BOUGHT/THOUGHT for Wednesday, May 2nd.

[SouLeSS]

So was that superman issue part of the Camelot Falls story line or was it just a oneshot? I couldn't tell.

 

[Dread]

A hefty first week of May, as just about every comic fan worth their salt counts down the hours until SPIDER-MAN 3 (I already bought my ticket in advance). I decided to pass on DETECTIVE COMICS since Dini wasn't writing the issue. Shallow, but it saved me some cash, especially as there was a HANDBOOK UPDATE that I wasn't aware of. Overall a very solid week, but I likely will end up focusing on the negatives anyway.

As always, expect full spoilers and a lot of text. And rambling!

DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 5/2/07:

52 WEEK #52: A double sized issue at the same $2.50 price, the last gift before the next weekly starts, at $2.99 a pop. So after a full calender year, dozens of characters and bright color heroics, how did 52 shape up for me? I don't regret getting it, but it seemed to me that whatever focus the cabal of writers (Waid, Rucka, Johns, & Morrison) had at the beginning of the run lost some focus. I hear a lot of other DC books didn't tie into 52 as well, or it to them, as it could have. But I don't read those books, so that bit didn't matter. What did matter was that the ending had to wrap up the stuff from the beginning, that we admittedly were sidetracked from for a while to deal with Black Adam vs. the World. As countless DC fanboys guessed, 52 was the number of alternate earths/realities that were created by Alex Luthor during IC. It also was the amount of days that cute Golden Age critter Mr. Mind could gestate into some monstrous "Mothra" as one of the heroes calls it. This issue, despite some good heroic moments and some redemption for Booster Gold, as well as the return of his younger "ancestor" (betcha everyone forgot about him! He bit it last year, seemingly), became very lost and muddled in time travel jargon and multiverse gobbledegook. I suppose it was essential, and admittedly, time travel & multiverse hopping are hardly favorite genres of mine (one of the reasons I never bothered with EXILES), so I am predisposed to have harsher standards for that. No, Skeets wasn't evil, just possessed by Mr. Mind. And he doesn't even die, he's revived at the end. Booster Gold gets to save the day with the mother of all TD passes to Supernova across time and space, and it is all good superhero melodrama. There are a lot of good small moments, like Booster going back to the past to chat with a then-newbish Blue Beetle at the end of 1986's CRISIS. But with the status quo of there being 52 multiverses restored, I sort of wonder what the point was. It seems that every decade or so DC does some major thing to try to rework it's complicated continuity and just makes it more complicated; in the 90's, it was ZERO HOUR if I recall correctly, and notions of "Hypertime" (which Waid is responsible for). Ralph gets to be reunited with his wife in the afterlife, and "Gasp, a Lesbian" Batwoman actually didn't die, she just was rushed to the hospital by Montoya/Question II and is now being prodded to continue he role as Batwoman. It was an amusing and entertaining final chapter, albeit burried in jargon and there is a slight feeling of, "that's IT!?" at the end. But, to DC's credit, it didn't attempt to sell us on COUNTDOWN with a cliffhanger, or some omnious figure going, "This is just the beginning, Muhahahaaaa!" like all those Moniters at the end of "The History of the DCU". And I guess I have become too used to Marvel, where characters die at the end, and where, at least for the past year, Marvel sticks to their guns to dramatically change the status quo, rather than all but revert it to yesteryear. Sure, Joe Q is shifting Marvel back to the 70's with mutants being less common than pandas and superheroes having justification to kill each other in the streets, but at least it doesn't reak of a big reset button, as some of this seems when compared to CRISIS (although "No More Mutants!" was very close, almost reading like a hysterical reaction to the overdose in the 90's). I mean, does having Joe Chill ice Batman's parents really help his character? Or are these massive band-aid solutions to the issues haunting a lot of very, VERY old characters? From the tesimony of fans on MB's, it looks like OYL was the "Decimation" for DC, an event that sort of imploded and didn't do a lot. In a way, my concern for DC is very shallow; I only wish that it provides worthy competition, to keep Marvel on their toes and thus producing quality. Right now, DC's showing some age to me. Farewell, 52. It's been real. But when the core books pick up after this, will any of this matter? Still, though, those small moments were nice, and that was a helluva TD pass. And at least DC isn't deathly afraid of happy endings where superheroes don't screw up, and actually beat a supervillian, which is something Marvel "events" have avoided like the plague for a good 3 years (barring ANNIHILATION). Still, the fact that many comic stores I've went to have had STACKS of unsold issues of 52, sometimes the entire run, still on the shelves collecting dust may spell some doom for Countdown's sales. They might not bite as deep the second go around.

ASTONISHING X-MEN #21: This is one of those rare weeks when ASTONISHING X-MEN graces us with shipping. We may have gotten this issue, and the next, sooner, but Marvel decided to yank Cassaday from his already late work on here to get him on some CIVIL WAR/INITIATIVE one-shot. True, business wise, The Avengers/CW/The Initiative is a hotter property right now than the X-Men, who have been left sucked dry after being overdone for the past, oh, decade. But still, when Marvel was just coming back from bankrupcty and Joe Q was still green, the X-fans all but held the company on their shoulders, back in the early 2000's when even THE BROTHERHOOD #1 sold in the Top 10. Now, the X-fans aren't as important, and this action, causing an already delayed book to get even later because, gosh, the X-Men aren't as vital anymore, is a move in bad faith. It says, "Thanks for keeping our arses afloat when it mattered most, but y'all don't matter much now, but please buy our next event, true believers!". ASTONISHING X-MEN deserves better, and so do it's readers, who despite lengthy delays always propell this book into the Top 10 (or at least the shops do). But enough about lateness, onto the action. As good as it is, ASTONISHING showcases that it was one of Whedon's first mainstream story ideas, as it still is too reliant on the 2004 era "6-12 issues or bust for every storyline" format, which, thank heaven, has pretty much faded by and large as of 2007, where we've seen the concept of stories being 5-chapters or less return. As such, even without the delays, ASTONISHING's arcs are almost always at least an issue too long, with some moving very slowly and others very quickly. Whedon's RUNAWAYS doesn't have this problem at all (and neither does his BUFFY, so I hear), which means the man can actually improve, which is good, because once you hit A-List, you really don't have to, because the praise, sales, and acclaim for your work comes before it is even read, and even when you write turds, like Claremont or Loeb have, it doesn't effect your rep. I mean, Bendis hasn't done anything original or unpredictable for, what, 3-4 years? Anyway, nice to see someone buck the trend. Hisako, or "Armor", is on the cover and it's another nice sort of cover that reminds me of the covers that Ultimate X-Men comics used to do. Actually, a bit does happen in this issue. Kitty & Colossus fight past more Breakworldians (who apparently all aren't as strong as Ord was, which is fortunate) before falling into your generic "resistance/rebellion" movement that every alien world ever created seems to have, except Earth (I've never seen, say, a Skrull explorer suddenly get rescued from the army by a militia strike force or something). Wolverine & Armor meet up with Brand, Scott, Emma and Beast and confirm the ruins predicting Piotr destroys the world. Colossus is torn by it, and Brand's soldiers actually hint that SWORD has already brokered a deal with some rebels to hand over the planet once they disable Kruul (the most generic alien name ever, after "Fang" of course) and his "death-ray" (seriously, Whedon will naturally throw all sorts of pretty jargon out, but it's basically a typical, cliche Death Ray, which, again, every alien race since the beginning of all written fiction has seemed to have). But I suppose at this point it is very clear that Whedon isn't doing these stories to win points for originality. Heck, he even recycles his "heart to heart while fighting nameless thugs" moments from his TV shows. What makes the book good is the art, naturally, and also the dialogue and the fact that Whedon does understand the characters. Beast and Brand end up together and survive a snowstorm in an, erm, nice way. Brand & Beast exchanged some nice dialogue together, and I have to admit, the concept of throwing pockets of generated weather at an enemy may seem old after Storm, but here it actually looked unique. Armor is almost obviously thrown in to imitate the old Kitty & Wolvie dynamic, where a young female X-Man wound up as his sidekick, sort of to parallel where Kitty started and what she has grown up from, being an X-Woman all her own now. And despite all the lovers of the ending of TORN, I am glad to say that Scott is still absolutely useless. Everyone was like, "oh, having no powers will make him tougher", but aside for shooting holograms with a handgun, he's been dead weight here. And it is curious that while Scott actually does admit he loves Emma despite all the hassles with her, that all other titles make their relationship seem a lot rosier than it is here. Which stinks, because Whedon's rockier version is more interesting. If we wanted Scott in eternal bliss with a psychic, why kill Jean? Thinks need to be somewhat rocky if Emma is to work. It is possible to genuinely fall for the wrong woman, and Emma usually is it. There are still 3 issues to this story, but lord knows how long it will be before this finishes; Whedon may be finished on RUNAWAYS before this final arc ends. But it still is a solid, enjoyable, readable story, if not sometimes severely overrated by namepower. It's the X-Men being superheroes and having soap opera tension, only in real time and not, say, in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS or something (which itself is hardly original). A solid issue, and a damned shame it doesn't ship more often, so it could have one major flaw no longer be a flaw. But at the very least, it comes out more often than ULTIMATES 2.

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #2: Despite the fact that due to various Newsarama previews, about 11-12 pages of this comic were already available, which is about half the issue, this was still a solid issue to read. As a quick aside, some people mistake the interesting bits of this title to claim, "oh, this sort of story could never be done without CW having happened". Baloney. The 50 State Initiative and having a government program to train heroes to work under the employ of Uncle Sam could have happened without that event, and some could argue did, at least back when the Avengers were sanctioned by the feds. If the SHRA had been reworked so it wasn't a "join us or DIE" sort of draft, if the people running it had some compassion for the students as people and not merely as sources of power, it all could have been done before. It wouldn't have been as dramatic, or perhaps sold as well/garnered as much attention, but it as all doable. So much so that sometimes it seems irksome that it took CW to make some of these neat ideas happen. I'm sure some critics will deflect this and say, "the fans never would have acceptted it without CW", but I refuse to buy it, especially when the only competition, DC, couldn't beat Marvel in sales in a month no matter what. Still, what we have is pretty good, although the Initiative program is quite flawed. Rather than attempt to be more flexible, they founders insist on making it an all-sizes-fit-all boot camp, regardless of temperment or powers, or that techniques to train human soldiers may not work with superhumans. Justice, however, is not being a helpless little toadie; Gauntlet smears the name of the New Warriors and Justice doesn't like it. In a few issues I could imagine him slugging Gauntlet. He also doesn't like that MVP has suddenly gone missing, and while Pym & Gauntlet tell him not to look into it, he doesn't quite seem gung-ho on listening. Especially as Trauma again freaks out and spills the beans on that, as well as Yellowjacket's wife-beating. In a way, the Pym storyline reflected what Pym claimed about the NW's; despite all the good they did, their one major screw-up has now defined them, and in this world, sometimes that can never be forgotten, much as Pym himself and the fact that he beat his wife. Granted, in the real world, Pym as a character had more than moved on past that, and so had the writers, until Millar adapted & exaggerated that sequence in THE ULTIMATES, and then all of a sudden he, Bendis, and others dug it back up in 616. Pym is naturally introduced as a character with many skeletons in his closet; when he confronts Gyrich's ex-Nazi doctor about experimenting on MVP's supersoldier corpse, the old bird brings up the fact that Pym created Ultron, who's killed millions, as well as Clor, who killed Goliath. So Hank, still popping anxiety pills, seems eager to reclaim his good name. In the meanwhile, a HYDRA squadron, looking more like Cobra these days, attacks Texas to try to ice Pres. Bush, and the Rangers are over their heads. Slott throws in some political jabs, like comments on the war debate, and he actually uses Bush's "heckuva job" line at the end, but nothing overwhelming, like Millar, so it works. Once again, The Initiative flirts with disaster because they care about their soldiers as weapons and not people; Gauntlet immediately throws Hardcase, Cloud 9, and Komodo into the heat of battle because they need a few more bodies. At least Cloud 9 had some target practice, but Hardball & Komodo had ZERO experience with jetpacks and Gauntlet was ordering them to fly 'em anyway. As I have noted elsewhere, the military would NEVER order privates to use intruments they hadn't been heavilly instructed on, because they could be a danger to themselves and others. Happily, nothing bad happened and they joined a squad of other heroes, including their instructors, the Mighty Avengers, the Young Avengers, Nighthawk, Ultra-Girl, et al with downing Hydra, with Yellowjacket himself saving the day by crashing their helicarrier and earning honor from the President. In a rare show of some intelligence, Gyrich brings Trauma to get some instruction from one of the X-Men, who are experts in powers like his; although who it is is left as a mystery. It's a woman, who has experience but is powerless after M-Day. I'll guess Jubilee, for now. Joe Q is anxious to get her back into the fold and this is an easy chance. After all, she spent years trying to master some very dangerous powers herself, before evolving into the leader of Generation X. Frankly, whoever it is, I'm glad it's not Emma Frost, who really shouldn't be training anyone. Slott also does well with Beast for the page he has him. Overall, despite some flaws in the Initiative program, the book itself is solid and interesting, well paced, with good dialogue and art. This could be Slott's shot into the A-List if the sales hold. Which is good, because he actually appreciates history and continuity, rather than seeing it as roadblocks. Heroes beating villians? So rare at Marvel these days, and yet so good.

THE LONERS #2: This issue will go down as the issue where I single handedly learned to like Ricochet. I had nothing against him before, but out of all of them Darkhawk was probably my favorite. Not so much anymore. Johnny Gallo is the main character for this issue and it delves into his wishes, laments, and past fairly well. I am sure someone might spot an error, but I didn't. The death of Hornet FINALLY is developped for Johnny, and as expected, it was devistating. Johnny works, perhaps, because he is a character torn, and he is depicted as hardly being entirely noble at times. He grew to like being a superhero for the glory & the benefits (sleeping with ladies you save, much like Eric O'Grady tried doing) moreso than the principle of it, and once the Slingers' day in the spotlight was done, he lapsed, but Eddie/Hornet never did. When Hornet rushed to defend SHIELD from Hydra's assault, he called Johnny for help, and Johnny declined, and so his death is forever on his conscience. There are those who feel that Johnny and the remaining Slingers should want to hold Wolverine responsible for his death, and I agree that would be an excellent plot point. But the one reason I could find for arguing why it couldn't be done is that they may not know that Wolverine killed him; Nick Fury & SHIELD were all over that scene and likely covered up a lot. I mean Fury's covered for Wolverine before. So he fled to California to avoid the guilt and try to put his past behind him, but at this point he sees how empty his life is without using his mutant powers, so he decides that holding back isn't for him. In other side trivia, it seems this focus group is a good nookie connection, as Chris Powell is dating Mickey, which has to be interesting as Mickey probably wouldn't enjoy the fact that he donned his armor in #1. Mattie wants to research the leads they got on the MGH ring, but Ricochet refuses to wait, and goes in alone, fighting D-List Spidey foe Delilah. Cebulski even remembers her past with Parker's incarnation of Ricochet. And considering Delilah actually was no slouch in combat, the victory was a nice little win, although it freed Hollow (or Penance) from one of the MGH incubation tubes (not only are villians willingly selling their fluids to make MGH, but there also are metahumans being held hostage to make it, as Mattie once was in ALIAS). I bash Bendis a lot, but he created the MGH angle and it's been great fodder for stories; kudos to that. It looks like next issue, Julie & the others may come to the rescue. Some feared that this series would be talky and emo, and in a way it is, but it also is chop full of superhero goodness and is an honest attempt to really flesh out a lot of characters that have been shoved to the fringes and likely won't be used in this kind of depth again for years. Moline & Strain are also reliable on art & colors, respectively. Cebulski really did some homework here with these minor characters and that makes him all the more appealing as a writer. I really doubt this series will sell enough to merit an ongoing, although somehow X-MEN: FIRST CLASS did. This was a rare little title where I anticipated good things and haven't been disappointed. It can be amazing how one good issue can endear one to a character.
And showing complete illogic, I still am not giving Brubaker's CA a try.

To Be Continued

 

[Dread]

Bought/Thought, Part 2:

OMEGA FLIGHT #2: Some have argued that as OF pretty much offers a team of heroes gathered by the government, it isn't much different than pretty much every team book coming out of CW, but it gets the superhero fundamentals done well and you can really feel Oeming's excitement for the title, and Kolins' art shines. Talisman agrees to help find Sasquatch, who has been captured by the Wrecking Crew and being drug around like a big bloody furry trophy. It is a bit weird to see these failed bank robbers suddenly growing more violent and sadistical, but maybe that is a good way to keep them from being too stale; I mean they weren't instantly pwned like they usually are. U.S. Agent and Archne, on loan from the U.S., beat down the superstrong "Daisy" and enroll into the program, as Talisman rightly argues her side of the conflict, that Canada always has to clean up the U.S.'s messes, and that THEIR registration program didn't result in a superhero civil war and hundreds of dead bodies. Granted, to be fair, Canada has fewer superhumans than the U.S., but the point stands. And she's rightly appalled that Collective is being trucked out as the new Vindicator/Guardian, a sort of move I wonder was directly shoved at Oeming from Bendis or one he actually agreed to. Because it's another act of "making a villian a hero and expecting everyone to smile and nod" like THUNDERBOLTS. But at least Oeming is no Ellis. For a mini, it's doing well and it's an entertaining superhero team romp, even if it likely will be issue #4 or #5 before the entire team is assembled. Another solid relaunch, even if the team is half American.

RUNAWAYS #26: I officially have gotten used to Ryan's style here, so no complaints. Punisher guest stars, but ends up having to dodge some mysterious angel person and then becomes the latest gruff anti-hero to get pwned by Molly. I will note that Whedon's Molly seems to be less gung-ho about beating people down than BKV's. I couldn't imagine his Molly feeling bad about hurting the Punisher, especially after he held up the team with firearms. Some people have said that Whedon's Molly is less annoying, but I am starting to find her more, especially when she predicts the Chase survival thingie. On the plus side, "Runaways, RUN AWAY!" is the coolest, cheesiest team battle cry I have heard in a while (C'mon, like "Avengers Assembe" or "Titans, Together" don't objectively sound cheesy, we're just used to them). It appears the "explaination" for Kingpin being in NYC is that he can't resist coming back into the old life. Wow, and that couldn't have been addressed last issue? Anyway, this book is much better paced than ASTONISHING; more has happened in these last two issues than in 4 of Astonishing. The team gets away with the trinket, which Chase determines as something from both his and Gert's parents. The Kingpin amushes them with ninjas and mortally wounds Nico before they use the gadget to go back in time to escape, justifying #27's cover, which looks nice. Whedon will never fill BKV' shoes after 6 issues, but he's providing enjoyable Runaways adventures with fun dialogue and nice pacing and hasn't changed the tone from BKV too dramatically. In some ways Whedon's energy seems higher here than in ASTONISHING X-MEN, which makes sense as he was an admitted fanboy of the title. About my only quibble is that Chase really isn't acting at all like BKV set him up to act like in the final arc, being too jovial and inept. But 87% of the rest of the book is solid, so it's definately a success, a B+/A- sort of effort here. I just worry about the future of the book come October when Whedon is gone. Can't wait for the sales figures for April for #25. The angel subplot seems a bit bizarre, but I expect eventually it will be explained. He seems like the Ord type character, a generic mysterious tanker. And Punisher's "war journal" dialogue after being gut-punched? Priceless. Even if his appearence really did nothing but provide a laugh and a GUEST STAR solict, I didn't mind. Despite the flaws this is a solid book for Whedon's talents, it just is a shame he will be gone before he could work out the kinks.

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #41: Lorocca's Thing looks like a chunk of crap on that cover; I think we can officially move that artist's status to B-List now. As for the story, with Brooks & Kolins splitting art chores, it ends smoothly. The Four confront the ancient alchamist Diablo, who by virtue of his 616 lameness, came out more dangerous in Ultimate, even if his scheme was pretty conveluted, a flaw that is killing Carey on this book. Thing is saved, but turned blue, and I really don't care about the past mage people. It's more readable than Kirkman's UXM, but my interest is waning here, too. ULTIMATE POWER has been a much better UFF story. As with last month's Ult. XM, I am starting to consider my loyalty to the Ultimate line, given that I really haven't missed USM so much. This line is out of breath and relying on B-List creative talent, and it is showing. If there was a dud from my pile this week, this was it. There were some good moments (Ultimate Reed kicks arse), but compared to the rest, kind of blah. Thing's reaction to being blue was funny, though. Although I hope he doesn't stay that way.

 

[Doc Destruction]

52 was just brilliant. I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. The first comic I read every week for a year. And never late.

I am SO glad the multiverse is back. It makes for such cool cross overs, and the reappearance of the Charlton universe and the Crime Syndicate universe really got the old blood pumping.

On the Marvel side of the fence, Molly punching the Punisher in the stomach in Runaways is my new favorite Marvel moment ever. Hysterical.

 

[SonOfCthulhu]

Wow. First time I disagree with Dread's review on something. The fact that the are bringing back the Multiverse is a good thing, IMHO. It's going to give DC a chance to do stories with the Charlton heroes or the Marvel Family or any number of other "elsewhere" type stories without having to convolute a way to bring them back to status quo first. I'm not saying it's not going to muddy the waters, but the story potential has me excited.

As for the actual issue content, 52 was blast to read. The Beetle thing had me choked up, which I agree with Dread on. The Booster/Beetle relationship was dead on perfect. Glad to see Booster being a true hero (having a moment of doubt, facing his fears, following through, etc). My only gripe is I'd like to know what he did with that missle he stole last issue, cause I didn't see it show up here. The Ralph and Sue cameo seems not only a setup to some other project in the works, but also a reinforcement that they are now together. Still miss Vic, but he's still out there now too. Rip Hunter came off as awesome with his handling of Silvana and kin, not to mention the overall crisis.

I felt I came away with my $130 worth.

 

[MaskedManJRK]

Okay, I'm not a huge ranting fanboy type, but something happened that I never thought would happened: Something Whedon wrote just pissed me the hell off.

What I mean is the latest issue of Runaways with the characterization of The Punisher.

Okay, I remember reading Whedon say somewhere that he doesn't like The Punisher--fine. I question why Whedon would write him if he didn't like him so much, but, fine.

But why have him there when he's in there for a joke? But even more, why in the name of holy hell is he pointing guns at kids? I mean, his morality is kinda gray, sure, but there is absolutely no history of him even considering pointing guns at kids, let alone him saying that he's "done worse." Hell, if the REAL Punisher saw this f**ked-up version doing that, The real Punisher would instantly shoot them low in the stomach and then push him off the building.

So...yeah...rant over...

 

[Dread]

I've never been keen on the multiverse thing. I mean I know Marvel more than has their share of alternate realities, but I've never been a fan of "Earth-1213", "Earth-767" and whatnot. But I guess as someone who really isn't much of a DC fan, nor cares for time-travel/alternate realities much (which I admitted above), maybe I'm not the best to judge. I did like the new incarnation of the Syndicate of Crime that included an "evil" version of J'onzz. And for the record, KINGDOM COME is now "officially" Earth-22 and Wildstorm Universe is Earth-50 (which Capt. Atom actually visitted last year). I just see this stuff as adding more complications to an already complicated universe for little real reason. In the past it was usually overused for cheesy purposes and I really don't see much major use they have, beyond a DC version of EXILES. I mean DC always had ELSEWORLDS to do whatever stories they wanted that didn't fit in with the rest of the DCU (and now ALL-STAR to some degree), and including them as a multiverse just seems like an easy excuse for cheap sales, like, "Oh, let's have Red Robin from Earth-22 show up in NIGHTWING for 5 issues" or something. Obviously DC is going to need to do some major stuff to try to compete with Marvel, I just am unsure if diving into stuff that they as a company abandoned 20 years ago is the best idea.

Granted, Morrison has been writing revamped Golden Age fodder in BATMAN and ALL-STAR and selling well by namepower.

I didn't see not having the Multiverse around as keeping the Crime Syndicate away, it just limited them to only be used when it mattered, and not overused, as had happened before. But, bah, I guess it is a waste of time to condemn a new status quo to failure when I probably won't even read much about it. Enjoy if you like it, then. This last issue, complications aside probably ended better than I was predicting maybe 2 weeks ago.

Good catch on that rocket, BTW.

 

[PhotoJones]

Scalped #5 - Pick of the week! Every issue of this book gets better and better, and that's quite a feat. Jason Aaron knows how to weave the past and present like nobody's business. I literally in all my comic book reading years have yet to come across something so smart and dirty like this book is. If you're reading this, and you like comics that are not about men in spandex, you really are doing yourself a disservice by not picking this up. People say that Fables is the best Vertigo series, but this one is going take that crown very soon. Alright, enough gushing...

This storyline continues with basically the "origin" of Dash Bad Horse. The reasons behind his leaving the Reservation, and returning are all connected, even if he's not willing to admit it. Dash also finally confronts Carol, and they two end up ****ing all over Carol's house. The Casino opens, or tries to open, rather and at the very end, Gina is shown to be murdered in the desert. Because this book is so unpredictable, I really have no idea how Dash is going to react to that.

Pick this book up. You will not regret it.

 

[Marcdachamp]

Dread, I have to correct you on one thing: It was Busiek that brought Pym's wife beating back to the spotlight before Millar and Bendis. It was used heavily in Ultron Unlimited, Avengers Forever and other stories. Austen also used it, and even planned on having Pym go to a therapist about it before he was fired.

 

[PhotoJones]

Also, Dread it's HardBALL, not HardCASE. Just to clarify.

 

[MaskedManJRK]

Okay, I'm not a huge ranting fanboy type, but something happened that I never thought would happened: Something Whedon wrote just pissed me the hell off.

What I mean is the latest issue of Runaways with the characterization of The Punisher.

Okay, I remember reading Whedon say somewhere that he doesn't like The Punisher--fine. I question why Whedon would write him if he didn't like him so much, but, fine.

But why have him there when he's in there for a joke? But even more, why in the name of holy hell is he pointing guns at kids? I mean, his morality is kinda gray, sure, but there is absolutely no history of him even considering pointing guns at kids, let alone him saying that he's "done worse." Hell, if the REAL Punisher saw this f**ked-up version doing that, The real Punisher would instantly shoot them low in the stomach and then push him off the building.

So...yeah...rant over...

But, anyway, speaking of The Punisher--am I the only one at this point still reading Punisher MAX?

It's not bad by any means, but I will admit that this is probably Ennis' worst arc so far. It's not completely terrible, but after a collosal event like Man of Stone, it's probably hard to top.

Still, not too shabby an issue--finally explained that wierd person that's been trailing Punisher. That was a thread that was less interesting and more flat-out confusing--was that a he or a she? A transgender? What did he/she/it have to do with the whole thing? Now it's explained, with very little appearence by Punisher, but I'm sure with the next one being the last issue of the arc (this is part 5, right?), things will start to heat up. t:

 

[Max J Power]

Astonishing X-Men #21
While the delays in this book's release make it a little hard to follow from issue to issue, the book itself is great. The plot is moving along well and this issue, like the others, is full of important happenings. There is a twist at the end, but it's not cheap. And the dialogue is top-notch. This series always makes me anticipate the next part of the story, and this issue is no exception.

Marvel Zombies Vs. Army of Darkness #3
It just keeps getting more fun. I had never heard of John Layman before this book, but he's writing it well. The humor is less dark and more goofy than in the original Marvle Zombies series, but it works. Ash has lots of funny lines and the situations keep getting weirder (like a zombie Howard the Duck, for instance). There has already been a lot of funny cameos in this book, but this issue has one to top them all--Nextwave. Oh yeah.

 

[hippie_hunter]

You would think that. Franklin Richards says otherwise.

LMAO t:

 

[King_Mungi]

I bought a crap load of comics this week, mostly DC I will make a list of reviews later I already had one for Omega Flight #2 so here...ta da

Omega Flight #2
Art: I'm really enjoying Kolins new grey tone shading as it adds more texture than his normal art style. There are some beautiful pages such as the Talisman spirit quest and the Wrecking Crew throwing Sasquatch in the hole, but there is some awful panels where the art is something to be desired for. However, props for being an on-time artist and still able to draw majority quality panels. Marvel lateness on comics has made me drop many titles out of disgust over it.

Story: Still a tad slow, but it progressed faster than OF #1 did. This would have been fine if it was an on-going, but since this series is a mini it has got to pick up. However, we saw the entire team in this book not fully formed as a team but their getting there. In the end 4 of the 6 members are joined together

Spoilers: Starts out with Agent Brown telling Talisman Sasquatch has gone missing from his battle with the Crew. So she tags along with him to the C.S.I.S HQ to meet the rest of the OF team. However, before then she goes on a spirit quest which we saw in the previews so no need to expand on that. I guess most of the issue was covered in the 7 preview links they released for this issue, which removed some of the excitment for me. I guess what's interesting to note is Bill is being drawn to a Toronto muesum and sketched out a drawing of his visions, where he sees an Owl [Snowbird], a giant temple which is somehow connected to the Wrecking Crew and an image of Sasquatch taller than a city destroying it and the words "great beasts" next to it. Sasquatch is actually getting mutilated by Thunderball who took him to a cabin and dug a massive hole and tossed him in so they could torture him. Still even getting tortured Sasquatch won't make a noise annoying Thunderball. and they carry the wounded Sasquatch to Toronto...ya da da, lots of stuff happened. Nice to see Talisman rip a new one on Iron Man and Ms.Marvel.

Good issue, not the best of the week but still good.

 

[bored]

Review Haiku!

Astonishing X-Men #21:

Alien planet is big
Kitty is naked
The dialogue is so great

52 #52:

Crazy idea that worked
Cheap but so worth it
Who will not miss this title?

 

[kguillou]

did anybody read sensational spiderman annual? Im dying to know Mj's decision...

 

[GNR]

Anyone pick up the latest Detective?

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Dread, I have to correct you on one thing: It was Busiek that brought Pym's wife beating back to the spotlight before Millar and Bendis.

Oh, "wife-beating" my ass. he smacked her once. ONCE. and he's forever a "wife-beater"?

Jan shot him in the face with her bio-stings years before that in Avengers #161. Is she a "husband-beater"?

 

[BlackKnight1]

Dread, I have to correct you on one thing: It was Busiek that brought Pym's wife beating back to the spotlight before Millar and Bendis. It was used heavily in Ultron Unlimited, Avengers Forever and other stories. Austen also used it, and even planned on having Pym go to a therapist about it before he was fired.

I have to correct you BUsiek, brought it back and put it to bed in his Avengers run. The Avengers Forever was a past version of Pym, before he had handled his problems.

Austen was the one to ignore the work that Busiak did in rebuilding Pym, when he tried to reintroduce the Pym wife beating thing. Then Bendis in standered bendis fashion, looked at maybe the last year of comics at best and then ignored it all and did what he wanted.

 

[MaskedManJRK]

Oh, "wife-beating" my ass. he smacked her once. ONCE. and he's forever a "wife-beater"?

Jan shot him in the face with her bio-stings years before that in Avengers #161. Is she a "husband-beater"?

The way I see it: If we can accept that Spider-Man stills feels guilty for Uncle Ben's death, then we should be able to accept that Pym still feels guilty for what he did.

And are you sure it was only one time? The way I keep hearing it, if you read those old comics back-to-back, it appeared he was smacking her every five minutes.

 

[Dread]

The way I see it: If we can accept that Spider-Man stills feels guilty for Uncle Ben's death, then we should be able to accept that Pym still feels guilty for what he did.

And are you sure it was only one time? The way I keep hearing it, if you read those old comics back-to-back, it appeared he was smacking her every five minutes.

That's what Bendis & Millar have said of the backlogs, and as their research usually consists of scimming wikipedia while drunk (at best), I take it with a grain of salt. Pym was probably more verbally abusive than physical, especially with the Comics Code back then.

I have to correct you BUsiek, brought it back and put it to bed in his Avengers run. The Avengers Forever was a past version of Pym, before he had handled his problems.

Austen was the one to ignore the work that Busiak did in rebuilding Pym, when he tried to reintroduce the Pym wife beating thing. Then Bendis in standered bendis fashion, looked at maybe the last year of comics at best and then ignored it all and did what he wanted.

Yeah, the train of Austen, Bendis & Millar brought it up worse. Bendis & Millar are used to Ultimate where they pretty much can cherrypick whatever past histories they want for characters, so moving to 616 for both has been hard.

Oh, "wife-beating" my ass. he smacked her once. ONCE. and he's forever a "wife-beater"?

Jan shot him in the face with her bio-stings years before that in Avengers #161. Is she a "husband-beater"?

No. On the other hand, female characters are more likely to be mangled.

Interestingly, Peter Parker once slapped MJ during "the spider" phase, and yet no one mentions that anymore. Pym has become a character who has become defined by his worst moment, probably because modern Marvel sees heroes as characters who perennially screw up, make errors, and cost lives when it matters the most, at least judging by the last few events of the past 3 years (again, barring ANNIHILATION). Perhaps it makes him interesting, but it's really become a dead horse. Granted, Wasp has a right not to really forgive him. Although if sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't, well, that's writers for you.

Also, Dread it's HardBALL, not HardCASE. Just to clarify.

Noted and editted.

 

[PhotoJones]

Hellboy: Darkness Calls #1 - My first Hellboy comic. I know, I know. I've chalked it up to one of those things that I've always wanted to get into but never got around to it. I liked the movie a lot, and what I've read on various sites, wikipedia and through various people, it all sounds great and fun. And to top it off, I love Mike Mignola's work. So yeah, why I have never read a Hellboy comic book is beyond me. But now I have.

From what I've been able to gather, Hellboy was washed up on an island during his last adventure, and this one opens up with him recuperating at his cousin's (?) house in Italy. He goes out for a stroll and a smoke, and runs into three creepy people who introduce themselves as fellow travelers. Things take a turn for the worse when one of the turns into a frog (?) and they (I think) tell Hellboy that the demoness that was summoned in the prologue was sent for him. I think. And there's some flashbacks to a guy named Henry Hood who was involved with the hangings of three women accused of witchcraft in the 1600's.

The artwork is great. Duncan's style is very much Mignola's and the colors are beautiful. I love the contrast of the stark red of Hellboy's skin against the muted earth tones of Italy. I don't know how to explain it, but the art together with the script and the cover design and layout just make the entire feel like comic book should. It feels comfy, if that makes sense. I imagine reading it in a big chair in front of a fire, but since it's warm outside, I guess a third floor balconey and a glass of drink will do.

What I really need to do is do some back issue reading and I'm stopping by the shop on my way home to hopefully pick some up.

 

[yenaled]

Anyone pick up the latest Detective?

I did, I really liked Royal's last fill-in so I thought I'd give this a chance. Haven't read it through yet but will do soon.

 

[SouLeSS]

Anyone pick up the latest Detective?

It was ok. About the Terrible Trio, very forgetable, but it wasn't terrible or anything. If you're a completionist, or you just can't get enough batman, then pick it up. If not, just skim it in the store next time you go and see if you want it.

 

[BlackKnight1]

That's what Bendis & Millar have said of the backlogs, and as their research usually consists of scimming wikipedia while drunk (at best), I take it with a grain of salt. Pym was probably more verbally abusive than physical, especially with the Comics Code back then.

Pym slaped her once. Take it from someone who read the comics at the time. There was no mention or hint of any off panel beating of Jan.

If Bendis and Millar are claiming there was, they are either reinventing marvel history (not suprising) or they are confuse with ultimate history.

Yeah, the train of Austen, Bendis & Millar brought it up worse. Bendis & Millar are used to Ultimate where they pretty much can cherrypick whatever past histories they want for characters, so moving to 616 for both has been hard.

Yep, people seem to forget that Austen wrote about a years worth of garabage, that lead to Bendis taking over.

He introduced things that made no sense at all like the Jan/Clint/Hank love traingle. The fact taht for some reason Pym has no longer dealt with him hitting jan once.

Bendis probably read those books and ran with it. I mean why does it matter that it was handled in the Busiak era. Or that the Scarlet Witch issue with not know of her children was handled long before bendis took over, and in fact she did know about them. Why should the history of the charaters get in the way of bad writing.