BOUGHT/THOUGHT for June 13, 2007
- Thread starter PhotoJones
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Dread
TMNT 1984-2009
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Yes, some more. Proving I am not stubborn beyond suggestion. Since I just bought & read both, they both get one review, because I am feelin' lazy.
WORLD WAR HULK PROLOGUE & WORLD WAR HULK #1: Just what a poor comic fan doesn't need. More stuff to buy. I only mean this with 50% sarcasm because I realized I actually may like the space genre more than I realized, at least when exposed to decent Marvel versions of it. I sort of want to read PLANET HULK now. But, I likely will take the easy way out and look for the Handbook Edition. Summary of 75% of it for $4, a 10th the cost. Plus then I'd know what the hell the powers of his Warbond are, without going online like a *****e and looking. I'm one of those weirdo's who would rather buy a handbook (so I can own it) than look at wikipedia or, heaven forfend, come onto SHH and admit to NOT knowing something.
Without the arrogant core of comic lore, am I any interesting as a poster?
I digress. In some ways the "event" surprised me by how absurdedly simple it is. Granted, it has been building up for about a year, with the first ILLUMINATI special, and a good 12+ issues of INCREDIBLE HULK, and a prologue, and stuff happening in SHE-HULK. But I guess CIVIL WAR and INFINITE CRISIS with literally over 50 crossovers and whatnot, it just seems much simplier. This story, much like HOM and CW before it, does have some sort of moral dilemma at the core. The problem so far is that in both stories, how the moral dilemma is faced and debated can be an issue. In HOM, it was mostly ignored and shoved off as a needless detail. In CW it was debated, and overly debated, alongside the backdrop of the side destined to prevail, the pro SHRA side, being depicted as unrootable, dishonorable jerkbags to throw the audience.
In WORLD WAR HULK, it comes down to the actions of most of the Illuminati (Namor refused, and Prof. X was zapped by Wanda by then) in choosing to trick Hulk and then shoot him into space to rid the world of his attacks, especially after his latest rampage in Vegas where no two Marvel writers or editors can agree resulted in civilian casualties. The dilemma is that said heroes, namely Iron Man and his Initiative allies, will claim they did it because all attempts to cure Hulk have failed, all attempts to reason with him usually fail, and after causing untold billions of damages for years and risking lord knows how many lives, including almost killing people or other heroes, they had no option. On the other side, the Illuminati were asking for trouble with a plan that was shoddy to start with. They sent him into orbit with Reed "I spent a 3rd of all my FF issues in space" Richards believing he could make a ship that would never be thrown off course by any reason. He then rigged it to explode so it couldn't be rebuilt. Naturally, of course, the ship did get thrown off course and landed on a world full of life, where Hulk got to act out a world that was a combination of GLADIATOR, CONAN, and CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, where he fought in alien battle arenas and overthrew their ruler, the Red King (no, not the Dan Slott creation from JLA CLASSIFIED, although he could have used said beating), bonding with a Warbond of various alien classes, including a robot, one of the Brood (called "Brood", got to love them simple names) and one of those stone guys Thor beat in his first appearence (I think). Unfortunately, just as Hulk becomes king and has a wife & babe on the way, wouldn'tcha know it, that is when his ship blows up and kills millions of people, including her. In a way it reminds me of a story INCREDIBLE HULK did years and years ago, back when Logan had bone claws, where Hulk wound up on some island with facepaint and ruled it for a short period. I actually found that sort of interesting, if only because I tire of some of the Hulk cyclical stories many times (I used to read it for free via a relative's sub, but I usually preferred ASM, FF, or DD). PLANET HULK obviously took this to another level and went farther, as well as lasted longer, as that story. In a way, a line from SIN CITY could be paraphrased for the Hulk: "He had the misfortune of being born in the wrong century." In a fuedal, tribal, or gladitorial society, naturally the Hulk would be a hero and not a menace. The sorts of fans who like CONAN probably enjoyed it.
WWH #1 recaps all this, as PROLOGUE does as well, but the PROLOGUE, written by Peter David, does a better job of building up the fight as something that has boiled down for a long time. And the best part? This time you don't need a retcon. Every hero has battled the Hulk, usually thinking he was a menace (and half the time being right). He narrows down that the folks who shot him into space have ALWAYS been his enemies, and sometimes would manipulate him when they needed his might, and yet never stood by him when the going got tough (Hulk could have mentioned ONSLAUGHT, actually; their strategy at the end was, "We can't even faze Onslaught, just shove Hulk at 'im and see what happens!") and they'd have to stand up to the military. This session of Hulk meditating with one of his allies to properly focus his rage is interspliced with Doc Samson, turncoat shrink, trying to talk to the seemingly de-powered Jennifer Walters (who was depowered by that SPIN-tech, but repowered by that Mastermind Excello kid). The only bad part is PAD uses the tired urban myth of "people only use 10% of their brains", a myth that has been scientifically disproven for at least a decade as we learned more about the brain. But, I guess PAD figures, if DC never has to adjust to the times in describing Deathstroke's intellect, why should he alter a longstanding narration cliche?
About the simple part. The simple part is things just start off at the point where many stories are in the middle, to the point where I seriously wonder how Marvel & Pak will stretch it out. WWH is a 5 issue mini series, but this issue was over 40 pages and I am sure the other issues will be too, so the core mini may be the equalivent in pages to 11-12 issues. Then you have all the crossover tie-ins, and I wonder just how much one can drag out one bloody fight scene. To which fans of DBZ reply, "A WHILE!"
Hulk and his Warbond just cruise into Earth space, Hulk beats down Black Bolt and then he issues his holographic statement declaring war on the Illuminati and no one else. Thankfully, Pak isn't Millar or Bendis, who likely would have had Hulk just land in a packed Times Square and eat people. Apparently his time in outer space has enhanced the Hulk, much like it did for Nova. He's not quite the Professor, but he's hardly mindless. He's seemingly madder and thus stronger than he has ever been, and he was always the strongest anyway. And he also has a pack of alien beings with him who are no sloutches either (that stone guy is at least a 40-80 ton tanker, and one Brood could usually keep a street level hero or two busy etc). He's even got warrior skills, which was an advantage he never had (relying usually on brute strength). He's essentially a stronger Mongul without a chest beam. Hulk also has learned how to use propoganda, using video evidence to spell out how he feels he has been wronged to justify himself, and he even convinces some bitterly anti-SHRA civvies. I was just glad his rage is focused just on those who wronged him, so Hulk retains the appeal of a Western anti-hero.
In fact this tale is so simple one would almost think CW never happened. Iron Man is quickly offering amnesty to anyone who helps him, carded or not. And Spider-Man is there directing traffic and hanging out with Ms. Marvel & Stark, guys who just used Cap's corpse to trap him in NA a few months ago, without any sarcastic lip. Aside for a few throwaway lines, you could have slept through CW here and not missed much, and that's not exactly a bad thing. HULK's monthly readers who begrudgingly are getting this mini won't feel lost. I suppose one could say that the heroes are merely mobilizing against a common enemy, but after a year of infighting and backstabbing, something so so simple almost seems out of character. But to Pak it's not, and for that alone I want this story to succeed.
Granted, that will be hard, as the reader so far is obviously meant to root for the Hulk, as pretty much everything under the sun has been done to incite his wrath. As to the topic of Black Bolt's defeat, I agree it was kind of lame to have the fight happen off-panel, but I believe after showing that Hulk could get up barely a page after taking Bolt's "neighborhood destroying whisper" to the face for a few minutes, that the Inhuman lord didn't have much else to fight him with. However, Black Bolt really is one of the most powerful Marvel heroes, and his defeat should never been done off panel. Imagine if Superman were beaten off panel; JL & JLU did that a few times, and it always sucked. Obviously, despite the difference in power level, Iron Man's fight gets some 10+ pages because he is popular, and Black Bolt is not.
So, everyone irked that Nova didn't beat Stark down, pick this up because Hulk pretty much throws him, and yet ANOTHER worthless bulky Hulkbuster armor thing to the scrap heap. Really, Stark has built no end of bulky, non-manuvering armors to use against Hulk and they always fail. A smarter man would build an armor that absorbs Gamma-Radiation, or at least is manuverable to actually DODGE his crushing blows. But on the latter, well, that would be efficient. On the former, someone could have told Iron Man about Titannus' armor that did that, but no one but Kirkman treats MTU like it happened. Too bad for Stark. To his credit, he shoots Hulk full of the SPIN -tech that just was useful on his cousin (sort of), and napalms him, which produced a good flashback of the loss of his planet to fuel Hulk's rage and keep him standing.
In a way, the first issue was everything I figured it would be; Hulk fighting heroes in silly one-by-one anime style, and beating every one of them until something has to happen to appease him or defeat him. No one beats the Hulk physically, not unless your power level is that of an Elder of the Universe and even then it's not easy. But in a way this doesn't matter because Romita Jr.'s art is as solid as it ever has been. Much like Jack Kirby, he can draw space or city landscapes and it all flows naturally in his work. He and Pak know how to pace the action so it flows very well, and a short fight doesn't have to look as anti-climatic as many that Millar sometimes does. Sure, it's a shame that Iron Man has to try some of the same tactics that didn't work, but everyone was rooting for him to lose, and Pak delivers. I can easily see this story as working at some sort of redemption, as Stark was in no way *****e-bag-ish here. Heck, at times he almost seemed desperate.
In a way this is very simular to WORLD WAR III that DC did, where the entire DCU battled Black Adam. The difference was that it was shorter, and Adam had just been overcome by some cranks on an island, so it seemed silly that all those heroes couldn't take him. In contrast, the Hulk has historically been nearly impossible to be physically defeated. Thor's never scored an outright victory. Entire superhero teams have barely been able to hold their own at times. The lug's smacked down forces just as tough as himself or even tougher and emerged the victor. He also has a small team of allies to aid him should someone manage to stumble or score a knock-down, something Black Adam lacked. Hulk's revenge motive was also executed better, and this is from someone who missed his solo arc.
Iron Man takes responsibility for the Illuminiti, noting what he did was out of desire to protect the planet. What he meant was his planet; as Jen says in the PROLOGUE, apparently the lives of aliens mattered less than Earthlings or even Americans. Which, militarially, is true; in military terms, your own ARE supposed to count more than "the enemy" or people from another nation; some of that has eroded since the brutality of WWII, and ironically, America hasn't won a war since WWII, because our enemies know we share more compassion for life than they do, and get the U.S. to wuss down. However, as I finished the book, I wondered it was a shame the Nova Corps are destroyed, and Rich left the planet for his own event, because I really wondered what the responsibility of the Corps was. The Illuminati, especially Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, and Dr. Strange, sent the Hulk into space as well as a bomb that literally nuked an entire planet. Jean Grey was put on trial by the Shi'ar for something simular during her DARK PHOENIX days (she wiped out an entire star-system). Reed was put on cosmic trial for saving the life of Galactus, who could only go on to eat other planets. But this was the intergalactic equalivent of sending a nuke across the Atlantic ocean in a boat and bombing a chunk of a country by random chance. Whoever sent that bomb would be held accountable. In a way it matches their actions during CIVIL WAR; the intentions are noble (protecting people & property against a semi-consistant threat that has been unstoppable for 13 years), but the action was wreckless and led to deaths. Unfortunately for Earth, the Nova Corps aren't here to enforce any Intergalactic decree, so Hulk will do it gladiator-style.
I'm a sucker for action, and as I am getting some of the tie-in's by proxy anyway, it makes some sense to at least have the core mini. Pak & Romita Jr. do the action well. I just wonder what in the world can be done to either elongate the story or make it end in some satisfactory way. Marvel has had TWO events with terrible, universally lambasted endings, and it would be a damned shame of Pak provides such a great action epic only to have an ending that becomes the Third. I mean, the tie-in's can't be more than, "_____ fights Hulk, loses". The elements of the mini can't be more than, "_____ fights Hulk, loses" until issue #5 when something has to happen. However, along the way we might have some exciting action, and I guess the point of every story is to see how it ends. Off the top of my head I can't think of an ending besides either appeasing Hulk with some sort of cheesy act or speach, or allowing him to kill who he wants, both which seem as non-starters. Marvel stumbled with CW because they made an interesting story into a dumb action movie, but at least this time, THIS story actually WORKS as a dumb action movie. Call it HULK THE BARBARIAN or HULKMAGEDDON. Now that the reasonings have been established I could sit back for a while and watch some smashing action until the end credits and not feel cheated. It will be doubly interesting if Pak turns it into more, somehow.
FYI, the Sentry's Watchtower was smashed through Avengers Tower from the top down, and it did look cool.
Chris Giarrusso's MINI MARVELS comic spoofing WWH is worth $4 alone. Very funny stuff. Especially regarding Bendis' "Black Bolt sign-language". I just hope Bendis had a sense of humor, otherwise Chris is drawing with one thumb now. Or Bendis will write Chris in a comic, portray him out of character, and then off him. Wait, he only does that to characters he "loves". Run, Chris. Run.
WWH is what it is. It's not as cerebrally complicated as CW was, but that's a good thing. In a way it questions how Marvel can possibly overmilk this for mini's and tie-ins, especially when Romita Jr. inevitably will run behind after issue #2 or #3, but one doesn't have to buy all those, do they? So long as you can buy heroes who were just enemies a year ago coming together for a common good, and watching Hulk beat down people for 36 chapters of an event that totals 37 parts in all (including these two issues; something Marvel calls "low key" after CW totalled at over 50 chapters), this is for you. So far. I reserve the right to be potentially pissed about it later. But for now, Hulk smash and all is good.
WORLD WAR HULK PROLOGUE & WORLD WAR HULK #1: Just what a poor comic fan doesn't need. More stuff to buy. I only mean this with 50% sarcasm because I realized I actually may like the space genre more than I realized, at least when exposed to decent Marvel versions of it. I sort of want to read PLANET HULK now. But, I likely will take the easy way out and look for the Handbook Edition. Summary of 75% of it for $4, a 10th the cost. Plus then I'd know what the hell the powers of his Warbond are, without going online like a *****e and looking. I'm one of those weirdo's who would rather buy a handbook (so I can own it) than look at wikipedia or, heaven forfend, come onto SHH and admit to NOT knowing something.
Without the arrogant core of comic lore, am I any interesting as a poster?
I digress. In some ways the "event" surprised me by how absurdedly simple it is. Granted, it has been building up for about a year, with the first ILLUMINATI special, and a good 12+ issues of INCREDIBLE HULK, and a prologue, and stuff happening in SHE-HULK. But I guess CIVIL WAR and INFINITE CRISIS with literally over 50 crossovers and whatnot, it just seems much simplier. This story, much like HOM and CW before it, does have some sort of moral dilemma at the core. The problem so far is that in both stories, how the moral dilemma is faced and debated can be an issue. In HOM, it was mostly ignored and shoved off as a needless detail. In CW it was debated, and overly debated, alongside the backdrop of the side destined to prevail, the pro SHRA side, being depicted as unrootable, dishonorable jerkbags to throw the audience.
In WORLD WAR HULK, it comes down to the actions of most of the Illuminati (Namor refused, and Prof. X was zapped by Wanda by then) in choosing to trick Hulk and then shoot him into space to rid the world of his attacks, especially after his latest rampage in Vegas where no two Marvel writers or editors can agree resulted in civilian casualties. The dilemma is that said heroes, namely Iron Man and his Initiative allies, will claim they did it because all attempts to cure Hulk have failed, all attempts to reason with him usually fail, and after causing untold billions of damages for years and risking lord knows how many lives, including almost killing people or other heroes, they had no option. On the other side, the Illuminati were asking for trouble with a plan that was shoddy to start with. They sent him into orbit with Reed "I spent a 3rd of all my FF issues in space" Richards believing he could make a ship that would never be thrown off course by any reason. He then rigged it to explode so it couldn't be rebuilt. Naturally, of course, the ship did get thrown off course and landed on a world full of life, where Hulk got to act out a world that was a combination of GLADIATOR, CONAN, and CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, where he fought in alien battle arenas and overthrew their ruler, the Red King (no, not the Dan Slott creation from JLA CLASSIFIED, although he could have used said beating), bonding with a Warbond of various alien classes, including a robot, one of the Brood (called "Brood", got to love them simple names) and one of those stone guys Thor beat in his first appearence (I think). Unfortunately, just as Hulk becomes king and has a wife & babe on the way, wouldn'tcha know it, that is when his ship blows up and kills millions of people, including her. In a way it reminds me of a story INCREDIBLE HULK did years and years ago, back when Logan had bone claws, where Hulk wound up on some island with facepaint and ruled it for a short period. I actually found that sort of interesting, if only because I tire of some of the Hulk cyclical stories many times (I used to read it for free via a relative's sub, but I usually preferred ASM, FF, or DD). PLANET HULK obviously took this to another level and went farther, as well as lasted longer, as that story. In a way, a line from SIN CITY could be paraphrased for the Hulk: "He had the misfortune of being born in the wrong century." In a fuedal, tribal, or gladitorial society, naturally the Hulk would be a hero and not a menace. The sorts of fans who like CONAN probably enjoyed it.
WWH #1 recaps all this, as PROLOGUE does as well, but the PROLOGUE, written by Peter David, does a better job of building up the fight as something that has boiled down for a long time. And the best part? This time you don't need a retcon. Every hero has battled the Hulk, usually thinking he was a menace (and half the time being right). He narrows down that the folks who shot him into space have ALWAYS been his enemies, and sometimes would manipulate him when they needed his might, and yet never stood by him when the going got tough (Hulk could have mentioned ONSLAUGHT, actually; their strategy at the end was, "We can't even faze Onslaught, just shove Hulk at 'im and see what happens!") and they'd have to stand up to the military. This session of Hulk meditating with one of his allies to properly focus his rage is interspliced with Doc Samson, turncoat shrink, trying to talk to the seemingly de-powered Jennifer Walters (who was depowered by that SPIN-tech, but repowered by that Mastermind Excello kid). The only bad part is PAD uses the tired urban myth of "people only use 10% of their brains", a myth that has been scientifically disproven for at least a decade as we learned more about the brain. But, I guess PAD figures, if DC never has to adjust to the times in describing Deathstroke's intellect, why should he alter a longstanding narration cliche?
About the simple part. The simple part is things just start off at the point where many stories are in the middle, to the point where I seriously wonder how Marvel & Pak will stretch it out. WWH is a 5 issue mini series, but this issue was over 40 pages and I am sure the other issues will be too, so the core mini may be the equalivent in pages to 11-12 issues. Then you have all the crossover tie-ins, and I wonder just how much one can drag out one bloody fight scene. To which fans of DBZ reply, "A WHILE!"
Hulk and his Warbond just cruise into Earth space, Hulk beats down Black Bolt and then he issues his holographic statement declaring war on the Illuminati and no one else. Thankfully, Pak isn't Millar or Bendis, who likely would have had Hulk just land in a packed Times Square and eat people. Apparently his time in outer space has enhanced the Hulk, much like it did for Nova. He's not quite the Professor, but he's hardly mindless. He's seemingly madder and thus stronger than he has ever been, and he was always the strongest anyway. And he also has a pack of alien beings with him who are no sloutches either (that stone guy is at least a 40-80 ton tanker, and one Brood could usually keep a street level hero or two busy etc). He's even got warrior skills, which was an advantage he never had (relying usually on brute strength). He's essentially a stronger Mongul without a chest beam. Hulk also has learned how to use propoganda, using video evidence to spell out how he feels he has been wronged to justify himself, and he even convinces some bitterly anti-SHRA civvies. I was just glad his rage is focused just on those who wronged him, so Hulk retains the appeal of a Western anti-hero.
In fact this tale is so simple one would almost think CW never happened. Iron Man is quickly offering amnesty to anyone who helps him, carded or not. And Spider-Man is there directing traffic and hanging out with Ms. Marvel & Stark, guys who just used Cap's corpse to trap him in NA a few months ago, without any sarcastic lip. Aside for a few throwaway lines, you could have slept through CW here and not missed much, and that's not exactly a bad thing. HULK's monthly readers who begrudgingly are getting this mini won't feel lost. I suppose one could say that the heroes are merely mobilizing against a common enemy, but after a year of infighting and backstabbing, something so so simple almost seems out of character. But to Pak it's not, and for that alone I want this story to succeed.
Granted, that will be hard, as the reader so far is obviously meant to root for the Hulk, as pretty much everything under the sun has been done to incite his wrath. As to the topic of Black Bolt's defeat, I agree it was kind of lame to have the fight happen off-panel, but I believe after showing that Hulk could get up barely a page after taking Bolt's "neighborhood destroying whisper" to the face for a few minutes, that the Inhuman lord didn't have much else to fight him with. However, Black Bolt really is one of the most powerful Marvel heroes, and his defeat should never been done off panel. Imagine if Superman were beaten off panel; JL & JLU did that a few times, and it always sucked. Obviously, despite the difference in power level, Iron Man's fight gets some 10+ pages because he is popular, and Black Bolt is not.
So, everyone irked that Nova didn't beat Stark down, pick this up because Hulk pretty much throws him, and yet ANOTHER worthless bulky Hulkbuster armor thing to the scrap heap. Really, Stark has built no end of bulky, non-manuvering armors to use against Hulk and they always fail. A smarter man would build an armor that absorbs Gamma-Radiation, or at least is manuverable to actually DODGE his crushing blows. But on the latter, well, that would be efficient. On the former, someone could have told Iron Man about Titannus' armor that did that, but no one but Kirkman treats MTU like it happened. Too bad for Stark. To his credit, he shoots Hulk full of the SPIN -tech that just was useful on his cousin (sort of), and napalms him, which produced a good flashback of the loss of his planet to fuel Hulk's rage and keep him standing.
In a way, the first issue was everything I figured it would be; Hulk fighting heroes in silly one-by-one anime style, and beating every one of them until something has to happen to appease him or defeat him. No one beats the Hulk physically, not unless your power level is that of an Elder of the Universe and even then it's not easy. But in a way this doesn't matter because Romita Jr.'s art is as solid as it ever has been. Much like Jack Kirby, he can draw space or city landscapes and it all flows naturally in his work. He and Pak know how to pace the action so it flows very well, and a short fight doesn't have to look as anti-climatic as many that Millar sometimes does. Sure, it's a shame that Iron Man has to try some of the same tactics that didn't work, but everyone was rooting for him to lose, and Pak delivers. I can easily see this story as working at some sort of redemption, as Stark was in no way *****e-bag-ish here. Heck, at times he almost seemed desperate.
In a way this is very simular to WORLD WAR III that DC did, where the entire DCU battled Black Adam. The difference was that it was shorter, and Adam had just been overcome by some cranks on an island, so it seemed silly that all those heroes couldn't take him. In contrast, the Hulk has historically been nearly impossible to be physically defeated. Thor's never scored an outright victory. Entire superhero teams have barely been able to hold their own at times. The lug's smacked down forces just as tough as himself or even tougher and emerged the victor. He also has a small team of allies to aid him should someone manage to stumble or score a knock-down, something Black Adam lacked. Hulk's revenge motive was also executed better, and this is from someone who missed his solo arc.
Iron Man takes responsibility for the Illuminiti, noting what he did was out of desire to protect the planet. What he meant was his planet; as Jen says in the PROLOGUE, apparently the lives of aliens mattered less than Earthlings or even Americans. Which, militarially, is true; in military terms, your own ARE supposed to count more than "the enemy" or people from another nation; some of that has eroded since the brutality of WWII, and ironically, America hasn't won a war since WWII, because our enemies know we share more compassion for life than they do, and get the U.S. to wuss down. However, as I finished the book, I wondered it was a shame the Nova Corps are destroyed, and Rich left the planet for his own event, because I really wondered what the responsibility of the Corps was. The Illuminati, especially Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, and Dr. Strange, sent the Hulk into space as well as a bomb that literally nuked an entire planet. Jean Grey was put on trial by the Shi'ar for something simular during her DARK PHOENIX days (she wiped out an entire star-system). Reed was put on cosmic trial for saving the life of Galactus, who could only go on to eat other planets. But this was the intergalactic equalivent of sending a nuke across the Atlantic ocean in a boat and bombing a chunk of a country by random chance. Whoever sent that bomb would be held accountable. In a way it matches their actions during CIVIL WAR; the intentions are noble (protecting people & property against a semi-consistant threat that has been unstoppable for 13 years), but the action was wreckless and led to deaths. Unfortunately for Earth, the Nova Corps aren't here to enforce any Intergalactic decree, so Hulk will do it gladiator-style.
I'm a sucker for action, and as I am getting some of the tie-in's by proxy anyway, it makes some sense to at least have the core mini. Pak & Romita Jr. do the action well. I just wonder what in the world can be done to either elongate the story or make it end in some satisfactory way. Marvel has had TWO events with terrible, universally lambasted endings, and it would be a damned shame of Pak provides such a great action epic only to have an ending that becomes the Third. I mean, the tie-in's can't be more than, "_____ fights Hulk, loses". The elements of the mini can't be more than, "_____ fights Hulk, loses" until issue #5 when something has to happen. However, along the way we might have some exciting action, and I guess the point of every story is to see how it ends. Off the top of my head I can't think of an ending besides either appeasing Hulk with some sort of cheesy act or speach, or allowing him to kill who he wants, both which seem as non-starters. Marvel stumbled with CW because they made an interesting story into a dumb action movie, but at least this time, THIS story actually WORKS as a dumb action movie. Call it HULK THE BARBARIAN or HULKMAGEDDON. Now that the reasonings have been established I could sit back for a while and watch some smashing action until the end credits and not feel cheated. It will be doubly interesting if Pak turns it into more, somehow.
FYI, the Sentry's Watchtower was smashed through Avengers Tower from the top down, and it did look cool.
Chris Giarrusso's MINI MARVELS comic spoofing WWH is worth $4 alone. Very funny stuff. Especially regarding Bendis' "Black Bolt sign-language". I just hope Bendis had a sense of humor, otherwise Chris is drawing with one thumb now. Or Bendis will write Chris in a comic, portray him out of character, and then off him. Wait, he only does that to characters he "loves". Run, Chris. Run.
WWH is what it is. It's not as cerebrally complicated as CW was, but that's a good thing. In a way it questions how Marvel can possibly overmilk this for mini's and tie-ins, especially when Romita Jr. inevitably will run behind after issue #2 or #3, but one doesn't have to buy all those, do they? So long as you can buy heroes who were just enemies a year ago coming together for a common good, and watching Hulk beat down people for 36 chapters of an event that totals 37 parts in all (including these two issues; something Marvel calls "low key" after CW totalled at over 50 chapters), this is for you. So far. I reserve the right to be potentially pissed about it later. But for now, Hulk smash and all is good.
Darthphere
Kneel before 'Drox!
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This is probably your longest review.
Dread
TMNT 1984-2009
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Technically I was reviewing 2 oversized comics at once. It had to be long.
The prologue also introduces that Cho kid from AMAZING FANTASY #15 from a few years ago, but I own that so I didn't reread it. Why would I?
After growing familiar with Christina Strain on RUNAWAYS, I was glad seeing her get color credits here.
And at least Sentry, or Bi-Polar Bear, got off his Sissy Couch to help.
PhotoJones
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There's no way I'm quoting that whole thing, but here're some thoughts:
1) WWH is the 2nd of a 3 act story. I'm sure the ending to this will not suck. It's the ending to whatever comes next we should be worried about.
2) You mentioned Romita falling behind. That's not going to happen. That guy is probably the fastest artist doing work today. Remember when he was doing two ongoings at a time? A double sized 5 issue mini is an afterthought.
1) WWH is the 2nd of a 3 act story. I'm sure the ending to this will not suck. It's the ending to whatever comes next we should be worried about.
2) You mentioned Romita falling behind. That's not going to happen. That guy is probably the fastest artist doing work today. Remember when he was doing two ongoings at a time? A double sized 5 issue mini is an afterthought.
Dread
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1). I know, the first act being PLANET HULK and the ILLUMINATI special stuff. It still remains to be seen whether the story will just have aimless, yet exciting beatings until the last issue when some conclusion happens, or a cliffhanger, which would stink. But that's not until...October/November. But this has been established as an actioner so I'll enjoy it if the fights are good.
2). Romita Jr. is a fast artist, but he fell behind on THE ETERNALS, which was also oversized, in the home stretch. Of course, this is 2 issues shorter. So who knows. He's still faster than many other artists and his stuff is usually worth it anyway.
PhotoJones
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JRJR fell behind on Eternals due to Gaiman's last minute rewrites, not due to his own pacing.
Dread
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Oh, really? I would have considered it, but Gaiman is close to Alan Moore status; suggest he's slow and you get lynched.
PhotoJones
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Dread
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I haven't liked Gaiman's Marvel stuff at all. Sandman is still tops, though.
I liked 1602 and THE ETERNALS. He'll never top his SANDMAN though. Few writers top the work that is considered their apex, which is how it becomes an apex.
t:
PhotoJones
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I liked 1602 and THE ETERNALS. He'll never top his SANDMAN though. Few writers top the work that is considered their apex, which is how it becomes an apex.
I was so disappointed by 1602. And I just could not get into Eternals at all, even with JRJR's art.
Dread
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Considering I never gave a damn about ETERNALS when I read them in Handbook Bio's, I felt it was an interesting relaunch idea.
YourBrokenAmp
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i do!!!!Doesn't somebody else remember when Pete said he could kill the Hulk
CaptainCanada
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On the subject of the exploding ship, there has never been (unless I missed something) any explicit confirmation that the Illuminati rigged the ship to explode; that's just what the Hulk thinks happened. There's no actual evidence it was anything more than an accident caused by all the damage the ship took.
I've always had several problems with the idea it was a deliberate act on the part of the Illuminati:
1) First, if the ship is meant to explode, why does the computer forewarn everyone that the explosion will happen, as if it was an accident?
2) Why wait so long after the Hulk's arrival, if the intent is to stop him from fixing the ship? A considerable period of time passes, and, for all they knew, he could have fixed the ship and returned in the interim.
I've always had several problems with the idea it was a deliberate act on the part of the Illuminati:
1) First, if the ship is meant to explode, why does the computer forewarn everyone that the explosion will happen, as if it was an accident?
2) Why wait so long after the Hulk's arrival, if the intent is to stop him from fixing the ship? A considerable period of time passes, and, for all they knew, he could have fixed the ship and returned in the interim.
BrianWilly
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Why is this thread so long?? It's been a single day! And I read through everything, too. I'm so proud of myself. I think I'm going to give myself a root beer.
Countdown #46
Okay, okay, we're getting somewhere. This is okay. This is good.
Maybe the past few issues have been so damn slow that any progress at all feels like leaps and bounds here, but I'll take what I can get.
The Rogues scene was excellent. I'm liking them here a lot more than I'm liking them in the Flash, which is not at all, and the Flash is supposed to be their main book. Hell, I've found out more about their motivation and their sort of mindset from these few sporadic appearances than I've found out from the book where these things actually matter. Obviously it matters here, too, but only to 1/4 or so of the storyline. Who these people are and why they are attacking Bart and why they are even listening to a little punk like Inertia feels like incredibly important questions that that series should have answered, and hasn't.
Jimmy's getting, bit by bit, to be a bit more rough and tumble and...capable? Which is good. He's become capable in the past, but people always tend to revert him back to the bumbling, wide-eyed sidekick, and in this case it actually feels like it might stick. It also feels more organic than, say, Mary Marvel all of a sudden being a power junky with self-image issues.
With that said, though, Black Mary's arc seems okay...so far. She actually does stuff, which is a change of pace. And her new powers are rather interesting; hopefully the whole Power of Shazam and how it ties into the world of magic will be better explored here than in Trials of Shazam, continuing the tradition of the weekly DC book handling the Marvel family much, much better than Judd Winick. The stillborn babies demon feels very Vertigo, which is entirely a good thing. It's gonna be cheesy as hell if the transformation word truly is "sorry," but I'll deal.
I'm calling it right now: there's going to be a love triangle between Jason, Donna, and Kyle. If Buddha listens to my daily prayers at all then the lovers in question would be Jason and Kyle. Since Buddhists don't technically pray, however, I believe the writers are going to continue to set up a rapport between Jason and Donna (which is working fine so far, incidentally; keep it up) which grows into intimacy and whatever, which is going to turn Jason Todd into even more of a good guy since you know the poor bastard died a virgin. But then all of a sudden Kyle is going to appear in the series and since he's so clearly flawless in every way that Jason can never be -- I mean obviously -- Donna the crazy woman* is going to be flying right back into the arms of her ex, leaving Jason with more angst than he's ever had before** and become villainish vigilante again, which will make for wackiness ensuing since the three of them will have to work together and have adventures about multiversal chicanery. Like Star Wars, but with marginally less incest.
*The whole Amazonian menopausal womb-insanity is bound to hit her sooner or later.
**Yeah, I know it's practically impossible. It will happen, though, mark my words.
(7.7 out of 10)
World War Hulk #1
Hulk beating Black Bolt is ******ed. The fact that he not only beat him, but utterly wiped the floor with him is ******eder. The fact that we don't even actually get to see the fight is ******edest.
Now that I have your attention, this issue was not bad at all. You don't need to read Planet Hulk at all to follow this, though you might be a bit more connected to the characters like the Warbound and Caiera if you did. I myself only read the last two issues of Planet Hulk, and followed this completely effortlessly.
Iron Man actually comes across pretty well, here. If not outright noble, then at least sort of respectable. He goes charging in single-handedly mano a mano against the Hulk, and there's no way he doesn't expect to be brutally killed, but he does it anyway because he has to. Sure he's got his pet nanites, but he should know perfectly well by now that they're not going to do jack sht. Because he's not written by Bendis, Jenkins, JMS, Slott, or Millar, he speaks and presents himself in a subtle, understandable, sympathetic manner. He actually resembles something of a hero.
You have to wonder if Tony hadn't been waiting for this precise opportunity to absolve all the anti-regs for all their "crimes." Suppose he didn't want to hunt them in the first place; now he has a perfectly legitimate excuse not to do so anymore without looking bad to his pals in Washington, maintaining the authority that he's garnered for himself. Of course this would sort of contradict him sending people after Spidey armed with SPIN junk, but he's got the big boy jones for Spidey so maybe that's an exception.
I have never been into Romita Jr. very much as an artist, but he does fairly good work here.
I don't know if I would call this event more complicated, philosophically speaking, than Civil War, but I do know that it is harder to pick a side here. Hulk is not the hero. He's not the misunderstood, wrongly wronged man on a path of righteous anger to mete out justice to his oppressors. To treat him as such would be to make the exact same mistake that Amadeus is making. No...what he is right now is the Punisher. You understand him, you empathize with him, you may even cheer him on, but hell if you're going to side with him. He's holding an entire city hostage over the crimes of a few men. Hell, he's even going to smash a guy (Xavier) who had nothing whatsoever to do with his exile. He is not the hero, here. He may very well be the villain.
On the same note, the Illuminati sure as hell aren't the victims here. They brought all this on themselves. They've meddled one too much times, they've crossed one too many lines. How many times do the questions of "Are they going to far? Do the ends justify the means this time?" need to be asked before it's one time too many? Which of the times wherein they appoint themselves judge, jury, and executioner of the world is going to be the one time that comes back with a fury and consequence? The answer, apparently, is this time. If the new theme of the Marvel universe is "actions have consequences," then I'm going to be good and well disappointed if the specific consequences of their actions aren't addressed, and addressed deeply.
(8.9 out of 10)
Green Lantern Corps #13
This is really one of those great books where if you're not reading it already, you're not very likely to start now, so everyone gushing about how awesome and well-written and exciting and in-character and fun everything is really preaching to the choir. The events aren't quite big enough to factor into the DCU proper very much and the characters aren't quite mainstream enough for many people to get into, but damn if it isn't everything it should be.
Allow me to just say MOGO! ASTEROID! EXPLOSION! and leave it at that.
(9.1 out of 10)
Nova #4
Hmm.
Okay, let's get it out of the way that this is a good issue. The writing is solid, the characters are good, the action and the art are all very decent.
What I am unfortunately getting the feeling of, though, is that this is basically one of those issues where the writer uses the characters to vent about his personal feelings regarding events. We all know what they are; She-Hulk #18 comes to mind, as do several Amazing Spider-Man issues, as well as every single issue of every single thing Hudlin ever writes. Now, those personal feelings may very well coincide closely or even perfectly with what the characters themselves would feel, so it's not like this is a bad thing. I wouldn't trust a writer who doesn't empathize with a character to be able to write that character too well, after all. I reiterate: this is not necessarily a bad thing at all. It is, however, a thing, and I'm wondering if it's going to get more prevalent.
With all that said, Nova is basically having the rational everyman's reaction to the Marvel universe right now. Last issue was the sugar-coated, TV advertisement side of things. This issue is ugly truth come to down. Look at what he says to Robbie, and to a lesser extent even Tony; it's what every sane man or woman in his position, given his level of information, would be saying to these two people. It's what we expected him to say, because it's what we would say to them! "That kind of puts the squabbles here in perspective, don't you think?" "Don't let them turn you into something you're not."
With all that squared away, it does feel like we've received closure on a whole mess of things that required closure and are ready to take on space again. Bring it on; Nova in space is where he truly shines. He and Worldmind make a pretty cute couple, anyway.
(8.2 out of 10)
The Trials of Shazam #7
This issue spends a lot of time exploring Sabina, Winick's totally hip, modern PC with-it antagonist. Except that right from the start she was a weak character who I highly doubt anyone cared about and after all this she remains a weak character who I highly doubt anyone cared about. Adding a painfully generic childhood trauma origin does not make anyone care about her any more than they did, which was not at all. Hell, the two demons talking about her were a bit more interesting than her. People read this book to read about Freddy and the rest of the Marvels, not...Sabina.
With that aside...how was the rest of the issue? Alright, I suppose. Freddy fights her and manages to beat her since he's earned other powers for himself whereas she stole just one. It's a bit of an on-the-nose, unsubtle "good guys win 'cause they're good and do good things that aren't cheating" sort of thing, but it makes sense in this case so it comes across pretty good.
(6.9 out of 10)
New Avengers #31
So the answer really was Skrulls.
I would love to say that I called it, but that would require that any actual foreshadowing or signal of this turn of events had existed in any way, shape, or form either recently or further back.
Bendis loves fooling himself into thinking that he's listening to readers when he throws in ideas that readers talk about. The problem, of course, is that these ideas are often twisted, abominable mutations of their original states and are thrown in too late in the game anyway to factor in the stories where said ideas would've actually mattered. Everyone whined and complained about Spider-Woman all of a sudden being able to fly for no reason at all; practically a year later Bendis answers our complaints, far too late to seem like anything but covering his ass for a simple mistake. Everyone thought Hawkeye's death was stupid as fck, so Bendis brings him back in a shallow, unconvincing manner which doesn't address the shoddy logic of his original story in the least. When everyone hates the way he did these things, he just gets to say "Hey it's what everyone wanted, it's damned if I do and damned if I don't."
Due to the intensely shtty characterization and writing that has been plaguing the Marvel universe for years, the joking meme across the board is that characters must certainly be Skrulls in disguise or Wanda PMSing again or Superboy-Prime punching things. So now Bendis, being so very fan-savvy in that way he is, decides to throw in a Skrull impersonator with the outright suggestion that Skrulls have been manipulating things for years. For better or for worse. This may be good or this may be bad; we won't know until we see more. But I'm just saying; Bendis has a formula. And it's a predictable one.
For better or for worse. Look, I completely see the storytelling possibilities that could come from this. Especially after reading Bendis' interview, I completely see where this might be a brilliant idea that makes a lot of sense. But y'know what...I could have said the same thing about Civil War, when it started. I simply do not trust Marvel writers (and the majority of DC writers at the moment, to be honest) to possess the degree of subtlety and skill that this sort of event will require. I do not, and nothing about what they have written in recent memory convinces me otherwise. I don't trust Whedon to be able to do it, and fck if that doesn't show the level of standards I'm setting for this.
So how about the rest of the issue? Well, the rest of the issue sucked pretty hard. The decompression in here has left the realm of being a crutch to the storytelling and entered into the domain of sucking up all recognizable signs of life from this series by the gallons. Nothing happens. NOTHING FCKING HAPPENS! They fight ninjas. They don't even fight ninjas in any way that we didn't expect them to fight ninjas from two or three issues before. It's ridiculously, embarrassingly bad. What's more ridiculous is Bendis sitting there and actually feeling so smug and proud of himself for such a clever story or something. "Ninjas are hip and in! So if I write the New Avengers fighting ninjas for hours then everyone will think the book is hip and in and with it!"
I have this friend. I love him to death, and always will. But this friend, he tends to fool himself into believing that he's a lot of things he's not. He honestly thinks he's very low-maintenance, very easygoing; nope, he's actually quite hard to please and it's glaringly obvious when he doesn't like something because he cannot hold in a dissenting opinion to save his own life. He honestly thinks he's very tolerant, very accepting of different things; nope, he actually has a very limited sphere of acceptance regarding people and things and ideas and if you're not something he likes, you're definitely something he doesn't like. What's my point? I point is that Bendis is like this friend. He tells himself something and he believes it. He genuinely does. It's not some trick or some fanbaiting bullsht as some other Marvel figureheads have been known for doing; he really does believe the things that he's writing and saying. In a lot of ways, that's actually worse than if he was just truly playing dumb to all this.
(3.8 out of 10)
Green Arrow #75
Oh sweet Buffy, I'm so glad I dropped this title a couple issues beforehand. I don't think I would have ever forgiven myself if I had actually paid money for this issue.
Basically Dinah, Ollie, Mia, and Connor fight Drakon and Deathstroke, lose the hell out of the fight, then the Justice League shows up and saves them except that Deathstroke and Drakon manage to get away anyway. With a smoke bomb that has Kryptonite in it. 'Cause lord knows these two haven't been ridiculously Godmoded already (Dread remembers my catchphrases, so I remember his!). Drakon has officially overused his capacity as an enjoyable character. And Deathstroke? You all know my opinions of this overused, overrated, overpowered cliche of a stereotype of a character, so I won't bore anyone any more by telling y'all how much I absolutely hate his worthless, generic two-bit villain ass. Basically Winick has wasted issues upon issues showing Team Arrow going to an island to get tougher and better and not quite so easily pwnt. Wasted, because every single major antagonist in recent memory has completely pwnt every single one of them.
I wonder what Winick was babbling about a while ago during WonderCon when he said he was going to have Shado return. I mean, he said it on the exact same date that he announced this series was ending, so it's not like he had a sudden change of plans.
Oh yeah, and Ollie proposes to Dinah or something. He uses Flash's ring and his first JLA mission diamond arrow, so props for actually picking up on items left over (literally) from Meltzer's Archer's Quest.
Still, the Green Arrow series ends with a whimper instead of a bang. The only upside is that it was sort of a merciful whimper; Winick himself knew he was out of steam and knew it was time to end it. I rather wish they had elected to continue this series under a different writer instead of ending it outright, but I suppose they have their own plan for these characters.
(4 out of 10)
(6.1 out of 10 for the whole arc)
(7.5 out of 10 for the whole run)
Sub-Mariner: Revolution #1
Pretty decent. It's probably great if you particularly like Namor. I was mostly just interested in what manner of Irondickery was going to ensue here and, well, there's not really any of it. But it's okay, 'cause we get Namor acting like a big ol' tightwad, ie "in-character," and kicking ass in fun ways. As I'd predicted, Marvel is still doing everything in its power to disassociate Namor from those pretty speedos, and we don't get even one appearance of it in the issue even though it appears on the cover. Good thing? Bad thing? That's between you and your genitalia.
Why is it that every single "fantasy culture" depicted in superhero comics winds up being ridiculously xenophobic and resentful towards the rest of the world? It could be the Atlanteans, the Inhumans, or the Wakandans, or the DCU Atlanteans; they all love to hate people. Even the Amazons on their best days under Perez didn't have any good things to say about us. Is this is social commentary thingy? "Look how much we suck, no one else likes us"? For once I'd like to have a superhuman fantasy culture that just loved ordinary people and would deign themselves to reproduce with us with all available haste.
(8 out of 10)
Now I'm off to see the midnight showing of Fantastic Four! Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. Don't judge me.
Countdown #46
Okay, okay, we're getting somewhere. This is okay. This is good.
Maybe the past few issues have been so damn slow that any progress at all feels like leaps and bounds here, but I'll take what I can get.
The Rogues scene was excellent. I'm liking them here a lot more than I'm liking them in the Flash, which is not at all, and the Flash is supposed to be their main book. Hell, I've found out more about their motivation and their sort of mindset from these few sporadic appearances than I've found out from the book where these things actually matter. Obviously it matters here, too, but only to 1/4 or so of the storyline. Who these people are and why they are attacking Bart and why they are even listening to a little punk like Inertia feels like incredibly important questions that that series should have answered, and hasn't.
Jimmy's getting, bit by bit, to be a bit more rough and tumble and...capable? Which is good. He's become capable in the past, but people always tend to revert him back to the bumbling, wide-eyed sidekick, and in this case it actually feels like it might stick. It also feels more organic than, say, Mary Marvel all of a sudden being a power junky with self-image issues.
With that said, though, Black Mary's arc seems okay...so far. She actually does stuff, which is a change of pace. And her new powers are rather interesting; hopefully the whole Power of Shazam and how it ties into the world of magic will be better explored here than in Trials of Shazam, continuing the tradition of the weekly DC book handling the Marvel family much, much better than Judd Winick. The stillborn babies demon feels very Vertigo, which is entirely a good thing. It's gonna be cheesy as hell if the transformation word truly is "sorry," but I'll deal.
I'm calling it right now: there's going to be a love triangle between Jason, Donna, and Kyle. If Buddha listens to my daily prayers at all then the lovers in question would be Jason and Kyle. Since Buddhists don't technically pray, however, I believe the writers are going to continue to set up a rapport between Jason and Donna (which is working fine so far, incidentally; keep it up) which grows into intimacy and whatever, which is going to turn Jason Todd into even more of a good guy since you know the poor bastard died a virgin. But then all of a sudden Kyle is going to appear in the series and since he's so clearly flawless in every way that Jason can never be -- I mean obviously -- Donna the crazy woman* is going to be flying right back into the arms of her ex, leaving Jason with more angst than he's ever had before** and become villainish vigilante again, which will make for wackiness ensuing since the three of them will have to work together and have adventures about multiversal chicanery. Like Star Wars, but with marginally less incest.
*The whole Amazonian menopausal womb-insanity is bound to hit her sooner or later.
**Yeah, I know it's practically impossible. It will happen, though, mark my words.
(7.7 out of 10)
World War Hulk #1
Hulk beating Black Bolt is ******ed. The fact that he not only beat him, but utterly wiped the floor with him is ******eder. The fact that we don't even actually get to see the fight is ******edest.
Now that I have your attention, this issue was not bad at all. You don't need to read Planet Hulk at all to follow this, though you might be a bit more connected to the characters like the Warbound and Caiera if you did. I myself only read the last two issues of Planet Hulk, and followed this completely effortlessly.
Iron Man actually comes across pretty well, here. If not outright noble, then at least sort of respectable. He goes charging in single-handedly mano a mano against the Hulk, and there's no way he doesn't expect to be brutally killed, but he does it anyway because he has to. Sure he's got his pet nanites, but he should know perfectly well by now that they're not going to do jack sht. Because he's not written by Bendis, Jenkins, JMS, Slott, or Millar, he speaks and presents himself in a subtle, understandable, sympathetic manner. He actually resembles something of a hero.
You have to wonder if Tony hadn't been waiting for this precise opportunity to absolve all the anti-regs for all their "crimes." Suppose he didn't want to hunt them in the first place; now he has a perfectly legitimate excuse not to do so anymore without looking bad to his pals in Washington, maintaining the authority that he's garnered for himself. Of course this would sort of contradict him sending people after Spidey armed with SPIN junk, but he's got the big boy jones for Spidey so maybe that's an exception.
I have never been into Romita Jr. very much as an artist, but he does fairly good work here.
I don't know if I would call this event more complicated, philosophically speaking, than Civil War, but I do know that it is harder to pick a side here. Hulk is not the hero. He's not the misunderstood, wrongly wronged man on a path of righteous anger to mete out justice to his oppressors. To treat him as such would be to make the exact same mistake that Amadeus is making. No...what he is right now is the Punisher. You understand him, you empathize with him, you may even cheer him on, but hell if you're going to side with him. He's holding an entire city hostage over the crimes of a few men. Hell, he's even going to smash a guy (Xavier) who had nothing whatsoever to do with his exile. He is not the hero, here. He may very well be the villain.
On the same note, the Illuminati sure as hell aren't the victims here. They brought all this on themselves. They've meddled one too much times, they've crossed one too many lines. How many times do the questions of "Are they going to far? Do the ends justify the means this time?" need to be asked before it's one time too many? Which of the times wherein they appoint themselves judge, jury, and executioner of the world is going to be the one time that comes back with a fury and consequence? The answer, apparently, is this time. If the new theme of the Marvel universe is "actions have consequences," then I'm going to be good and well disappointed if the specific consequences of their actions aren't addressed, and addressed deeply.
(8.9 out of 10)
Green Lantern Corps #13
This is really one of those great books where if you're not reading it already, you're not very likely to start now, so everyone gushing about how awesome and well-written and exciting and in-character and fun everything is really preaching to the choir. The events aren't quite big enough to factor into the DCU proper very much and the characters aren't quite mainstream enough for many people to get into, but damn if it isn't everything it should be.
Allow me to just say MOGO! ASTEROID! EXPLOSION! and leave it at that.
(9.1 out of 10)
Nova #4
Hmm.
Okay, let's get it out of the way that this is a good issue. The writing is solid, the characters are good, the action and the art are all very decent.
What I am unfortunately getting the feeling of, though, is that this is basically one of those issues where the writer uses the characters to vent about his personal feelings regarding events. We all know what they are; She-Hulk #18 comes to mind, as do several Amazing Spider-Man issues, as well as every single issue of every single thing Hudlin ever writes. Now, those personal feelings may very well coincide closely or even perfectly with what the characters themselves would feel, so it's not like this is a bad thing. I wouldn't trust a writer who doesn't empathize with a character to be able to write that character too well, after all. I reiterate: this is not necessarily a bad thing at all. It is, however, a thing, and I'm wondering if it's going to get more prevalent.
With all that said, Nova is basically having the rational everyman's reaction to the Marvel universe right now. Last issue was the sugar-coated, TV advertisement side of things. This issue is ugly truth come to down. Look at what he says to Robbie, and to a lesser extent even Tony; it's what every sane man or woman in his position, given his level of information, would be saying to these two people. It's what we expected him to say, because it's what we would say to them! "That kind of puts the squabbles here in perspective, don't you think?" "Don't let them turn you into something you're not."
With all that squared away, it does feel like we've received closure on a whole mess of things that required closure and are ready to take on space again. Bring it on; Nova in space is where he truly shines. He and Worldmind make a pretty cute couple, anyway.
(8.2 out of 10)
The Trials of Shazam #7
This issue spends a lot of time exploring Sabina, Winick's totally hip, modern PC with-it antagonist. Except that right from the start she was a weak character who I highly doubt anyone cared about and after all this she remains a weak character who I highly doubt anyone cared about. Adding a painfully generic childhood trauma origin does not make anyone care about her any more than they did, which was not at all. Hell, the two demons talking about her were a bit more interesting than her. People read this book to read about Freddy and the rest of the Marvels, not...Sabina.
With that aside...how was the rest of the issue? Alright, I suppose. Freddy fights her and manages to beat her since he's earned other powers for himself whereas she stole just one. It's a bit of an on-the-nose, unsubtle "good guys win 'cause they're good and do good things that aren't cheating" sort of thing, but it makes sense in this case so it comes across pretty good.
(6.9 out of 10)
New Avengers #31
So the answer really was Skrulls.
I would love to say that I called it, but that would require that any actual foreshadowing or signal of this turn of events had existed in any way, shape, or form either recently or further back.
Bendis loves fooling himself into thinking that he's listening to readers when he throws in ideas that readers talk about. The problem, of course, is that these ideas are often twisted, abominable mutations of their original states and are thrown in too late in the game anyway to factor in the stories where said ideas would've actually mattered. Everyone whined and complained about Spider-Woman all of a sudden being able to fly for no reason at all; practically a year later Bendis answers our complaints, far too late to seem like anything but covering his ass for a simple mistake. Everyone thought Hawkeye's death was stupid as fck, so Bendis brings him back in a shallow, unconvincing manner which doesn't address the shoddy logic of his original story in the least. When everyone hates the way he did these things, he just gets to say "Hey it's what everyone wanted, it's damned if I do and damned if I don't."
Due to the intensely shtty characterization and writing that has been plaguing the Marvel universe for years, the joking meme across the board is that characters must certainly be Skrulls in disguise or Wanda PMSing again or Superboy-Prime punching things. So now Bendis, being so very fan-savvy in that way he is, decides to throw in a Skrull impersonator with the outright suggestion that Skrulls have been manipulating things for years. For better or for worse. This may be good or this may be bad; we won't know until we see more. But I'm just saying; Bendis has a formula. And it's a predictable one.
For better or for worse. Look, I completely see the storytelling possibilities that could come from this. Especially after reading Bendis' interview, I completely see where this might be a brilliant idea that makes a lot of sense. But y'know what...I could have said the same thing about Civil War, when it started. I simply do not trust Marvel writers (and the majority of DC writers at the moment, to be honest) to possess the degree of subtlety and skill that this sort of event will require. I do not, and nothing about what they have written in recent memory convinces me otherwise. I don't trust Whedon to be able to do it, and fck if that doesn't show the level of standards I'm setting for this.
So how about the rest of the issue? Well, the rest of the issue sucked pretty hard. The decompression in here has left the realm of being a crutch to the storytelling and entered into the domain of sucking up all recognizable signs of life from this series by the gallons. Nothing happens. NOTHING FCKING HAPPENS! They fight ninjas. They don't even fight ninjas in any way that we didn't expect them to fight ninjas from two or three issues before. It's ridiculously, embarrassingly bad. What's more ridiculous is Bendis sitting there and actually feeling so smug and proud of himself for such a clever story or something. "Ninjas are hip and in! So if I write the New Avengers fighting ninjas for hours then everyone will think the book is hip and in and with it!"
I have this friend. I love him to death, and always will. But this friend, he tends to fool himself into believing that he's a lot of things he's not. He honestly thinks he's very low-maintenance, very easygoing; nope, he's actually quite hard to please and it's glaringly obvious when he doesn't like something because he cannot hold in a dissenting opinion to save his own life. He honestly thinks he's very tolerant, very accepting of different things; nope, he actually has a very limited sphere of acceptance regarding people and things and ideas and if you're not something he likes, you're definitely something he doesn't like. What's my point? I point is that Bendis is like this friend. He tells himself something and he believes it. He genuinely does. It's not some trick or some fanbaiting bullsht as some other Marvel figureheads have been known for doing; he really does believe the things that he's writing and saying. In a lot of ways, that's actually worse than if he was just truly playing dumb to all this.
(3.8 out of 10)
Green Arrow #75
Oh sweet Buffy, I'm so glad I dropped this title a couple issues beforehand. I don't think I would have ever forgiven myself if I had actually paid money for this issue.
Basically Dinah, Ollie, Mia, and Connor fight Drakon and Deathstroke, lose the hell out of the fight, then the Justice League shows up and saves them except that Deathstroke and Drakon manage to get away anyway. With a smoke bomb that has Kryptonite in it. 'Cause lord knows these two haven't been ridiculously Godmoded already (Dread remembers my catchphrases, so I remember his!). Drakon has officially overused his capacity as an enjoyable character. And Deathstroke? You all know my opinions of this overused, overrated, overpowered cliche of a stereotype of a character, so I won't bore anyone any more by telling y'all how much I absolutely hate his worthless, generic two-bit villain ass. Basically Winick has wasted issues upon issues showing Team Arrow going to an island to get tougher and better and not quite so easily pwnt. Wasted, because every single major antagonist in recent memory has completely pwnt every single one of them.
I wonder what Winick was babbling about a while ago during WonderCon when he said he was going to have Shado return. I mean, he said it on the exact same date that he announced this series was ending, so it's not like he had a sudden change of plans.
Oh yeah, and Ollie proposes to Dinah or something. He uses Flash's ring and his first JLA mission diamond arrow, so props for actually picking up on items left over (literally) from Meltzer's Archer's Quest.
Still, the Green Arrow series ends with a whimper instead of a bang. The only upside is that it was sort of a merciful whimper; Winick himself knew he was out of steam and knew it was time to end it. I rather wish they had elected to continue this series under a different writer instead of ending it outright, but I suppose they have their own plan for these characters.
(4 out of 10)
(6.1 out of 10 for the whole arc)
(7.5 out of 10 for the whole run)
Sub-Mariner: Revolution #1
Pretty decent. It's probably great if you particularly like Namor. I was mostly just interested in what manner of Irondickery was going to ensue here and, well, there's not really any of it. But it's okay, 'cause we get Namor acting like a big ol' tightwad, ie "in-character," and kicking ass in fun ways. As I'd predicted, Marvel is still doing everything in its power to disassociate Namor from those pretty speedos, and we don't get even one appearance of it in the issue even though it appears on the cover. Good thing? Bad thing? That's between you and your genitalia.
Why is it that every single "fantasy culture" depicted in superhero comics winds up being ridiculously xenophobic and resentful towards the rest of the world? It could be the Atlanteans, the Inhumans, or the Wakandans, or the DCU Atlanteans; they all love to hate people. Even the Amazons on their best days under Perez didn't have any good things to say about us. Is this is social commentary thingy? "Look how much we suck, no one else likes us"? For once I'd like to have a superhuman fantasy culture that just loved ordinary people and would deign themselves to reproduce with us with all available haste.
(8 out of 10)
Now I'm off to see the midnight showing of Fantastic Four! Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. Don't judge me.
TheCorpulent1
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I remember it, but I think you're expecting too much for Marvel's writers or editors to.Doesn't somebody else remember when Pete said he could kill the Hulk
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TheCorpulent1
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I don't see why it's so ******ed. Pak claims that the Hulk is literally angrier and more powerful than he's ever been. Clearly WWH #1 means that he's angry and powerful enough to defeat Black Bolt. The only thing I thought was lame was the fact that the fight was off-panel.
Darthphere
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Again, I don't care how angry Hulk is, he shouldn't beat Blackbolt, end of story.
TheCorpulent1
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Why not? 
As far as fights go, I've come to realize that there are very, very few absolutes, and they usually involve scenarios like the Celestials fighting unpowered mice.
As far as fights go, I've come to realize that there are very, very few absolutes, and they usually involve scenarios like the Celestials fighting unpowered mice.
Darthphere
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TheCorpulent1
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Black Bolt obviously ain't ****. 
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Because, unlike most writers seem to NOT remember, BB's power isn't only in his voice. The only way I could see this fight going to Hulk is because BB let himself get beat to protect his people. Or so the people of Earth, the ones that have been screwing him over, have to deal with it themselves. But a guy that can levitate the Hulk out of the moon, cancel his gamma energy or absorb it enough to weaken him and then let loose with a voice that carries even in space? Sorry, don't see much how he could lose. Especially since BB can also boost himself to withstand Hulk's attack long enough to turn the battle his way if the Hulk was "too fast".
Edit- Oh, yeah, and New Avengers #31? A Skrull baby? Really? C'mon Marvel, a SKRULL disguised as a BABY?
Edit- Oh, yeah, and New Avengers #31? A Skrull baby? Really? C'mon Marvel, a SKRULL disguised as a BABY?
