Bought/Thought for May 19, 2010 - SPOILERS

[Phaedrus45]

Heroic Age Magazine

I love these large Marvel Magazines that spotlight whatever special event is currently happening with Marvel. This, naturally, focuses on the Heroic Age, and includes four reprinted stories and various interviews with the writers behind various new titles.

First, we get a Jeff Parker interview, talking all about his new Atlas comic that came out today. I really loved the focus on each of the members, telling of their old Atlas days in the 50's and what each character is doing today. 3D Man didn't come out until the 70's; but, he's included in the new group, and Marvel reprints his very first appearance, in Marvel Premiere #35. Next, Brubaker discusses his new Secret Avengers. I'm liking the look of this new team: Sharon Carter, Black Widow, Nova, War Machine, Valkyrie, Irredeemable Ant-Man, Moon Knight, The Beast, and Steve Rogers. (Too bad Slott couldn't get a group of characters as interesting as that for Mighty Avengers.) After this, Bendis discusses this week's Avengers relaunch; and, finally, we get the character sketches for Gage's Avengers Academy, before reprinting 2009's FCBD Avengers comic.

It was nice to get the FCB in a larger format. Marvel's smaller size FCBD comics really suck.

Next, we get a spotlight on Hawkeye and Mockingbird, including a reprint of Tales Of Suspense #57, the first appearance of Hawkeye. After that, Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine and Astonishing X-Men are discussed. The magazine ends with the reprint of Amadeus Cho's first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 (Vol. 2), character sketches for Parker's Thunderbolts, and a quick article on Allied Forces.

Some people might balk at the price ($9.99); but, I love the format. It makes it really feel like an event, and I love seeing these comics reprinted in the large size.

Avengers Assemble One-Shot

This is your basic handbook that not only updates old handbook entries, but includes some new ones, also. (My favs are the Avengers: The Initiative characters, like Komodo and Trauma.) If you love the handbooks, you'll love this comic. If you can care less about them, it's not worth getting.

Marvel 1602 #1

I haven't been including these $1.00 comics in my reviews; because, by now, if you haven't bought the comic, you probably won't. Still, I find it interesting to revisit these first issues for such a low price, and I don't have to dig through my comic boxes to do so.

I'd find it interesting if Marvel and DC are seeing any impact on their trade sales of the comics they are reprinting.

Origins Of Marvel Comics One-Shot

What an odd comic for Marvel to put out, and one that I wouldn't really recommend to anyone. Each page is a short introduction to a Marvel character or group, kind of like the origin stories we've seen DC comics do with one or two pages at the end of some of their comics. It just tells the origin of the person, along with some nice art. Most all of these entries are written by Fred Van Lente, and various artists contributed each of the narrations.

 

[Spider-Jay420]

huh. Strange Double posting action. Weird.

 

[Spider-Jay420]

Avengers #1 - is off to a good start.

And only because it's not in the title

SPOILER
SPOILERS
SPOILERIFICNESS

It was great to the Premier super hero team stocked with Premier super heroes! The team converges rather quickly, in fact, it seems they just hung out after the party and the end of Siege #4, and here we are. Cap's hand picked new face of the Avengers. Spidey has a funny exchange with Hawkeye, and Logan tells Spider Woman she has to earn her Avengers status (cuz he knows all about being an Avenger) Thor STILL has no idea who Bucky-Cap is, and Iron Man doesn't really want to be on the same team as Steve, because he's afraid they'll bicker all the time. Steve doesn't agree with him, but have no fear, cuz Maria Hill is calling the shots. I thought that's what Victoria Hand was gonna do, but apparently she's gonna be working with the New Avengers.
Anyway, all is looking good and the team is settling together, when KANG shows up and warns the Avengers about their bastard children from the future! In a very Doc Brown "It's your kids, Marty. Something has got to be done about your kids." kinda way. They take the bait and decide to help, but they are on their own as far as time travel. Kang can't help them there, as they wouldn't trust him anyway. He does say something about the team not fully coming together yet, and makes wonder who else will gain membership. Anyway, issue ends with the Future Imperfect Hulk and some kinda punky Spider Woman waiting and telling Kang the Avengers better show up, so they can pummel them. Oh, and the Hulk is the SMARTEST one there is.
Like I said, off to a good start and hopefully Bendis can keep it up. But so far, so good. Also, Bendis' Oral History of the Avengers is pretty cool too. It reads like a featurette on a DVD, with interviews from all kinds of Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, Rick Jones, Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, Bruce Banner, and Reed Richards, so far) telling the story of how the Avengers got together in ther first place. A lot better and more interesting than I thought it would be. Nice touch, Bendis!

Also picked up Amazing Spider-Man Presents: American Son #1 of 4 - and so far it seems pretty interesting. Everyone's favorite illegitimate Osborn son returns in the form of Gabriel Stacy, and he very easily got his hands on the American Son suit as Osborn's labs in Avengers Tower were being dismantled and cleaned out. It's not clear what his intentions are, though. He starts out stopping a dude holding a bus full of people hostage, and says something like, "Hey officers, sorry I'm late. I'll take care of this." And looks to be trying to be a hero. We later find out he robbed an armored car, strealing a truckload of diamonds. So that's kinda confusing. Trying to be a hero or not? Probably not. Seems he's still an ass and only wants to appear as hero. Which makes no sense because no one knows who Gabe is and the public all saw Harry Osborn as American Son from the arc in ASM. So, again, not clear what Gabe is up to. And then he confronts Harry at the Coffee Bean and says something along the lines of, "Did you think you were Norman's only son? He gave all his love to you and not me! WAH!" and then shoots Harry in the chest, piont blank. Ouch.
As bad as Sins Past was, and as vomitous as Norman Osborn as Gwen Stacy's love child is....yuck!....I am curious to see what happens to him. Hopefully, he'll die a firey, tragic death and never be heard from again. We'll see. Interesting start and I'll most likely see it through to the conclusion. Solid read though.

 

[KangConquers]

Avengers #1:

It could be good. I'm a little wary of Bendis touching Kang, as I've always gotten the impression he's not fond of the character. It was nice to see Blue beak though, and see a bunch of heroes being heroes.

 

[Phaedrus45]

I should be reading my comics; but, I've actually spent a good part of the day playing a video game, which is rare for me to do. It came out yesterday, and is called "Red Dead Redemption." It's Grand Theft Auto meets the old West. (Made by Rockstar; so, it incorporates a lot of GTA types of things in it.) In fact, I like it more than GTA.

Ultimate Avengers 2 #2

I liked the first issue, which focused on Frank Castle; but, this one kind of sucked. The second member of this covert team that's being put together by Nick Fury is Leonard Williams, and I'm thinking he's the Ultimate version of Doc Samson. (At least, I cannot think of a 616 character by that same name.) A super-soldier made by Bruce Banner, Williams has been on the run for quite some time, and prefers to live life with lots of money, women, and intimidation. (It reminded me very much of the Hulk from Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk.)

This issue just didn't work. Next up, Ultimate Ghost Rider.

Age Of Heroes #1 (of 4)

This is just like those X-minis, where we get 4 short stories for on high price. None of them are very memorable, and the first takes up half of the issue. Story #1 is JJ Jameson wanting to make sure the public is aware that this Age Of Heroes is just a calm before another storm. Story #2 is a humorous tale involving Doctor Voodoo. Story #3, my favorite, features Captain Britain and MI:13, as Captain America attempts to recruit Cap Brit into his new team; and, finally, we get a one-page Slott story that features Spidey.

 

[Dread]

Quite a big week for comics this week, with Marvel full steam ahead on HEROIC AGE and DC likely on BRIGHTEST DAY, both of which usually spell MORE $ FOR THEM. The shop I bought my comics from had a heap of fold out posters of all of the AVENGERS #1 promotional art with adverts on the back for $4 that they obviously misread and ordered like extra comics, and now can't sell. Much as I imagine more than one shop likely didn't know that AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #1 was a handbook unless they were very diligent. I am not sure whether Marvel is entirely innocent in stunts like this, and whether fooling retailers who aren't masters of the Internet into over ordering things they normally wouldn't breeds ill will in the long run.

As always, spoilers and rants ahoy.

Dread's Bought/Thought for 5/19/10 Part 1:

ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #23: This actually came out a month after the last one! That's quite a lot since this title had shifted to an unofficial bi-monthly format again. It might finish before Halloween after all. As the letters pages said, these are busy times for Robert Kirkman; he's writing 3-5 monthly comics for Images in some ways, in addition to working on the WALKING DEAD TV series for AMC. He, gasp, doesn't even have time to answer letters this month! Jason Howard and the regular colorists naturally are back for more supernatural superhero gore here. Half the issue is Gary, Mecha-Maid, Chloe, and even Agent Hunter fending off a horde of werewolves sent to kill him by the Elder. Of course, didn't the Elder train him? Why does he now want Gary dead? Answers for another time. At any rate, the heroes fend off the wolves, but another supporting cast member, Dunford the butler, dies a grisly death. Technically, he was decapitated last issue, but the effects of it are felt in this one, especially from Chloe. She likely feels terrible for mistreating him during her "must kill father" vengeance fetish era. And to Gary, naturally, Dunford was his only unconditional friend and confident throughout his werewolf ordeal.

Damien Darkblood (Kirkman's spoof of Rorshache from WATCHMEN) shows up to investigate the return of the Stonehenge monster, and we get more adventures in the life of being a robot mom from Mecha Maid. It has been a bit bizarre, but in a good way. Not many comics explore the nature of robots possibly being neglectful parents to their own AI programs. Lawyers control the world, man. Not even the machines can escape an ACS order.

The issue ends with a cliffhanger, with Zechariah kidnapping Chloe on one end and Elder claiming this was all for the sake of training the next. So, Gary has had two mentors, and both of them are deranged and tried to kill him, and successfully caused the death of someone he cared about. Talk about a rock and a hard place. In comparison, Invincible's gotten it light from his dad. There's also a back up strip by Jason Howard to flesh out minor character Code Blue, and while it's quite fun and readable (and a comic that is still $2.99 and has a back up strip feels like a bonus these days), part of me wonders what is the point of fleshing out a minor character who is now currently a vampire thanks to Zechariah. To be fair, he's technically an alien vampire, so all he needs is to become a cyborg ninja viking to officially have a toe in every major comic genre.

This arc would be tense enough, but since this will be the final one for the series, it does give a sense that anyone could die. At least except Mecha-Maid, who Kirkman claimed was safe in a letter page last month.

HAUNT #7: Astounding Wolf-Man is on time for once, while HAUNT is a month behind; figures. Greg Capullo has taken over full art chores now that Ryan Ottley is gone from pencils, with Kirkman on story and McFarlane on inks. It starts the second arc after a decent stand alone issue in March to recap the series, and at times it is very easy to compare this to SPAWN. Daniel Kilgore (who merges with his dead brother Kurt to become "a Haunt", which is so totally not a rip off of Brother Voodoo, maybe) decides to go see if his hooker has a heart of gold, and ends up slaughtering her boyfriend and his gang-banger friends when they seem possessive. There is something a bit blunt about a prostitute who becomes "friends" with Daniel named Charity, but I won't go there. At any rate, one violence rampage solves everything Wolverine style, and the brothers Kilgore have to deal with Mirage leaving Amanda (Daniel's ex and Kurt's widow) a heap of cash. Ultimately, she gets to learn her husband was a super spy, and more drama ensues.

The issue does have some for some comedic interludes. With Daniel now becoming further involved with his brother's spy life, his official training begins, and he is disheartened to learn that it seems to involve boring paperwork. Mr. Hurg, the mobster mastermind of this entire series thus far, has dinner with his former HQ mole, who outed herself to obtain "the notebook" for him, a Maguffin containing a secret genetics experiment in cellular regeneration (that mangles whatever it mutates, but makes it super-strong and pain resistant). Hurg is obsessed with healthy living and my bet is he's in this to become immortal. Unintentionally hilarious is the mercenary Cobra, whose design is right out of a 1990's issue of X-FORCE, gets his bandages taken off and the surprise is that thanks to Haunt, he looks more like a "cobra" than before. It's actually sort of creepy looking, but also sort of amusing. Like if a mercenary was named "Deer" and then after an accident woke up with antlers stuck to his head.

It's a solid issue, some calm before the storm (as in, only 4 people were torn apart on panel). The interaction between Daniel and Kurt is really the strength of the series, and the comedy in places is good to break the tension. Some will still see this as SPAWN 2.0 a bit, but it still is entertaining. It isn't the best comic I read in general or from Kirkman, but it entertains me enough to continue.

ATLAS #1: This was my BOOK OF THE WEEK over at Examiner.com. It is essentially the relaunch of AGENTS OF ATLAS a an ongoing series, only with a shorter title and riding the HEROIC AGE wave. Riding DARK REIGN provided the last ongoing series with a solid premise, but didn't quite help sales. Hopefully this time, more retailers and fans jump on the bandwagon. It is another $3.99 debut issue and I seriously believe those are short sighted and doomed to kill books, but with a back up strip adding to the page count, it is sort of worth it. Jeff Parker, Gabe Hardman, Elizabeth Brietwieser together again on writing/art/colors, and it is all good. The series itself was based on WHAT IF? #9, from 1977-1978 that featured a "what if" team of 1950's Avengers, a tale that has become partly canonized with the 2005 mini series. But one hero, the 3-D Man, was always absent from this team, until now. This actually may have been for the better because in one issue, Parker manage to introduce Delroy Garret to the reader without making the story feel bogged down or full of exposition, and they utilize nearly every bit of it to sell Delroy as a compelling character.

He's the second hero to bare the 3-D Man legacy, but being a legacy hero no one has ever heard of it much like being the tallest of the midgets. His past as an Avenger (Triathlon) where he worked with Wonder Man is established, when his girlfriend tries to get him involved with a sleazy reality TV show. He's an ex-Initiative hero now, apparently retired and unwanted. During SECRET INVASION, he was on the front lines of the Skrull Invasion and teamed up with the Skrull Kill Krew, who were all violent fanatics. But most of all, he wasted an Initiative hero, Crusader, the moment it was revealed he was a Skrull himself. It has made 3-D Man a pariah in the superhero community. I suppose one could say if you swapped "Skrull" for any human ethnicity, such as, say, Arab, Delroy would probably come off as being even harsher, but that's the benefit of aliens for you. At any rate, his "dark past" seems to stem from an act which Delroy at least sees as an error made in a time of war, not outright malice. While Delroy's not drowning in angst about it, it does seem as if he is hardly proud of it, and rejects the "original" 3-D Men's assertations, Hal and Chuck Chandler, that Delroy was better at the mantle than "they" were. What I like about the issue is part of what makes Parker's run on ATLAS material work so well; he's willing to poke fun at some of the bizarre character origins he has dealt with, but also treats them with enough respect that it never feels cheap. While there are some jokes made about Roy Thomas' bizarre angles for the Chandler brothers to be 3-D Man (in 1977, it was intended as a bit of satire for 1950's heroes), the mantle is treated as having been a little known but still worthy superhero mantle. It's hardly being Starman or the Green Lantern, but it's still something. Unfortunately, some threat that is connected to the past of both the 3-D Man and Atlas arises, and messes with both Delroy and the Chandlers. Delroy gets back into the game to track down the Agents, and naturally finds them.

As evidenced by his AVENGERS VS. ATLAS mini, sometimes the menaces that Parker comes up with to fight his heroes are a bit weird or light on substance, but usually the interaction of his characters make up for it to the point where they could be boxing a blank page and it still would be readable. In this case, it seems to be something that possesses people around Delroy, which relates to some adventure the original 3-D Man had with the Agents back in 1958 with zombies at a graveyard. It's always zombies.

Said 1958 adventure also gets a back up strip to cover it, much like the Red Triangle caper got at the start of the last series. It is drawn by Ramon Rosanas and is what you would expect. At the very least, the zombies appear to be raised by mechanical means, instead of being supernatural. It was, of course, all a side project of Yellow Claw's to test Jimmy Woo for his future intended position. It all flows well now that Parker's retcons have become canon, and also a case of positive retcons that add instead of destroy. They can happen, you know. There's also a letter's page (rare from Marvel comics these days), and a Handbook style Bio for Delroy. And a funny advert for GORILLA MAN's mini series. Lord knows I'll be buying that one; he clearly is the breakout star of the title. The rare "talking ape" who I can not only stand, but genuinely find funny.

Screw AVENGERS #1 (which probably just had more Bendis absurdity, while shoving the characters from the meh DTV, "NEXT AVENGERS", into canon). This was the new launch I stand by this week from Marvel. Don't miss it the second time around (or is that third? Fourth?).

AGE OF HEROES #1: Part one of a four part anthology series that basically allows writers to handle just about any characters they want. There is another $4 anthology comic out this week, ENTER THE HEROIC AGE. I preferred that one because you get far more for your four bucks there, as that is 40 pages and this is a mere 22. And while it is all good, this debut of the four part mini isn't four dollars good. Especially since the best segments tend to be the shortest.

And it seems every month, Marvel picks one villain who shows up in at least 3-4 comics at once. A short while ago it was Nightmare. This month it's clearly Griffen. He was in PRINCE OF POWER last week, and is out again fighting Spider-Man in a one page tale by Dan Slott. The longest stories are a J. Jonah Jameson tale written by Kurt Busiek and a Doctor Voodoo tale written by Rick Remender. Both have solid art, and both depict "day in the life" style tales for Mayor Jameson and Voodoo. Jameson wants to exploit SIEGE to try to turn the public fully against superheroes, and sees it all as caped pissing match - not even Capt. America is safe from his scorn anymore. But when the Avengers foil a tidal wave to the cheers of everyone in Time's Square, Jonah settles on riding the wave for political reasons. I must say, Jonah is probably cooler than the REAL Mayor of New York for the past 8 years (and counting), Mike Bloomberg, who's banned cigarettes, trans fats, sugar, salt, and fun (only one is fake, but you'll never guess which). The Voodoo tale sort of paints him as more "hard luck" than Dr. Strange was, as a hot date is interrupted by yet another mystical quest, but apparently flowers always impress at the end.

My favorite segments were the one page Spidey story and the 2 page Cornell/Kirk CAPT. BRITAIN & MI-3 story, in which Pete Wisdom gets annoyed that Steve Rogers has asked Capt. Britain to join the Avengers (and that even Dane is considering it). He creates a diplomatic error, and then compounds it trying to smooth it over. It's mostly subtle comedy, but it worked. I do miss this team, and look forward to seeing more of them. It does seem, though, that Blade and Spitfire have already left (the former is going to team with the X-Men for a bit, and the latter is due to get her own one-shot/mini this summer).

There's also some unintentional humor in the bit where Iron Man and Thor are both doing mighty feats against the tidal wave, while Hawkeye is reduced to using arrows to catch falling people, and Spidey tries to make a web-wall between some palm trees. It's a little silly, although to be honest, I imagine that is how Batman and Green Arrow would feel if the JLA were engaging in a similar rescue act. Unless Batman remembered his Anti-Tidal Wave Spray.

This wasn't a bad start to the anthology series, I just didn't find it worthy of a full four dollar price tag, especially when there was an anthology one-shot this week that actually was.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Dread, seriously....pick up Avengers #1, probably the best thing Bendis has written Avengers wise.

 

[Dread]

Dread, seriously....pick up Avengers #1, probably the best thing Bendis has written Avengers wise.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, same on me. I read NEW AVENGERS for over 45 issues and hated most of it. I read ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN at least two years longer than I should have. SIEGE, which just ended, was Bendis' BEST event and it was AVERAGE in story quality. I read the 5-6 issue preview and was annoyed enough to see the animated NEXT AVENGERS, and Wonder Man going on a ridiculously out of character speech about how worthless the Avengers are, and they shouldn't bother. From Wonder Man? Seriously!?

I'll tolerate Bendis for something as vitally important as SIEGE was, and that was finite. I'd be a damned fool to try him again on any series. It's not a second or third chance...it's a 57th chance. No.

Dread's Heroic Age of Brightest Day Bought/Thought for 5/19/10 Part 2:

ENTER THE HEROIC AGE #1: This one was probably easy to miss, since the title font makes it hard to distinguish from any ol' HEROIC AGE comic, and the cover by Bryan Hitch is actually quite generic. For an A-List artist, some of his recent covers have been very "meh". But don't let that fool you, though. While a cynic could easily paint this as an advertisement for several new ongoing series, all of the short tales within are actually pretty good and effective at highlighting the best of what a series may have to offer. If the intention was to make a reader want to go out and buy some ongoing series debuts, it succeeded. In fact it is actually a shame it wasn't cheaper, that Marvel didn't genuinely see this as advertising and made it, say, $1.99 to really encourage it to fly off the shelves. Oh, well. The downside to short term greed is often long term underachievement.

The strongest story is, naturally, the AGENTS OF ATLAS story by Parker and Hardman, chronicling a battle between the team and a leftover Kree Sentry in Hawaii; can't the Kree EVER clean up after themselves? It's a simple but effective little romp, and ties in perfectly with the beginning of ATLAS #1. While Venus' singing once again proves critical, it doesn't completely defeat the robot, so the others still get to go a-blastin'.

The one shot starts with a re-introduction of Reptil from Christos Gage and Mike McKone, with AVENGERS ACADEMY launching next week. Apparently sometime after Reptil seemingly went with Ka-Zar to the savage land in his last appearance (which was also in a one-shot), Osborn's HAMMER kidnapped him to run twisted experiments on him. Osborn hinted in AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE that he wanted to focus on finding "kids" who one one had heard of to work on, and it seems that will be fodder for the newer characters of ACADEMY. It also allows Reptil to show some chops from escaping the facility after HAMMER goes to pot with Osborn's arrest. The art is pretty good, with his dinosaur powers looking good. It ends with him being recruited by Pym, Tigra, and Justice. Sounds solid to me!

There's a Black Widow story by Kelly Sue Deconnick with some incredible art by Jaime McKelvie about her trying to intercept a smuggled weapon at a ballet (a nice touch, given her background cover story). Naturally, it turns out the "weapon" is another hopeless brainwashed combat femme' like she is, who Natasha decides to take in rather than hand off to government stooges of either side. It's a simple story but effective at what it does. There is also a Hawkeye & Mockingbird story by Jim McCann and David Lopez in which they take down a criminal gang in Chinatown. And here I thought Iron Fist and Moon Knight were the only big time heroes who more often than not just fight random schmucks in one-shots. It's a fun, fast paced little action tale. That said, it is SO obvious that Marvel wants this to be their version of GREEN ARROW & BLACK CANARY, only one problem; that series TANKED at DC, and is in the middle of it's own messy overhaul. I could question the wisdom of ripping off an idea, after it is has failed elsewhere, about a year too late. But, aside for that, it's a fun little diversion of a story. There is an odd bit where Clint and Bobbi seem to act like they're not just going to remarry each other in some Bendis story sometime within 12 months, yet all they do is flirt and make out. Oh, c'mon, just pull out the Condom Arrow and get it over with. There was some odd bit where the crooks didn't seem to recognize Hawkeye, despite the fact that the Dark Avengers were all over TV and Bullseye was wearing that exact same costume. If anything, Bullseye's time using it should probably effect Clint's PR a bit. I could imagine a thug begging him "not to slice off my knee caps with a credit card like you did to my cousin Shecky" and Clint replying with a "Whoa! Wrong guy, kid," kind of line.

The final story is THUNDERBOLTS, which leads into #144 next week by Jeff Parker and Kevin Walker. That's three comics this week for Mr. Parker! At any rate, it is nice seeing someone other than Brian Bendis write Luke Cage these days, especially for a long term team book (and not, say, a guest appearance in IMMORTAL IRON FIST). Some new dregs are carted into the new Raft facility, which has been modified by old time Thunderbolts Mach IV and Techno (formerly Beetle and Fixer). Some of the new inmates include Ox (who knows which; there are two, both twin brothers), Corrupter, Bushwhacker, Griffen (about time!), that lonely Blood Brother who is always hanging around, and even Norman Osborn, Grizzly, and Ghost. Several consider a jail break, before being offered a pitch to the Thunderbolts, which for the first time in a while isn't being run by Norman Osborn - in fact, he's not a Raft inmate, too. It is, in fact, Luke Cage, disguised as a guard to make the pitch stick. Steve Rogers commends him on his work, and this story is a nice bridge between the prior T-Bolts and the next one. Pretty solid stuff.

Plus, 40 pages for your $4 with few ads is a much better deal than 22. Despite this being an expensive week, and despite this serving as more of a promotion than an anthology, I was quite happy with my comic purchase here.

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #26: Well, there goes the hope that this title would kick it's decompression habit. Yes, it's cool that Fraction/Larroca/D'Armata haven't missed a deadline in over two years, nor has anyone needed a fill in. For some reason a good chunk of this comic felt like a rehash of the last. I almost felt like I had accidentally bought a reprint when I had to read the same Detroit Steel segment again. The Hammer women manage to sell some weapons to maniacs overseas, while Tony Stark apologizes to someone he was a dipstick to before trying to become business partners with him. Maria Hill is also annoyed that while Stark wants to offer a "fail safe" to Steve Rogers in case he ever becomes an Iron Maniac again, he also is convinced that even without his memories of the last two years of continuity, he'd probably do the same things again anyway.

Oh, and for those who dislike "photo-realistic" art, anyone get the feeling Mrs. Hammer is based on Michelle Obama?

Spymaster is back in business and the Hammers hire him, which was cool. Even if Larroca's rendition of his outfit is hit or miss.

It wasn't a bad issue, but it felt as if it could have been HALF an issue with some tighter editing. Especially after reading two anthologies that covered a similar amount of material in 10 or less pages. Every time I think this title is about to hit greatness for a long uninterrupted stretch, a "meh" issue comes down. Bring on IRON MAN LEGACY!

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #1: A handbook, titled oddly to fool retailers. Haven't read it yet, but always love these things. Always worth the four bucks, especially since 2006 or so.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Avengers #1: Wow, that was underwhelming. Wonder Man's a dick for no apparent reason, Bendis' infamous talking heads are in full effect for about 90% of the issue, the villains really are the stupid f***ing Next Avengers kids, Steve literally says he recruited Wolverine for his "ruthlessness" (even after Bendis himself had Steve object to Wolverine's recruitment for the New Avengers when Iron Man cited that same reason!), Spider-Man quips really awkwardly to the point of sounding like a ******ed 10-year-old in half the scenes he says anything at all in, Maria Hill is apparently the full-on leader of the team instead of just a liaison, and Spider-Woman exists. But in spite of all that, it's not absolutely horrible. Just underwhelming. It's not the fresh, bright start the Heroic Age promised; it's Bendis writing the way Bendis does everywhere outside of Siege--which I guess he must've made a really concerted effort to be brief and more action-oriented for--but applied to the classic Avengers formula. I'll have to give him the rest of this arc to decide whether I want the latter badly enough to deal with the former.

 

[Doc Destruction]

Yeah Corp, I feel like I ate a full meal, kicked back and felt like I hadn't eaten anything at all.

Brightest Day 2 was pretty sweet, though!

The X-Books are really pretty damn good right now, too.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Brightest Day #2's ending was just wacky. Aliveman vs. the Anti-Monitor? Probably a short fight. Although I'm sure the White Lantern ring is just showing him what the Anti-Monitor is up to, since he was resurrected in Blackest Night as well and I imagine he'll provide the central conflict for BD. Good stuff with the Atom, Firestorm, and the Martian Manhunter in this issue, though. I thought J'onn's story was very poignant, if a bit creepy given that he was impersonating the woman's dead father (although, in fairness, I guess you'd have a different outlook on that if you come from a society of shapeshifters). The Hawks' subplot, meanwhile, just made me hate them even more. Oh, look, Hawkman is angry. They're really breaking new ground with his character development.

 

[SuperFerret]

So, I guess Brightest Day is worth picking up?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

If you like enough of the characters, yes. I'm buying it for Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter, Firestorm, Aliveman, and Osiris. Couldn't care less about the others if I tried. But so far the issues have focused heavily on the first four, so I'm happy. Plus, Johns mentioned in an interview that Brightest Day is pretty much what Aquaman is getting instead of an Aquaman: Rebirth.

 

[SuperFerret]

Good enough for me.

 

[iloveclones]

Avengers #1: Wow, that was underwhelming. Wonder Man's a dick for no apparent reason, Bendis' infamous talking heads are in full effect for about 90% of the issue, the villains really are the stupid f***ing Next Avengers kids, Steve literally says he recruited Wolverine for his "ruthlessness" (even after Bendis himself had Steve object to Wolverine's recruitment for the New Avengers when Iron Man cited that same reason!), Spider-Man quips really awkwardly to the point of sounding like a ******ed 10-year-old in half the scenes he says anything at all in, Maria Hill is apparently the full-on leader of the team instead of just a liaison, and Spider-Woman exists. But in spite of all that, it's not absolutely horrible. Just underwhelming. It's not the fresh, bright start the Heroic Age promised; it's Bendis writing the way Bendis does everywhere outside of Siege--which I guess he must've made a really concerted effort to be brief and more action-oriented for--but applied to the classic Avengers formula. I'll have to give him the rest of this arc to decide whether I want the latter badly enough to deal with the former.

Yeah Corp, I feel like I ate a full meal, kicked back and felt like I hadn't eaten anything at all.

You guys have been Bendis-free for a while, so let me give you a primer:

The next issue, the Avengers will sit around and talk a lot about what they should do, how they should do it, when they should do it, who morally objects, and Spidey will say some random thing like 'belt buckle' that no-one will find funny but him. And they'll talk about that for a while.

I would say that someone will act terribly out of character, but he took that into account in the first issue with Wonderman. Maybe Spidey will be next, and talk like an adult.

After putting all the major players in place, on the edge of defeat,with everyone about to die, the villain will somehow be crushed under his own weight of ambitions. He may cry.

Oh, and there will be talking. I mean, Bendy pratically perfected decompression, so there will be talking. Like 12-year olds.

Bendis may be the "best idea/worst execution" example ever. So enjoy the setup while you can.

Oh, I almost forgot, don't forget that he planned all of this when his great grandfather was born.

btw, nice to see you, Doc.

...and this comes from someone who actually LIKES Bendis....

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Siege had pretty good pacing and not a lot of pointless blathering. I thought maybe Bendis had gotten better. But I guess I was mistaken. Still, I do really love the classic Avengers, so I'm willing to give this a full arc before I decide whether to stick with it or drop it. I could only ever make it through about two issues of Bendis' earlier, non-classic Avengers stuff at a time.

Anyway, Avengers and Brightest Day are the only things I read yesterday. I stayed up playing a video game way too late the night before, so I could barely concentrate enough to read even those two. I'm pretty sure I dozed off a couple of times while I was reading Brightest Day, too. I'll read a few more at lunch today.

 

[Drz]

Ultimate Avengers 2 #2

I liked the first issue, which focused on Frank Castle; but, this one kind of sucked. The second member of this covert team that's being put together by Nick Fury is Leonard Williams, and I'm thinking he's the Ultimate version of Doc Samson. (At least, I cannot think of a 616 character by that same name.) A super-soldier made by Bruce Banner, Williams has been on the run for quite some time, and prefers to live life with lots of money, women, and intimidation. (It reminded me very much of the Hulk from Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk.)

This issue just didn't work. Next up, Ultimate Ghost Rider.

Nah they worked together on the serum. Tynore Cash is smarter than Bruce and just completely amoral. I don't think Tynore is suppose to be a mix of any 616 universe characters or an amalgam. Tho the Hulk TV serie did have "the professor" or something which was the original Hulk or so. Maybe Millar took cues from that?

 

[Dread]

Siege had pretty good pacing and not a lot of pointless blathering. I thought maybe Bendis had gotten better. But I guess I was mistaken. Still, I do really love the classic Avengers, so I'm willing to give this a full arc before I decide whether to stick with it or drop it. I could only ever make it through about two issues of Bendis' earlier, non-classic Avengers stuff at a time.

Anyway, Avengers and Brightest Day are the only things I read yesterday. I stayed up playing a video game way too late the night before, so I could barely concentrate enough to read even those two. I'm pretty sure I dozed off a couple of times while I was reading Brightest Day, too. I'll read a few more at lunch today.

The funny thing is, we seemed to have the same impression of AVENGERS #1, only I read the preview and you bought the issue. That's either good or bad. I rolled my eyes at seeing the NEXT AVENGERS, because Marvel seems convinced that any character made for a cartoon is good, when they're not (see: X-23, who is so boring that she only looks better now because of Daken, who makes her better by comparison). People complain about Reptil, but frankly, I think Christos Gage has handled his debut(s) very well, as the exception to the rule (remember how bloody convoluted Marvel made Firestar's canon appearances in the 80's?). And Wonder Man's speech was just grating, and I merely caught 2 pages of it.

The fact that Bendis forgot his own continuity of founding the New Avengers in 2004 is a bit laughable, but also a bit sad. He's Marvel's Ace, the face of their company, the Unofficial Editor In Chief. And he can't even keep his own house straight. Of course, not every writer does; Robert Kirkman actually makes mistakes in some of his Image titles all the time. But he usually laughingly admits it when fans call him on them in his letters pages, while Bendis sort of shudders and claims it was someone else, or it wasn't read properly. "Go back, knowing what you know now of Steve Rogers," I imagine will be his Newsarama line. I wonder if David Finch is still happy that Bendis threw him under a bus for some of the errors in NEW AVENGERS #2.

Aside for SIEGE, I have been Bendis-free since the end of 2008, and I haven't missed his comics one iota. If anything, sticking to comics I buy because of genuine enjoyment or interest - not because "they are important" - has been a winning move. And yes, there were posters who was screaming at me to make it in 2006, and 2007.

The major benefit for SIEGE was that it was not as long as the last two Bendis events. Both HOUSE OF M and SECRET INVASION were 7-8 issues and neither needed that many issues to tell their stories. This time, even if you include SIEGE: THE CABAL one shot, the event was 5 issues, told in (roughly) six months. He had less time to dither. And if he wanted to, hey, he had quite a few of his own titles that were doing tie-in's that he either wrote (NEW AVENGERS, DARK AVENGERS) or co-wrote (SECRET WARRIORS; even if Hickman does it all and Bendis merely has "yay or nay" approval rights, that still is influence). That said, even at 4-5 issues, SIEGE was hardly perfect. Loki's ultimate turn move was perhaps fine if you read some of the side material, but nowhere hinted in SIEGE itself. In the end most of the series came down to endless punching and kicking. Sentry/Void has been seemingly killed several times, and the good guys seemingly believe they did it for real this time because...why, exactly? Their "Norn Stone Power Up" wore off faster than a Starman in SUPER MARIO BROTHERS. But, as I said in my review, if you just looked at SIEGE as a brainless action movie, it was okay. But only okay. Which for Bendis is a step up.

I can tolerate it for a special crossover event every year or so, that is finite. I can't for an ongoing series, not again. He's the comic book version of heroin; once you get in the habit of buying the hype, it can be tough to snap it. But once you do, the wind is at your back.

Now ATLAS #1, that was the good stuff this week. Wouldn't it be awesome if that debuted even HALF as well as AVENGERS #1. I really enjoyed it. Even after Delroy got a lot of focus in the SECRET INVASION issues of AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, I thought this was a good re-introduction to him. It did stink losing one of the Chandler brothers, but hopefully the threat will be worth it. I thought the debut did a good job of covering Delroy's past and summing up where he is now, without making him either a saint or a creep.

 

[Red]

Wait, Maria Hill is leading the Avengers? What the hell!?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I haven't missed Bendis' comics either, but all throughuot the New Avengers era, I complained that I wanted Marvel to get back to the classic Avengers. They're doing exactly what I wanted now, so I figure I should at least give it one full story's worth of a chance.

Anyway, I finished most of my Heroic Age stuff at lunch.

Age of Heroes was a good set of short stories. I was really only interested in the MI-13 story, but the Jameson one turned out to be pretty solid (even though it does absolutely nothing to endear Jameson to the reader) and the Doctor Voodoo story was all right. The Spider-Man one-pager was a nice little gag, and you can't really expect more than that in just one page.

Quite a surprise in the MI-13 story with Captain Britain being offered membership in the Avengers and Pete Wisdom actually accepting it for him. I wonder if we'll ever actually see him turn up in an Avengers comic, though. I got the impression that it's more of a reservist thing, so I'm not expecting Brian to show up for anything more than big group shots when Steve calls all the heroes in to fight some big menace. Or maybe he'll teach something about superhero foreign relations in Avengers Academy.

Enter the Heroic Age had some good stories as well. Each serves to set up the status quo of each character/team without being an overly transparent "setup story." The Atlas one obviously kicked ass to me, since I'm a huge fan of the Agents of Atlas. I really enjoyed the Hawkeye & Mockingbird (in spite of another appearance by Hawkeye's consistently fugly Heroic Age costume) and Thunderbolts ones as well, and I got a little bit giddy when Hank Pym's all "well, the future's here" at the end of the Avengers Academy story. I also liked that Steve articulated the point that a message coming from Luke Cage has a very different effect than the same message coming from Steve Rogers. Leading the Thunderbolts by example fits the character way better than leading the New Avengers (poorly).

The Black Widow story was surprisingly enjoyable--I almost didn't even bother to read it because I couldn't care less about the Black Widow, but I liked it. Granted, I liked it because she realized that the spy game sucks and it's always better to have someone you can trust as implicitly as Steve Rogers on your side instead. McKelvie's art was lovely, as usual, but perhaps not as well suited to action comics as the people at Marvel think.

Atlas is off to a fine start. They give the arbitrary old "it was war (because I said it was) so killing people was okay (because I said it was)" justification for Delroy's actions in Secret Invasion again, but the rest of the issue is good enough to cover for that one low point. I was sad that Chuck died, but it's kind of sweet that Delroy is constantly talking to Hal, comatose or not. I like that someone along the way (Gage, I think, in A:TI, but I could be wrong) made Delroy good friends with Chuck and Hal. It's the closest Marvel's probably ever going to come to a DC-style legacy hero, where the newb takes over but still gets along with and takes advice from their predecessor(s). Looking forward to just what the hell is up with the crazy glowing, fiery people coming after Delroy and (presumably) Chuck and Hal.

Invincible Iron Man was good this week as well. I guess Steve actually does confiscate Tony's armors, as he suggested he might in the Avengers Prime preview. What's more, Tony actually lets him, and then he hands over the schematics and kill switch so Steve can shut him down if he ever gets out of control again. While I personally liked that because I'm aware of Avengers Prime and I assume that this restored trust and respect stems from the events of that mini, I imagine this scene for readers who only read IIM must have been somewhat confusing because it seemingly comes from nowhere.

Tony is penitent overall in this issue, and I like it. He's never overly penitent--he remains his somewhat abrasive usual self, at least--but he's just humble enough that it helps you like him again after the last few years of being a total dick. I loved the stuff with Wyche and the implication that his new, humbler outlook extends beyond just the superhero arena into righting wrongs with past business associates as well. Wyche seems like he might be the closest we'll get to an intellectual match for Stark without actually being another super-scientist/hero, and that makes him a promising new supporting character in my book.

Good to see Spymaster back. He's a fun villain. Looks like he'll be the link that finally brings Tony into direct conflict with the Hammerettes. I'm looking forward to Tony (and hopefully Rhodey) kicking Detroit Steel's ass.

Unfortunately, Salvador Larroca's art still sucks.

 

[deathshead2]

The Spirit #2- Not as good as last issue, but it still comes off as a good cross between the noir feel of the movie; without going overboard like Frank did, and Cookes run. The backup last issues; while hard to follow, had good art and story, this, well... the story is fine, but the art is terrible. I expected better from Baker.

Also bought the new issues of Sonic Universe. Haven't read it as I'm behind on both series, but I bet it's good. The Sonic comics are the most consistently good titles being published right now.

 

[Doc Destruction]

You guys have been Bendis-free for a while, so let me give you a primer:

The next issue, the Avengers will sit around and talk a lot about what they should do, how they should do it, when they should do it, who morally objects, and Spidey will say some random thing like 'belt buckle' that no-one will find funny but him. And they'll talk about that for a while.

I would say that someone will act terribly out of character, but he took that into account in the first issue with Wonderman. Maybe Spidey will be next, and talk like an adult.

After putting all the major players in place, on the edge of defeat,with everyone about to die, the villain will somehow be crushed under his own weight of ambitions. He may cry.

Oh, and there will be talking. I mean, Bendy pratically perfected decompression, so there will be talking. Like 12-year olds.

Bendis may be the "best idea/worst execution" example ever. So enjoy the setup while you can.

Oh, I almost forgot, don't forget that he planned all of this when his great grandfather was born.

btw, nice to see you, Doc.

...and this comes from someone who actually LIKES Bendis....

Heya Clones! Remember when I made those accusations and everyone got mad at me for it? I've been lurking watching everyone come around. It's been quite refreshing

 

[IFryKids]

I didn't think Avengers #1 was all that great, it was merely ok. One thing I'm starting to appreciate about Bendis though is that he certainly doesn't write Thor as a wimp. He was a big factor in the end of Secret Invasion, wrote him as a major badass in Siege, and just had him smack Kang halfway across a city.

 

[runawayboulder]

Maria Hill maybe the leader, but Tony said he was definitely okay with that....that makes him leader by default.

And of course they screwed....

 

[Phaedrus45]

Avengers #1

I'm going to have to agree with the majority, and say how unimpressive this first issue was.

Things I didn't like:

*Simon Williams acting like a total *****e. I always loved the Busiek brought him back from the dead; but, having Bendis mess around with him just makes me very leary.

*On that note, Bendis should stay away from Kang. We've had some classic stories featuring that villian...and, I in no way believe this will be one of them.

*Maria Hill leading the Avengers. I just don't believe that she'd be given such a huge role with this group.

Things I did like:

*Most importantly, Hawkeye dropping the whole Ronin thing. Thank GOD!

*The kids of the Avengers. We only saw them for one page; but, I like what I saw. Granted, a couple issues into this story, I might just hate them.

My grade is a unimpressive

Enter The Heroic Age One-Shot

I liked this more than the short stories in Age Of Heroes. Each story is just a preview of some upcoming regular series. I'm excited about Avengers Academy, and the first story featuring Humberto Lopez was a nice beginning. (I know he's from the kid-line of Marvel Comics, and it seems this is his first appearance in the 616. Not sure, though.) I really liked the next story, featuring Atlas, because it goes right into this week's first issue of Parker's relaunch. The Black Widow story didn't do much for me, and I really don't see Hawkeye and Mockingbird being very lasting. The previous Reunion mini was only ok, after all. Finally, I loved the Thunderbolts short at the end of this book.

Over all, I think this was a great promotional book for these upcoming titles. A reader could get a good indication of books they might want to pick up and those they wouldn't.

Deadpool #23

This is the best of the Deadpool books. Wade brings some good humor to all the Marvel events, and I liked the return of Weasel. This book is always good for a few chuckles.

Atlas #1

I guess the enjoyment of this title depends on what you've thought of Agents Of Atlas in the past. I love it, and I really like the inclusion of 3D-Man into their ranks. This was a really good first issue, getting the reader into the new storyline, and it's not really important if you've read Atlas adventures before or not. Can't wait for issue #2!

Iron Man #26

I'm rushing through these comics, because I have to leave and pick up my son from Track and Field practice. Needless to say, I hated this issue. Lots and lots of talk, and frankly, I'm sick of that in Fraction's Iron Man. Blah, blah, blah. Let's have some damn action already!!! Age of Heroes? With Bendis and Fraction, it's Age of Talk.