Bought/Thought for May 19, 2010 - SPOILERS

[roach]

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....

you forgot the most important one...someone coming out of left field to save the day and the heroes......

 

[Doc Destruction]

Another Bendis staple that I got blasted for criticizing

 

[TheCorpulent1]

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.

Yeah, I liked that scene. Kang's in the middle of a sentence and Thor just blasts the s*** out of him. Hawkeye's commentary afterward was great, too.

 

[Phaedrus45]

DC Universe Legacies #1 (of 10)

I hate to say it; but, it sure seems like DC is putting out a better product for once in their life. I'm a total Marvel mark...but, I find myself pleasantly surprised by what I'm reading from DC compared with Marvel.

This comic, written by Len Wein and draws by the Kuberts, is what First Wave should have been. We get a story from DC's yesteryear as seen through the eyes of a young kid. Very much like Brubaker's Marvels Project (but, even better than that!), this gives readers a look at those early heroes many of us have read about in Justice Society books. It's nice to see the Kubert's drawings, as they lend themselves well with Len Wein's story. (I LOVE seeing these older writers still doing comics...my only complaint was the Len came off as another grumpy writer at the Emerald City Comicon, charging a dollar for every signature over a 5 comic limit. He was trying to convince Kurt Busiek that it was a good idea...but, thankfully, Kurt wasn't buying into it.)

X-Men Legacy #236

There might have been a slight decrease in my enjoyment of this chapter of Second Coming with this issue. Some of Land's art is a bit distracting from the story, and I found the big, pink sphere to be kind of ridiculous. (At first I thought, "they're stuck in a big bubble of bubblegum".... then, I thought, "Hmmm...waaaay too much like the last Stephen King book, Under The Dome.") Not much even happens in this chapter, except letting the reader know how bad off the mutants are that are stuck within the sphere.

X-Factor #205

This Revelations chapter of Second Coming was only okay, too. I've said it before...Layla Miller is not an interesting character any longer since she's become grown up. It's one of the biggest mistakes Peter David has ever done in comics. Layla was the heart and soul of X-Factor, and by having her around in adult form, it just reminds me of how much I dislike this title now.

For that matter, I have very little interest in some of the newer characters David has brought to this team, namely Darwin and Shatterstar. (Shatterstar wasn't interesting waay back in X-Force days, and he's still not now.)

Dark Tower: Gunslinger - The Journey Begins #1

Finally, Marvel's interpretation of Stephen King's epic novels gets to the beginning. (Or, to the first set of short stories that were eventually reproduced in novel form...and, then later expanded and re-editted again by King to make them gel more together in 2003.) Just like that expanded edition, the writer of this book adds in new information, like the revelation at the end that Aillen lived through the last book's massacre of the gunslingers. (That's backstory, and it's heavily implied that Aileen's death will still be explained soon.)

I love the new stuff, because it gives readers, like me, who've read The Gunslinger numerous times a little something extra to enjoy. Also, while I loved the old artist on the Dark Tower comics, I really welcome the new artists to the book. The book goes from being more artistic to more gritty, like a western-themed story should be.

Rescue One-Shot

This is a missing story from after Pepper Potts in the Rescue-armor saved Maria Hill and Black Widow from being imprisoned in HAMMER headquarters. She's visited by a vision of Happy, who inspires her to go on, while looking back at her attempt to help people caught in a car crash and fire. It's a nice story, and one I enjoyed much more than Fraction's dialogue-heavy Invincible Iron Man. (At least I got a full story with a nice bit of action.)

The Walking Dead #72

As happens at times with Kirkman's Walking Dead, the current storyline is getting a bit dragged out. Some new characters become a bit more creepy, as we see Douglas hitting on Andrea, and old favorites doing the same, as Rick continues to more unlikeable in his paranoia of his new surroundings. Still, this new side to Rick is interesting, and I'm dying to find out where it takes us. Nobody on either side has shown their cards to the other...and, it does bring a certain amount a suspense to it all.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The Walking Dead was wonderful this week. I'm so intrigued by this new shift in direction Kirkman has taken. TWD has almost always been good, but I admit I was getting a bit tired of the same old status quo. The book's main plot is effectively, "How long can these people live in a world infested by zombies?" which, as we've seen with TWD's better arcs, can take you pretty far. But at some point it just starts petering out to boredom. I was starting to think that maybe TWD had run its course and the concept just couldn't support much more without becoming trite.

Then Kirkman goes and drops the bomb of Rick being a totally amoral ****** on the last page of the previous issue. He's cleverly managed to create a seismic shift in the underlying direction of the book without making it too jarring. Now the question is not, "How long can you survive in a zombie-infested world?" It's "How long can you survive in a zombie-infested world before it irrevocably changes you." It's both sad and exhilirating to see Rick so seamlessly recast as the villain after following him and thinking of him as the hero of this particular story for so long.

It's also interesting to consider who may or may not agree with his new outlook. We know Glenn and Andrea are cool with it, but I suspect Rick may encounter some problems when it comes time to bring Abraham into the fold. I was thinking a few issues ago that maybe Kirkman made Abraham too much of a mirror image of Rick; we got that good initial conflict and then that one good issue where they bonded over the unspeakably horrible things they'd each done to survive, but ever since then it felt kind of like Abe was just Rick 2.0. Now that we're seeing Rick descend into moral ambiguity (at best) and Abe taking to the town so readily, I'm beginning to think that maybe, when the chips are down and Rick actually feels he does need to take over rather than be kicked out, Abe might represent the voice of reason to counter Rick--the strong, tough leader/survivor who hasn't taken that final step into ruthlessness.

Either way, I'm totally more excited for TWD with this new direction than I have been since I first started reading the series. Kudos to Kirkman for coming up with it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

This week's Atomic Robo is my favorite issue of the series. I love Dr. Dinosaur. He's only appeared in this issue and last year's Free Comic Book Day issue, as far as I know, but he is by far the best nemesis Robo could ask for. So much hilarity... I hope Clevinger does a secret origin issue one day that reveals just where the hell Dr. Dinosaur comes from. His time-traveling dinosaur schtick seems unlikely, since he knows virtually nothing about actual dinosaurs.

 

[El Bastardo]

So...

I know the final issue of Avengers: The Initiative came out last week, but my store was shorted and I didn't get to read it until now.

While I've no review, I would just like to say that my crappy little backwoods area of civilization was mentioned on the final page in Trauma's panel. Pittsfield, MA. I feel famous by proxy.

 

[Drz]

Noone's read Streets of Gotham #12? >_>

 

[JewishHobbit]

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).

Just curious... when was the last time you read either X-23 or Daken? I don't recall you reviewing any of the books they're in. Personally, I find X-23 to be a great character, though slow on development. Daken I don't really follow outside of Dark Avengers, so I don't have any ground to stand on there.

And if (Bendis) 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).

You kill me. He doesn't even have those rights... Secret Avengers has nothing to do with Bendis. He just created the characters. His name was on the first arc for that reason but he's not done squat with the book since its inception. It's Hickman's baby. Besides that, it's a finite story (due to end sometime in the early 20's... forget where exactly) so I doubt Bendis could have told Marvel to tie Secret Warriors into his event. They had a one-shot for that.

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.

Well, I've been debating on dropping his Avenger books for a few months now but could never decide to (since I don't really mind them) and I walked out of the comic shop this week leaving Avengers #1 behind, so maybe I've made the first step. I'm more interested in New Avengers thanks to Iron Fist, Thing, Spider-Man, and Victoria Hand, so I might stick with that, but then again, I may try to ditch that too. The only Avenger book I know I'm sticking with is Secret Avengers. I'm debating Avengers Academy.

 

[runawayboulder]

I really don't want to get caught up in New New Avengers but I love SM, Ms. Marvel, and especially Victoria Hand. I want to see what happens to her post SIEGE. I'm curious if Bendis is gonna continue the SM/Carol wannabe romance. Those issues are gonna make the book hard to avoid at first.

I was hoping Hand would end up in SA since Steve handpicked her, but it looks like Sharon's on that team. And the ASM writers have been *****ey about avoiding the SM/Carol thing.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Noone's read Streets of Gotham #12? >_>

I did. It was all right. Dini needs to script his own stuff, though. Nguyen's script felt like I was reading a list of cheesy one-liners and bad puns. I did like Damian for the first time in this issue, though. I may have interpreted it wrong, but I read his scene with Abuse as a nice, rare moment of honest kid-hood for him. He gave Abuse a bike and a garage just because he liked him, and then he self-consciously snapped back to his usual brusque, arrogant self by justifying it as endearing himself to a strategic asset if he should ever have to go against Dick. That was a good moment for him, since he's always felt like a short adult rather than a really smart kid to me.

The Manhunter backup was pretty solid. I saw the surprise ending with Jane coming a mile away, but it was still pretty good. The art looked really fantastic, too. I almost wish we had this artist for the whole thing. Very dark and moody, which is just what you need for a relatively normal person like Kate in her early stages of dealing with everything that is Gotham City.

 

[JewishHobbit]

How's Spider-Woman's ongoing been? I liked the first issue but haven't read any others. I actually liked it more than any of Bendis's other stuff but it wasnt' as important so I dropped it. I'm curious about getting back into it again. What issue is it up to now, or is it even still coming out?

 

[JewishHobbit]

Never mind, just saw that it ended after only 7 issues.

 

[BlackSymbiote]

How's Spider-Woman's ongoing been? I liked the first issue but haven't read any others. I actually liked it more than any of Bendis's other stuff but it wasnt' as important so I dropped it. I'm curious about getting back into it again. What issue is it up to now, or is it even still coming out?

It got canceled after issue 7 because Maleev got burned out drawing the same character over and over again for the motion comic.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Yeah, I just read that. They should have dropped the Motion Comic thing and continued the series (I guess depending on what the sales were like). It seemed pretty good for what little I read.

 

[Dread]

So...

I know the final issue of Avengers: The Initiative came out last week, but my store was shorted and I didn't get to read it until now.

While I've no review, I would just like to say that my crappy little backwoods area of civilization was mentioned on the final page in Trauma's panel. Pittsfield, MA. I feel famous by proxy.

Awesome. I live in Brooklyn, New York, so my nick of the woods is mentioned all the time. Captain America has a base here. We have an awesome street gang at Coney Island that had a cult movie made about them. We even had a Gargoyle named after us.

Just curious... when was the last time you read either X-23 or Daken? I don't recall you reviewing any of the books they're in. Personally, I find X-23 to be a great character, though slow on development. Daken I don't really follow outside of Dark Avengers, so I don't have any ground to stand on there.

My take on them is X-23 is a boring character with an interesting origin (boring because she is either emotionless or berserk), while Daken is a boring character with a crap origin, coupled with a lame hair-do, even lamer claws, and a "begging to be cool" tattoo. Compared to him, X-23 is Harley Quinn.

You kill me. He doesn't even have those rights... Secret Avengers has nothing to do with Bendis. He just created the characters. His name was on the first arc for that reason but he's not done squat with the book since its inception. It's Hickman's baby. Besides that, it's a finite story (due to end sometime in the early 20's... forget where exactly) so I doubt Bendis could have told Marvel to tie Secret Warriors into his event. They had a one-shot for that.

It's Hickman's baby because Bendis liked him, or liked how he treated his characters. It's pretty much an open secret that the only reason Bendis isn't an editor isn't because Marvel thinks he can't do it or doesn't want to hire him to do so, but because he's refused the position (he claims more than once). The result, though, is he's a Shadow Editor. All of Marvel must bend to the whims of one of his stories, but he doesn't flinch for anything someone else writes, unless he approves of it. Now, to be fair he could probably be worse about it than he is (and he and Joe Q usually agree on a lot), but he's still rather bad about it. Or at least was in the first 4 years of NEW AVENGERS.

Me? I like Hickman's writing on FANTASTIC FOUR. But that's partly because I like the characters, and how he writes them. I never liked the Secret Warriors. Yo-Yo has a pretty bad name, and Quake is invincible. The rest never made any impression.

Well, I've been debating on dropping his Avenger books for a few months now but could never decide to (since I don't really mind them) and I walked out of the comic shop this week leaving Avengers #1 behind, so maybe I've made the first step. I'm more interested in New Avengers thanks to Iron Fist, Thing, Spider-Man, and Victoria Hand, so I might stick with that, but then again, I may try to ditch that too. The only Avenger book I know I'm sticking with is Secret Avengers. I'm debating Avengers Academy.

I'm getting SECRET AVENGERS and AVENGERS ACADEMY. It should be great. Imagine the Initiative, only without as much of the corruption, run by sane heroes. Sounds like a treat. Plus, Christos Gage has proven that he can write that series at least well as Dan Slott did, if not better. And as a Dan Slott fan, that takes a lot to acknowledge.

 

[Drz]

I did. It was all right. Dini needs to script his own stuff, though. Nguyen's script felt like I was reading a list of cheesy one-liners and bad puns. I did like Damian for the first time in this issue, though. I may have interpreted it wrong, but I read his scene with Abuse as a nice, rare moment of honest kid-hood for him. He gave Abuse a bike and a garage just because he liked him, and then he self-consciously snapped back to his usual brusque, arrogant self by justifying it as endearing himself to a strategic asset if he should ever have to go against Dick. That was a good moment for him, since he's always felt like a short adult rather than a really smart kid to me.

The Manhunter backup was pretty solid. I saw the surprise ending with Jane coming a mile away, but it was still pretty good. The art looked really fantastic, too. I almost wish we had this artist for the whole thing. Very dark and moody, which is just what you need for a relatively normal person like Kate in her early stages of dealing with everything that is Gotham City.

I actually have mixed feelings about Damian's actions. Sure it's the stubborness that the Wayne family is known for, but he's practically giving Abuse better equipment, which has it's good and bad effects. It's good because it makes Abuse better fighter, but at the same time he's going to get into more and more dangerous situations, and we are talking about a kid who wasn't anything but a normal kid not-so-long-ago.

Yeah i kinda wonder was it Dustin or Dini who decided to make Carpenter abit ****tish.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

More cheesy than ****ty to me. She sounded like a terrible stand-up comedian. Just pun after one-liner after innuendo after pun.

I'm sure Damian didn't really consider that. He knows Abuse can handle himself pretty well and he's certainly not the type to think about caution. He's helping Abuse be a more effective vigilante; if Abuse goes and gets himself killed, well, obviously he couldn't hack it in the first place and it would've happened with or without Damian's help.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Muppet Snow White #1

Very cute first issue that my daughter and I both enjoyed. These writers know their muppets, and it was nice to see Miss Piggy NOT play Snow White. She's actually the evil queen. Lots of good chuckles, especially if you are an old fan of The Muppet Show.

Astounding Wolf-Man #23

Just as this series is coming to an end, it's hitting a real high note. I loved this issue, and it might be my favorite of the entire series thus far. The battle sequence with all the wolf-men was awesome, and how everything is coming together (or falling apart) is making me very excited for the final two issues.

Brightest Day #2

After a great first issue (and Zero issue), this second one was a bit of a letdown. I think it's because we just get these short scenes with the various characters involved, and before you know it, you're reading about a different one. It made me want more and peeved me off that not much really happened or was resolved in this issue. (It felt like a really short issue, too.) Still, I can't wait for the next one in two weeks.

Zatanna #1

Paul Dini's first issue wasn't anything that spectacular. Maybe it's just that this is one of those characters who should be amazingly powerful on paper; but, she doesn't come across that way when you read her. I just don't get the feeling she's got what it takes to have her own ongoing series...especially when the first issue doesn't even do that much with her as a character. (In contrast, the current Power Girl series is very much like Slott's old She-Hulk title...but, I'm worried, as a new writer will be taking over with issue #13.)

Anita Blake: Circus Of The Damned - The Charmer #1

The first issue of the third Anita Blake novel begins here, and if you're a fan, you won't be disappointed. You have a group of people who want all vampires killed; you have a body of a man who's been attacked by at least three vampires; and, caught in the middle is Anita Blake.

What's good about these comics are that from what I've read, they're very faithful to the original sources. What's even better is that since I haven't read them (except for the first book after reading the first comic series), it's all new to me.

Superman - War Of The Superman #3

Pretty significant third issue; but, one that won't make that much of an impact on new readers. In this issue, Flamebird dies in order to reverse the effects of General Lang's red sun. Things are really coming to a head, as the New Krypton storyline FINALLY ends next issue.

X-Men Forever #24

Final issue of Claremont's first series, and it's a time of rememberances and reflection. Lots of stuff is still left up in the air; but, those are for the next series that will be starting soon.

I've loved this series from Claremont, and cannot think of a time I've enjoyed his writing more since he left the X-Men back in the early 90's. (Of course, I was one of the rare few that appreciated his extremely lengthy X-Men: The End.) He really struggled with Exiles, and it makes me very happy to see him come back...even though I'm not sure if very many people are buying this book.

James Patterson's Witch & Wizard: Battle For Shadowland #1

Well, I have a bunch of smiley faces above me; but, it ends now. Even though I own the first book in the Witch & Wizard collection that James Patterson is writing for young adults, I haven't read it. (My ex did borrow the book, and from what she said, it wasn't that good.) Still, I didn't want to pass up a possible good series; so, I got this first issue. Needless to say, it really stunk! The art looks terrible, and the characters are uninspired and extremely two dimensional. I wish I could find something redeeming about the comic; but, there was nothing I liked about it.

 

[squeekness]

Anita Blake: Circus Of The Damned - The Charmer #1

The first issue of the third Anita Blake novel begins here, and if you're a fan, you won't be disappointed. You have a group of people who want all vampires killed; you have a body of a man who's been attacked by at least three vampires; and, caught in the middle is Anita Blake.

What's good about these comics are that from what I've read, they're very faithful to the original sources. What's even better is that since I haven't read them (except for the first book after reading the first comic series), it's all new to me.

They are good and yes, faithful to the source material. I have read just about the entire Anita Blake series she has written and the comics are great. My only concern is that Hamilton's books become increasingly smuttier (almost boringly so) as the series continues and I have to wonder if Marvel will even be able to do them all in comic book form -- though I am willing to stick around and see them try, lol. In this series, the Circus of the Damned, we will be introduced to Richard, a werewolf who will become a staple in Anita's life. He's on the cover of the third issue and I ahve to say the artists for these books have been great as far as capturing what I myself imagined these guys to look like.

 

[Brainiac 8]

I'm quite glad that the New Krypton story is finally ending. While not that bad of a story, it just has taken forever, and I really want them to move on from Kandor and Zod for a while.

 

[Phaedrus45]

BTW, for those fans who watched, what did you think of the Lost finale??!!?? I thought it was awesome, and made up for other lame series enders, like Sopranos and The L Word. I'll miss this show, but I felt satisfied.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I liked it. It definitely felt satisfying and it was nice to see a happy ending, even if it was a bit bittersweet.

 

[runawayboulder]

I was very satisfied. It was a very emotional, beautiful, and definitive ending. It was probably one of the most emotional series finale in the history of TV. A lot of people I talked to openly admitted that they cried at the last scene with at the church/[BLACKOUT]Jack dying with Vincent the dog at his side[/BLACKOUT].

I can't wait to see what kind of rating it pulled, it sounds like a LOT of people tuned in.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I got a little choked up when [blackout]Claire and Charlie finally recognized each other again[/blackout].

Also, I edited your post to spoilerfy it, boulder. Since Lost has nothing to do with comics, let's try to avoid or at least spoiler-tag plot-specific spoilers for people who may not have seen the finale but want to talk about comics.