Bought/Thought for July 28, 2010 - SPOILERS

[JewishHobbit]

And now on to the three issues I actually liked this month:

Green Lantern Corps 50 – You know, if this were Marvel they’d have made the issue number a big thing, through a reprint of the first issue in the back, add nothing of substance, and charged $4 or $5 for it. Thanks to DC for not raping me like that.

Anyhow, the issue was good. I’m not a big fan of the Alpha Lanterns but this is a good story. I like Cyborg Superman and his being tied to the Alpha Lanterns is an interesting story to tell. I’m enjoying it very much and I actually liked his back story with what’s happened since the Sinestro Corps War. I also liked that they tied the issue in a bit with Green Lantern and the mysterious character gathering the Icons. I’m not much of a John Stewart fan, but I do like Kyle, Soranik, and Ganthet, so the books has enough characters I like to make me care for it. And John can grow on me.

Green Lantern 56 – I really enjoyed this issue. I loved the whole deal with Larfleeze stealing stuff left and right and making a kingdom out of all the junk. I’m not a huge fan of Hector Hammond but I liked the ending of this story and his going all Parallax with the Orange Entity. Best scene of the book though… Larfleeze writing Santa a Christmas letter

Green Arrow 2 – This book is still on probation with me and only 2 issues in I already like it better than most Marvel books I read a month. I love the Robin Hood feel of the book and as a Green Lantern fan his being here this issue also helped my enjoyment of it. The ending with Oliver getting shot in the head with an arrow has me curious what will come next. And for the record, I LOVE the cover artist. Both issues so far have had amazing covers.


Best and Worst of the Week:

Best – Green Lantern 56: This issue was all about Larfleeze for me. He is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite characters period, and Johns is doing a great job with him.

Worst – Uncanny X-Men 526: I think I covered it pretty well in my initial covering of it. I think the lackluster storytelling of Fraction on this book, the lack of growth, and the bad art is just too much for me to really deal with. If this book doesn’t change within the next 6 issues or so I may STRONGLY consider dropping it. I really wish it wasn’t the flagship of the X-Books.

 

[squeekness]

Worst – Uncanny X-Men 526: I think I covered it pretty well in my initial covering of it. I think the lackluster storytelling of Fraction on this book, the lack of growth, and the bad art is just too much for me to really deal with. If this book doesn’t change within the next 6 issues or so I may STRONGLY consider dropping it. I really wish it wasn’t the flagship of the X-Books.

Alas, Uncanny had been boring me for a while. I am such a completeist that I keep buying it though I really should drop it. I could care less about anyone in it lately. I guess I keep thinking (foolishly) that the one issue I don't buy will be the one where Gambit shows up and actually gets used.

 

[Dread]

The ever shifting status quo has been a problem with the X-Men for a long time. If the entire Marvel Universe was ever-changing, the X-Men had it twice as bad. What the brain surgeons at Marvel fail to realize is that "change" isn't so shocking when it is no longer the exception, but the norm, and there IS no status quo to get used to. Many things are better when a long term approach is needed, but Marvel can barely think 12 months in the future and stick to it, much less 24 months or, heaven help us, 36 months. I think Katy Perry has a song about dudes like that.

I do agree that it is a bit soon for yet another class of students, especially seeing how poorly the last new kids have been treated. I do think, though, that M-Day was a dead end story and it HAD to end, so having five new mutants pop up is essential to get onto the core concept of the franchise.

The problem is that "new" X-Men characters clearly are in a hierarchy. The ones from the 80's are "more important" than the ones from the 90's, and the ones from after the year 2000 are sheer expendable canon fodder compared to the first two groups. Members of ACADEMY X are literally asked to sacrifice their lives for Magik from the 80's clan for no other purpose than because she's been around longer, for instance. It's true of many other new heroes around Marvel, who are often abandoned, mutilated, or killed in the background panels of events, but it seems the X-Men franchise takes any flaw that is plaguing the rest of Marvel as a whole, and makes it at least twice as bad. Part of the problem is that many people who write and edit for Marvel who are so old, to them, "new" is someone made during the Bill Clinton administration.

True, Nightcrawler and Cable were just offed for SECOND COMING. But anyone who doesn't think they'll be back in a few years, good as new, without the slightest blemish, once the next squad of writers comes in, is kidding themselves. Will Wallflower ever come back? Will Hellion get some new hands? Nope. They're dead or mangled - forever. There's a caste system in Marvel, and it tends to effect the newer characters, especially in the X-Men. The world ground to a halt when Nightcrawler died. No one cared when Stacy X did. Preferences aside, one would imagine newer characters themselves might notice that.

Personally, I'd like to see Marvel's youth movement become more self aware, and go on strike. Literally. Like a big event comes and Steve Rogers goes on one of his usual speeches that amounts to, "This is important, come fight and die for us," and all the new young characters said, "Y'know what, until you geezers die and it is finally our turn to step up, no. We'd like to matter more than just to fight the wars of your generation, that mean nothing to us, and to die alone and unrecognized while Wolverine can literally fly into the sun and be resurrected in time for SUPERNATURAL," and everyone is holding up signs about "NEVER FORGET ______" and have names like Microbe or Hornet or DJ or whoever on it, who have been forgotten. It might be entertaining.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Here's my thoughts on the X-Men. They work best as groups of teams... set, concrete groups of teams.

1. Original Team
2. All New All Differant
3. New Mutants
4. X-Factor
5. Australian
6. And all that pinnacled in the 90's relaunch when they all came together.

Now, this all worked because there was a set team in each of these and when someone was introduced or came from elsewhere to join the team... it was a big deal and worked in naturally. Costumes were consistent and again, if they changed, it was a big deal. And the other X-Books were unique and made sense separate from the rest.

Now, in my opinion, the 90's relaunches stayed consistent and relevant through the decade until the end of the Twelve storyline just prior to the Revelations relaunch with Chris Claremont. This is due to the fact that the team remained fairly consistent. New additions to the team were handled with care (Cannonball, Joseph, Maggott, Cecelia Reyes, Marrow) and departures and costume changes were done properly.

When Revolutions hit suddenly everyone but Wolverine had a new costume with no explanation. Cable was already a part of the team like it was no big thing. We were never introduced to Thunderbird III but he was there anyhow (we'd later learn the story in X-Men Unlimited). Marrow completely vanished unexplained. But even with all this, it still wasn't too bad because at least after this sudden shock, the story remained consistent and the characters remained steady.

Then New X-Men and Casey/Austen's Uncanny X-Men hit. Again, costume changes unannounced and unexplained. Starting an arc previous to this with Eve of Destruction, tons of known X-Men who were around just kinda vanished with no explanation. Chamber and Emma were added to the team but neither made sense according to the ending of Generation X. But the biggest problem, and I think it's the biggest problem to date, is that suddenly two books went side by side with nothing connecting them. They were all X-Men with no link in the slightest. There is no sense of team when the teamo is split into non-connection factions. The only one that made sense was X-Treme X-Men, the rest was just around. I mean, where was the Uncanny team when Magneto was killing Manhatten in Planet X?

And from that point on we had writers come and and change whatever they wanted, ignoring previous continuity, and ignoring portions of what the other X-Writers were doing. There hasn't been a sense of team ever since and very little character growth. Add that to the fact that Grant Morrison started the De-evolution of the characters from their original morals to questionable morals, which undid so much of the growth that had come before. Particularly this effects Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean, Warren, and Emma (yes, she was on a moral upswing prior to that due to Gen X).

I don't know... I just think it's all gone downhill, not necessarilly in individual story calibre, but in the overall feel and greatness of the X-Books... right around the time of Revolution.

So yeah... the 2000's have sucked and made the X-Men lose focus, but I was hoping that Second Coming would end that and 2010 would start fixing the problems. I'm not pleased thus far.

 

[Dread]

You're basically complaining that the X-Men's editorial office was able to keep things more cohesive until the 2000's, when writers and creative teams were in more control, and given more leeway. Ironically, I remember in the late 90's when even WIZARD was complaining that the editors were all but writing the X-Men books themselves (back when Wizard still complained and wasn't simply a Big Two advertising venue).

The argument that the X-Men were "great" in the late 90's compared to the much worshiped Morrison run is an Internet feud waiting to happen. Personally, I liked Morrison's ideas more than some of his actual execution back then. It took me a while to accept Frost (but I have). Unfortunately, most of his ideas have been abandoned or misused since.

Marvel's editorial teams in general have a tough time keeping things together. Each run is considered a parallel universe from the last because they envision people buy trades of runs they like, not characters. A lack of long term editorial focus has plagued many franchises; the X-Men I think have just gotten the worst end of it. I sort of see the X-Men as like former star ****e in Marvel's Bordello Of Ideas. They got a lot of nice rides, hauls, and moments with them. They exploited them for over a decade with less shame or long term planning than a drug dealer with a mansion made of heroin. But now the X-Men are suffering the consequences of all that exploitation and abuse, but does the bordello care? Nope. They're already onto the Avengers, and the X-Men are old news, shoved into the back room and just given the bare minimum "for old time's sake". And this sucks if you're an X-Men fan, but if you're not, you usually tend not to care.

 

[runawayboulder]

I just found out that Spawn is approaching #200. #198 came out this week, does anyone even care anymore?

 

[Tron Bonne]

I'm kind of surprised people even cared back then to be honest

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The guy who owns my shop was telling me that Spawn used to sell pretty consistently (although never as high as in the '90s), but lately it's been dropping. I don't know how anyone maintained interest in Spawn beyond a few issues, personally.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I only read the first 3 to 6 issues (can't quite remember) and I remember liking it at the time. I've actually considered going back and trying it out again.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Here's a synopsis of the entire series: Spawn is angsty because he can't go back to his human life and hovers around his old house, pining for his wife. Occasionally, Hell sends something to Earth and Spawn kills it.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Fantastic Four #581 - Hickman's run has so far been obviously setting up some big stuff (which is the upcoming "3" story arc), but with this issue the pieces start to come a bit more into place, as Nathaniel Richards is reintroduced and we learn what the future version of Franklin who appeared a few issues ago was up to. Nathaniel's a bit of a complicated character to have in the mix, but it works well here, and the depictions of the young Reed, Ben, and Doom are all spot-on (I particularly like Ben's love of the mecha-suit he's given). Neil Edwards' art is now super-Hitch-like, though I suspect that's because Paul Neary is now on inks; it looks great, in any event.

Secret Avengers #3 - good stuff overall; some of the cast is pretty peripheral so far (Natasha, especially, but it's only been three issues, and she's got regular gigs in two other titles), but everybody's written well, and we've got a decent overarching myth arc in the works. Deodato's art is pretty good, and comparatively restrained in terms of T and A, though like a lot of modern artists he really struggles with the Watchers (no shame, not even Kirby could really make them look cool).

Thor #612 - Gillen's first arc continues to be quite nice, and Braithwaite's arrival has definitely upped the atmosphere considerably compared to the guy who did last issue. I'd like to see Braithwaite stick around in the future, between this and his good work in SI: Thor. I like the depiction of Hela as genuinely involved in her duties to the dead Asgardians, nicely free of some of the modern connotations of death gods. The best scenes are the ones with Mephisto, who Gillen is clearly having fun writing.

Uncanny X-Men #526 - writing-wise, I think this was a fairly strong issue; Fraction picks up the main plot from the end of "Second Coming" and runs with it, while also doing a bit of aftermath on Nightcrawler's death, and having Tony Stark show up to meet with Emma (whether that will be more than a cameo or not, I don't know). The main knock against this is Portacio, whose art is pretty uneven; the big power-reveal sequence really isn't that impressive, and the women's hairstyles often look truly bizarre.

Wolverine: Weapon X #15 - a decently written conclusion to what has been a good arc, albeit one that has had progressively less to do with Wolverine himself the longer it has gone on. It ends up being the origin story for a new Deathlok as much as anything - though the reveal was obvious by midway through the issue, Aaron managed to completely conceal it for most of the way through the arc, which was nice. Aaron writes Logan and all the guest characters well, and Garney on art is customarily good.

Wonder Woman #601 - the first issue of the new direction, and, eh, not really feeling it. It's all competently done, I suppose, but it mostly doesn't feel much like Wonder Woman, and it feels very disconnected from everything else that's happened in the past. Of course, that's quite intentional, but for someone who was reading the series for a while before JMS arrived (even if it was a rather problematic run on its own), it's kind of annoying, particularly given that JMS is playing into all the longstanding flaws that have bedevilled Wondy as a character (all new villains, the entire supporting cast getting ditched, etc.). And the new costume is really generic; while the old suit was a bit silly (I'm firmly in the camp that wants a battle-skirt), it at least stood out.

 

[Dread]

I just found out that Spawn is approaching #200. #198 came out this week, does anyone even care anymore?

Amazingly, SPAWN remained Image's best selling series until THE WALKING DEAD hit high gear and HAUNT began. Even now it likely is one of Image's top 5 sellers. Which probably isn't saying much.

 

[Phaedrus45]

If I remember right, Spawn is the featured bad guy in Image United. I wonder if the delay in that comic effects his regular series at all. I collected Spawn when it first came out, and I think I lasted until issue #65. I kind of got tired of Todd McFarlane. He was so praised, and his letter pages were equally devoted to singing those praises as they were ripping on Marvel comics. Yet, he was really doing so little after he left and formed Image. (At least, it seemed that way to me.) Weren't most issues of Spawn not even done by him? It seemed he was happy living off royalties from his comic, action figures, and all that other junk he was into.

 

[runawayboulder]

I stopped reading on #7. How I made it that far to begin with, I'll never know. It was like the launch of Spider-Man all over again, great art with horrible writing. I remember all my friends were going ga ga over the book and I was like "are you kidding, it sucks".

Comic fans have strange tastes. There's a lot of people that tend to jump on a bandwagon or 2. McFarlane and Bendis are prime examples of their successes being based on that.

I wasn't into the comic, hated the movie but loved the HBO series.....hmmmmmmmmm.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Amazingly, SPAWN remained Image's best selling series until THE WALKING DEAD hit high gear and HAUNT began. Even now it likely is one of Image's top 5 sellers. Which probably isn't saying much.

The guy at my shop and I were talking about how Kirkman is basically the only creator at Image who's doing anything worthwhile now (not counting the various creator-owned minis and such that come and go). Everything he touches turns to gold lately, it seems.

 

[Dread]

The guy at my shop and I were talking about how Kirkman is basically the only creator at Image who's doing anything worthwhile now (not counting the various creator-owned minis and such that come and go). Everything he touches turns to gold lately, it seems.

It probably has something to do with Robert Kirkman being one of few major creators at Image, including the founders, who has more than one franchise idea as well as isn't stuck in repeating the 1990's endlessly until we all die.

I was never into SPAWN for long, personally. Although I've heard the cartoon on HBO wasn't bad.

 

[JewishHobbit]

You're basically complaining that the X-Men's editorial office was able to keep things more cohesive until the 2000's, when writers and creative teams were in more control, and given more leeway. Ironically, I remember in the late 90's when even WIZARD was complaining that the editors were all but writing the X-Men books themselves (back when Wizard still complained and wasn't simply a Big Two advertising venue).

Back then I paid little to no attention who who was the writer and what editorial was doing. I just enjoyed the stories and the continuity of the characters (heroes and villains) and the lines in general. I actually remember the first time I read something about giving writers more leeway for good story over editorial control of continuity and I was skeptic but trusted good writers to write good stories.

Unfortunately, I've since discovered that many writers can write good stories but have no respect or knowledge of what's come before, so the continuity aspect is thrown aside. For me, that kills the enjoyment of the storeis themselves, shooting the writer's good story in the foot.

So I guess I'm all for editorial all but writing the stories, as it seemed more cohesive and enjoyable. At least for the X-Line.

 

[JewishHobbit]

For some reason I was just never really into anything Image, even back during their heyday. The only two titles that really caught my eye was Spawn and Maxx. I've read the first 6 or so issues of each and I was curious but couldn't really afford them at the time. Spawn I'm still iffy on but I know Maxx is long done and concluded, and I was more curious about that one as I really enjoyed the little of it I saw on MTV I think it was. Spawn I may never get around to, but I still kinda wanna finish Maxx.

 

[hippie_hunter]

It probably has something to do with Robert Kirkman being one of few major creators at Image, including the founders, who has more than one franchise idea as well as isn't stuck in repeating the 1990's endlessly until we all die.

I was never into SPAWN for long, personally. Although I've heard the cartoon on HBO wasn't bad.

The HBO series was awesome. It's the only time that Spawn has been any good, that includes comics, video games, movies, etc.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

When I started regularly reading and collecting, the Image books were just too dark fer me. I liked the lighter, funner, more heroic stories Marvel had to offer.

Here's a B/T from me. Cap 1940s Strips, so far the story is pretty good, but I just wish they did a little bit more to make the art resemble 1940s art. Right now it feels like I'm reading a weirdly formatted Cap book. Especially considering the awesome "aging" job done on #2's cover. Granted, that's closer to 60s style, but even that would have helped enhance the feel of this.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Dangnation! I just finished reviewing nine titles, and somehow The Hype logged me out. So, it all disappeared. Here are some quickie reviews, with the rest of the nine to follow after I've picked up my kid.

Green Arrow #2

J.T. Krul has done a great job getting some interest in Ollie again. I didn't go ga-ga over the first issue, as I thought it was a bit talky and the action sequence didn't win me over. But, this is a solid second issue with a good guest appearance by Green Lantern. This fight sequence was much better, and the ending had me wanting more.

World War Hulks: Captain America Vs. Wolverine #2

This is easily the better of the two WWHs minis that came out this week. Unlike the other, we get a clear winner in the end, and Tobin does a great job of giving us an interesting backstory about a very early previous meeting between Winter Soldier and Logan. It just shows a good writer can even make the lamest concept seem a bit more interesting.

World War Hulks: Spider-Man Vs. Thor #2

This one sucked eggs! No clear-cut winner in the end...and, it just made Hulked-Out Heroes concept seem extremely corny. Hopefully, there won't be more books throughout the years devoted to this idea, like Marvel Zombies.

Wolverine: Weapon X #15

Even though I do like Aaron's work, this title does nothing for me. I hate that we get another incarnation of Deathlok...and, even worse, they give him Wolverine-style energy claws. Thankfully, it's the last issue in this storyline; but, I know a few years down the road, some other writer will try and resurrect an interest in Deathlok, and a new one will be made again.

Return Of Bruce Wayne #4

Maybe the most disappointing issue yet...and, that's saying quite a bit. The most interesting aspect of the story has been removed entirely, which is now being told in Time Vanishers. That's not why it's disappointing, though. It's because I was looking forward to a Bruce Wayne/Jonah Hex team-up, and Morrison failed to deliver. Why is Hex even in this comic, because his brief appearance is gone to waste. He does nothing significant to advance the story, and I'm left finding this one of the most disappointing events in DC history.

 

[Phaedrus45]

PunisherMax #9

Bullseye has been showing up a lot lately; but, he's nowhere better than in Aaron's PunisherMax. Sure, this issue is a little bit of the same, especially as we continue to see Bullseye studying Frank Castle before he actually takes him on ... much like what we had been seeing in Tobin's Marvel Adventures Spider-Man until recently ... but, it still is very interesting, and next issue promises that the real battle will finally happen.

Wonder Woman #601

It's really too bad that Simone was booted from this title; because, Straczynski has failed to impress. I had to fight to stay awake, as I doubled back on what I read a couple times. I just had a sense of confusion mixed with not really caring a whole lot. I mean, is Straczynski even recognizing previous storylines, because it all feels like he's starting over from scratch. Maybe down the line there will be a better explanation; but, right now I'm just scratching my head. Thus far, the Straczynski era at DC has only one highlight, and that's his work on Brave And The Bold.

Action Comics #891

This is another comic that brings to mind Straczynski. How much more interesting is Cornell's Lex Luthor centered storyline than that his first full issue of Superman. Even with a rather corny caterpillar creature (probably made many, many years ago when DC villians were a bit on the silly side), called Mister Mind, Cornell makes this issue extremely interesting. I love diving deeply into Lex's subconsious, and two issues in, this book is gold. My only complaint is the $3.99 price. DC doesn't even justify it with a back-up story any longer. I'm not sure how many people want to pay that for a comic that doesn't feature Superman. I will, especially if it stays this good.

Time Bomb #1

This is my favorite comic in this group of nine that I'm reviewing today. Palmiotti and Gray tell an interesting story set in 2012, where some people accidentally come across an old Nazi base hidden beneath the city of Berlin. Unbeknownst to them, this base holds an "Omega Bomb," which explodes over them when a trigger is accidentally switched. Now, humanity has just 72 hours to live, as a deadly virus is being carried by the winds; and, a group of four special agents must travel back in time by using a dangerous, not-very-well-tested "Time Bomb" to try and stop the city from every being uncovered. Where they were to be sent a few years in the past, they go back 67, landing in the middle of a Nazi concentration camp. Now, they must not only save mankind from the virus, but also not tamper and alter history in the process.

This is a fantastic first issue from Radical comics, and if it lives up to it's promise, the second issue will come out next month.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Action Comics #891

This is another comic that brings to mind Straczynski. How much more interesting is Cornell's Lex Luthor centered storyline than that his first full issue of Superman. Even with a rather corny caterpillar creature (probably made many, many years ago when DC villians were a bit on the silly side), called Mister Mind, Cornell makes this issue extremely interesting. I love diving deeply into Lex's subconsious, and two issues in, this book is gold. My only complaint is the $3.99 price. DC doesn't even justify it with a back-up story any longer. I'm not sure how many people want to pay that for a comic that doesn't feature Superman. I will, especially if it stays this good.

Yeah, for some reason they dropped it for this issue, but it'll be back by next issue. The first will be a Superboy one, and afterward will be one following Jimmy Olsen

 

[Dread]

The HBO series was awesome. It's the only time that Spawn has been any good, that includes comics, video games, movies, etc.

Cool.

I also bought "BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD" on DVD. It wasn't flawless but was pretty good. I enjoyed it.

So I am seeing trailers for the movie version of SCOTT PILGRIM, and either something from the comic isn't translating, or it seems more generic than the slavish devotion that fans have for the comic would imply. To recap, SCOTT PILGRIM is one of those comics that everyone who reads it droolingly claims is the most brilliant thing ever written by man. Devotees of SCOTT PILGRIM are more cultish and lock-step than Apple Mac users. The mere mention that SCOTT PILGRIM is less than perfect have caused mortal men to be eaten alive by teenage girls. I usually get very put off when I haven't even read a comic and it is slavishly said to be the best thing ever; that alone is sometimes enough to ware me off. I also have no interest in the narrative itself, but when it's combined with the expectation that as a comic fan, I SHOULD read it, that usually wards me off. The fact that I'm neither a teenage girl nor a rom-com fan adds to that. I know it's also about video game references. At any rate, the movie trailers just don't seem to be catchy to me, nor is the film encouraging me to try it.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Dread, you know I love you, but I'm pretty sure everything you just wrote on Scott Pilgrim is a bunch of bull****. I've yet to see any fan of that series make any of those claims, and plenty of people I know have not liked the series, and managed to not get stabbed by 'The Pilgrims of American-Canada'. It's cool if you aren't into it (or think you won't be into, since you haven't read it), but let's not paint such a silly picture, eh?

Also, really, you would call the trailers for the movie generic? Like it or hate it....it's a pretty far cry from being generic.