This is the last week of July, and this was the shortest week of July for my wallet. But, I don't know; it seems like all the comics I got this week just decided to collectively phone it in and all deliver various versions of "meh" to fill the trades. Nothing bad, mind you. Of course, it could just be the insomnia talking. As always, full rants and spoilers ahoy.
Dread's Bought/Thought For 7/28/10:
HAUNT #8: This book's schedule has fallen off the rails a bit, which could be because Greg Capullo is slower on the pencils than Ryan Ottley was (he left with issue five), or because Robert Kirkman's been busy lately writing for that TV adaptation of his zombie epic. And Todd McFarlane needs to tag team with another inker. At any rate, this is the perfect example of a book that I like enough to keep buying it at $3 an issue, but if it were (and had been) $3.99 an issue, I may have bailed on it by now. It still reads like a tale of "WHAT IF ROBERT KIRKMAN CO-CREATED SPAWN", as it deals with mysticism, an oddly spandex clad superhero, and a world of black ops and mobsters. Daniel Gilgore's days as a hooker visiting priest are over now that he's stuck with his dead brother Kurt, and the two can merge to become a Haunt, a still unexplained costume clad superhero (in a world without heroes). Having gotten into conflicts out of self defense or to protect loved ones, Daniel and the agency that Kurt worked for decide to make him/them a full agent.
So faster than you can whip up that old DVDA "Montage" Song (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH3q5Uc5E-g), Daniel's completed agent training and is set to be sent out on his first mission. There's some shamelessly unneeded "T&A" with Mirage at a resort (how many covert ops agents on the run from the authorities and mobsters walk around on a beach without a top on, yet can draw a gun from their thong like it was Devil-Slayer's magic cloak). There is also another appearance by Hurg, the mob boss with a name that sounds like a stomach movement, as well as Cobra, my favorite left-over villain from the 90's with more knives than teeth. I think what hurts the book is that while it has more laughs in it than McFarlane would have written in the 90's, it still takes itself very seriously; more so than a lot of Kirkman works, despite being no more grounded in realism than ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN or INVINCIBLE. Still, I did like that while Kurt wanted Daniel to learn how to be an agent, Daniel wanted to test their stamina as Haunt, since it is finite and he needs to now how much so, so Daniel knows how long he has as Haunt before they pass out. And I do think Capullo's art fits the series quite well. HAUNT seems to try to want to straddle the line between superhero and horror like ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN does, but I don't think it does as well. Still, I am interested enough to see where this is going, and to continue with the series. It's sales are quite good for a new Image series, so I imagine they're very happy with it. It's simply a shame McFarlane couldn't seem to add more to the collaboration than some leftover Spawn notes.
At least the brothers aren't bickering every issue. They're united in focus now, which is amusing to play off, at least in the short term. I don't think the angle that to others, Daniel seems to be talking to himself is played out as absurd as it would appear. Still, this keeps me entertained, even if not always for the direct reasons.
FANTASTIC FOUR #581: First we had the Council Of Cross-Time Kang's, and then Hickman gave us the Council of Cross Time Reeds...now, behold the Council Of Cross Time Nathanials! What, not as clever the second time in a row? Oh, well. Neil Edwards continues on his Bryan Hitch Lite artwork as this story seems to try to explore some subplots from previous issues. This continues from the bit with Future Franklin, in which he's returning to Future Val (who is STILL bossing him around) and their grand-pappy, Nathanial. I still wonder whatever happened to Kristoff Vernard, the last runt Nathanial was having time travel adventures with. While Future Val goes to the present to talk with Sue, Nathanial goes into the past to manipulate college aged versions of Reed, Ben, and Victor Von Doom into helping him take on one of his alternate counterparts 3000 years in the future. I do like that Immortus is name dropped as the cause of these shenanigans, as it makes sense.
I guess I just never care for time travel stories. They never obey any proper logic and my eyes tend to glaze over a bit when I read one. It never makes sense how there can be so much mucking with the past and all of reality hasn't decided to just curl up and implode already. The X-Men alone mess with the time line so much...
Still, there are quite a few fun moments, such as a lot of the banter between young Reed, Ben, and Victor that naturally hints of who they will all become in their future. This is the "Future War" that was hinted at, and the fact that Doom plays a vital role has been pretty well set up. Which means Hickman may pull a curve, much as he could do with the Thing subplot, or he could be like Bendis, and assume the obvious IS a curve. I usually defend claims of this book being about as suspenseful as a cow chewing on cud, but this was one issue that was just kind of there for me. It doesn't help that the last issue, with Johnny, Franklin, Impossible Man and Arcade, was so much damned fun. It's like being served ice cream, then broccoli. Hickman's not as slow as Fraction; he likes to structure his stories as done-in-one shots or short arcs that all connect to a whole, and that's fine. But there are sometimes I honestly wouldn't mind ninjas invading, just to get some rises out of people. He's got loads of imagination, but part of me wonders if Hickman's run on FF, cool as it is overall, would have been a hair better if he had a co-writer with a faster pace about things.
SECRET AVENGERS #3: This is another book that has gotten some criticism for seeming like just providing an adventure that ANY team could be on, and I usually bat it away. But this issue had a lot of exposition and very little action, and it seemed very much like the middle chapter of an arc. And middle chapters of arcs shouldn't feel that way. Ed Brubaker's an Eisner Winner, so the expectations are higher. On the upside, Mike Deodato's artwork is pretty good as usual, with some suiting colors by Beredo. To be fair, this wasn't as slow as a middle, or second, or fourth, chapter of a Matt Fraction arc on INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, but it felt like that middle section of an episode where things start to drag a little and you look at the clock.
The beginning of the book confused me, as I thought this was accidentally printed a few pages of JONAH HEX, but it all makes sense later. Rogers and Beast run into Archon, a hulking Kirby style alien who is some sort of guardian, but fortunately Worldmind (via Nova's discarded helmet) breaks things up and gets Archon to lay in the exposition. Apparently the Serpent Crown isn't serving Set, it's serving a cosmic entity called The Abyss that is bad news. Nova and the rest of the drillers on Mars are attempting to free Abyss from Mars, which apparently was once teaming with life before his last shindig.
I also will admit I was wrong. I predicted that Valkyrie would defeat the possessed Nova, or at least stall him a while, but I was wrong; he swats her (and Archon later) aside without much problem. As a Nova fan, while I do like that Nova is being treated as a dangerous threat now that he's possessed, much like Wolverine or Hulk would be. But on the downside, all he has done in this story is serve as a possessed powerhouse, and you could really insert no end of characters in that role and the story would have been the same. With a minor re-write, it could have been Blue Marvel or Captain Ultra or even Aquarian for heaven's sake. Considering this is the only exposure to Nova's awesomeness than many fans get, I am a little disappointed that he's served such a one note role. But I suppose if I wanted to risk picking apart a book I like, that other characters could say the same thing. War Machine serves no purpose other than being functional and filling for Iron Man. Beast fares slightly better as the "smart guy", but still has a predictable niche, encouraging exposition out of strangers and generally doing nothing more.
The threat of Abyss seems to not be directly tied to that of the Shadow Council, which seems to have Nick Fury in it, or at least someone who looks like him; merely exploiting their presence aiding Roxxon in the area. NOVA actually faced a threat called Abyss in his own title (
http://marvel.com/universe/Abyss_(alien)), but I am not getting the vibe that they are connected. Although if they were, it would make a heck of a lot of sense. Abyss was supposedly an ancient evil that was sealed up by the Luminals at Knowhere, and was capable of possessing people. Nova resisted him that time, but maybe this time, Abyss was more prepared, or teamed with Set somehow via the artifact or whatnot. If so, it would give Nova a reason to be there. But, it could all just be the name Abyss being a popular one. The Shadow Council also appears to be run Thorndrake the cowboy from the start of the tale, who discovered some sort of time travel vortex in the desert back in the 19th century. My eyes glaze over at the hint of more time travel.
Judging by the cover of the next issue, it is possible that Worldmind "recruits" Steve Rogers as a Centurion to try to overcome the possessed Nova, which would be ironic as that was what got Ko-Rel herself killed. Only, of course, Rogers is all man and totally whips Rich's butt because, duh, Cap never loses, and they finally get to unite against the bad guys. Or at least that is my hope, because I am also imagining that Nova isn't released until the end, and then flies off to be replaced by Shang-Chi next arc as Nova was merely the first of the rotating position unit of Secret Avengers. It's a book where the adventure and the scale matters more than the characters; they're all supposed to be well oiled soldiers and professionals, so they're supposed to serve functional roles and not call attention to themselves on a mission. The consequence is they get lost to the mission. I get that. This issue merely felt slower to me than the last two. Not bad, though. And since AVENGERS ACADEMY is a different sort of team, this still serves as my core AVENGERS book, and overall I am still pleased with it.
THOR #612: Yet another "middle of the arc" issue of a comic this week in which characters do nothing but stand around and talk over stuff, with the real meat coming next issue. Back in the old days, comics just skipped this sort of thing, but after Ultimate made it cool to spend 7 issues showing a character wiping their rear and talking to a wall, suddenly every arc of every comic got an issue too long if an editor and writer didn't pay attention. So we have Kieron Gillen getting in some monologues and functional dialogue and Doug Braithwaite getting to draw lots of gods, zombies, and demons talking.
I guess the one moment that stuck out to me is a bit where Thor says, "Then you know them. It must be you and I," and we need a full panel to have Tyr say something as uselessly obvious as, "That that is how it will be." And that same page Thor goes on about how while the living risk their lives, the dead risk their "forevers", which was only obvious last issue. And we have villains as great as the Disir doing nothing but talk and grumble and talk some more. Thor and Tyr beam down into hell with Hela and after a brief fight, suddenly we're told that there's this Sword Maguffin they need to kill the Disir. Like POWER RANGERS, it will totally kill them with ease, even if the story insists it may not (you don't introduce a magical sword into a story unless it totally kills the threat of the week in one attack). But the task is finding it. While Tyr is said to be of vital importance to Hela's defense, he's mostly brushed off so Thor can travel alone.
The best part about this issue was Mephisto. Gillen has a ball writing him, and Braithwaite seemed to enjoy drawing his scenes. It is during these segments that the comic seems to come alive. And I get that Gillen understands the characters of Thor, Balder, and Tyr (who he inserted into the mix when he came on) and it's nice to get stuff fleshed out. But then I start thinking Tom DeFalco was on the money when he recently criticized too many writers of writing "radio dramas" and not comics. Not that Gillen's as bad at that as many, but when I smell a hint of it, my JMS-Sense tingles.
Part of me wonders that while Thor is there, he can't try to drag out Parker's Marriage from Mephisto and bring it back to Midguard, since he and Spidey are technically Avengers now. I imagine if anyone could, it'd be Thor. But only Pak & Van Lente are mad enough to fix the marriage mess that way, yet talented enough to make such a thing awesome.
In truth, this week I didn't read comics about characters that did anything. I read comics about characters who prepared to do something next month, and with some cover prices at four bucks, that sometimes isn't good enough to give me a complete smile at the end.
