, just getting its stride when it just abruptly stopped. It was a sad day for all.
