Bought/Thought January 20th, 2010

[CaptainCanada]

Avengers vs. Atlas #1 - I wasn't originally going to get this, but my LCS standing order includes 'Agents of Atlas', which they not unreasonably included in my pulls, and I decided to give it a go. I like this series fine, but it never really soars for me like it does for many others; these teamup minis have actually felt like an improvement since, among other things, they bring in lots of characters I have more investment in. Parker writes the Avengers will (including Wolverine, for once), and Hardman's art continues to be perfect for the series. The backup, featuring a rather different-looking Takeshi Miyazawa, is okay.

Captain America #602 - the series proper returns. Reborn was a publishing snafu, but let's move on, and indeed, the series returns to the plot with 50s Cap (William Burnside; finally, a name of his own!), now working with the Watchdogs (cleverly reintroduced in #50 in a minor part). I joked earlier that 50s Cap had joined the teabaggers, but this story actually quite literally brings them into the mix; topical, really, given how crazy the rightwing fringe always gets whenever a Democrat is in office (McVeigh, Rudolph, that guy who killed George Tiller). The interplay between Bucky and Sam is typically solid stuff from Brubaker, and I liked the brief reappearance of Nick Fury (and his comment about Natasha complaining about the metal arm). This a bit more political than Brubaker usually is, but good stuff.

Incredible Hercules #140 - Oh yeah, now this is the epic stuff I love. This arc was promoted as a return to "Sacred Invasion"-style storytelling, and while it's been solid up to this point, this one really starts to hit the true heights again. Pretty much every page is great, as the duo gets down to saving the day (we've pretty much shed all the guest-stars at this point). I've said before that I find this Hephaestus a bit odd, but his characterization here is really good, playing on his attraction to Athena in the myth; you can't help but feel a bit sorry for him when he talks about hoping that Athena would be the one who could love him for who he was. The conclusion with Hera, Zeus, and Typhon, though; really didn't see that coming. I'm guessing it's either because of the new world or because of Pluto's underworld order being broken way back in #131.

Mighty Avengers #33 - The series' strongest story to date concludes (and the series as a whole will be doing the same thing next arc, just as it seems to be really hitting its stride), as the two teams defeat the Absorbing Man, and Loki, to my surprise, rescues Osborn from the true depths of despair, thus making him even more dependent on Loki. Adds more to why he's now so set on invading Asgard. Most of the cast get some good moments, and I found Creel splitting Vision 2.0 into Iron Lad and Vision 1.0 really unexpected; though there's so much going on that potentially heavy stuff like that sort of flies by without making as much of an impact as it might have. Could have stood to be longer, really. Pham's art (and the rest of the art team) continues to have massively improved on this story.

Uncanny X-Men #520 - wow, even a Land-drawn issue of UXM was a pretty good read this week. Land's art is still fairly substandard, but there aren't any especially grotesque drawings here (women, especially). A lot of it, again, is Fraction actually focussing on a small number of characters; in this case, a three-man field team (Wolverine, Colossus, Psylocke), and some of the leadership guys at the base. What Magneto is up to might have had a bit more mystery to it if not for the recent news, but whatever; I still find his motives in this story so far a bit hard to discern. How genuine is he? Anyway, here's to tolerable Land, and him hopefully being reassigned elsewhere post-Second Coming.

 

[StreetWarrior]

Dark Avengers #13 was God-awful. This was 22 pages of pointless, confusing crap that served absolutely no purpose whatsoever and accomplished nothing. I really feel like I just threw $3.99 away as this was possibly the most pointless comic I have ever read. And I've read a lot of comics. Also, HOW THE HELL WAS THIS A SIEGE TIE-IN. Granted I but Dark Avengers anyway, but If I had bought this purely because it has the Siege banner, I'd be crazy pissed.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Pretty decent week. Spoilers ahead.

Nova 33 - Good issue but this storyline is kinda getting boring for me. I love the title, but the concept of heroes from various times pulled together got real old for me. Especially since I'm not a big fan of most chosen. I just don't care about Namorita, and by now Reed and Blackbolt have been so used I don't care about that either. Only Nova and Darkhaw have my attention. And then in the end of the issue there are some badguys pulled in as foils... and man is it a fairly crappy selection of characters (in my opinion). Man-Wolf is the most interesting, but then there's also Basalisk, early Moonstone (Medeorite I think she was called), that Bloodstone guy, and a Raptor who I don't think is Talon but I'm not sure. That last one could interest me depending on how its dealt with. As for the story with Sphinx... I think maybe I was expecting something bigger. I don't know... I'm just not feeling this arc like I usually do on this title.

Realm of Kings: Inhumans 3 - This time around, I prefered Imperial Guard to this one. My main qualm is an artistic problem. Gorgan isn't portrayed here as his transmutated self, but moreso like his original self pre-Silent War. And I hated the ending. The one thing I told myself when the Inhumans were raising to prominance is that I DO NOT want to see Maximus turn bad again. He's been bad since he was created, this new direction was a fresh and interesting take. I like him as the creepy, humorous other guy of the band. But alas, he's found out as creating all these problems for the Inhuman family. I just hope there's some reason behind it more than his turning against them and he ends up okay again. We'll see.

Green Lantern Corps 44 - This issue was better and less ruined by cover an solicits than last issue, and so that made it much more enjoyable. Mogo's scene was pretty cool. I like Guy as a Red Lantern, but I'm a little disappointed with his lack of characteristics. Atrocitus has shown a whole range of personalities and reasoning, even as a Red Lantern, but Guy's just kill kill kill. Next issue is a pretty prominant issue of Guy so hopefully he'll feel more fleshed out than a 90's image character.

Uncanny X-Men 520 - An okay issue. I've always been a fan of Fantomex so his showing up here was great for me. I hope he sticks around. The rest of the issue has the typical model poses here and there, but not as many as you'd expect from Land. Faction's plot is as boring as it always is. I'm hoping for a complete change up of creative team after Second Coming here. Fraction, Land, and Dodson all need to hitail it away from this book. I'm not liking any of them.

Incredible Hulk 616 - I told myself I was done with this book but having reread a lot of them since Skaar came in I was still in the mood to see more. I missed FotH: Gamma, which really started this storyline, and my shop was out of it, but I knew of the ending with Bruce and Rulk and that seemed to be about all I needed for this issue. I also liked that this issue didn't seem to need Hulk (the title) to go along with it... though I didn't skim Hulk or anything. I'm hoping it continues on this method, but we'll see.

A Couple questions though.... 1) In what issue did She-Rulk attack the Avengers? Was it in Gamma? and 2) Anyone who did read Hulk this week... did it tie-in with this issue at all?

Thunderbolts 140 - A pretty good issue. I knew that the Headsman was going to die in this series eventually, but the way he did was freakin' absolutely hilarious. I literally laughed out loud... and I liked the guy! I didn't really wanna see him go, but the way it happened, I just loved it! Good issue, eager to see the Siege tie-ins.

Mighty Avengers 33 - Pretty good issue, but not as good as I'm sure people will proclaim it. There was some pretty hoaky writing in places (and good writing in others). Hank's tricking Norman was just stupid in my opinion and downplays Osborne a lot. I will say that I liked seeing Iron Lad again, but nothing was done with it so it was wasted. If something would have happened and he would have stayed around, then it would have bettered the issue for me. Like I said, good issue, not as good as most will say it is.

Dark Avengers 13 - Good issue again, as it reveals some of the mysteries surounding some shoddy storytelling over the past year involving the Sentry. This issue was good but I think Dark Avengers could have used this chronologically for it to be better. The whole scene after his wife's shooting his face off really could have happened real time and would have better improved the ongoing. And I'm pretty sure this issue is revealing the Void as Norman's secret weapon (Norman does refer to him as his Secret Weapon after all) and if that's the case then I think that should have also been made known. And like Street Warrior said... this wasn't really a Siege tie-in. If anything, it may be a hint of what's to come, but none of it had anything to do with Siege... just filling holes from previous issues of Dark Avengers.

Seriously... I bind my comics, and when I bind Dark Reign... I'm strongly considering just throwing this one between those two issues of Dark Avengers when he's shot and the next issue when he's fine with no mention of it.

A good thing though... the ending page gave me goose bumps. The way Deodato drew the Void tendrils... just like Lee did in the original Sentry mini... was awesome. It had the same effect in the first scene in Egypt, but seeing it at the end was awesome. I'm really hoping that during Siege this becomes a major Void deal, not the crappy character thing from the Sentry arc in New Avengers 7-10, or in he second Sentry mini. In the original mini the Void was terrifying and I hope to see him like that here.

 

[JewishHobbit]

And for the sake of mentioning it.... do these Spider-Man splash page 'things to come' adds really expect me to believe they'd put the marraige back together? I'll believe it when I see it. I'll be excited if it happens, and I'll actually consider picking the book up again if it does... but I highly doubt it's anything more than fluff to get people who left after OMD to start buying again.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

They're not putting the marriage back together. I feel absolutely certain of that. At best, they'll resolve the dangling plot threads from OMD that they've been saying they would tie up for years now and maybe have Peter clear his debt with Mephisto. But the marriage's demise was a major goal on Joe Q and Marvel's agenda, not a story that will ultimately resolve itself with a retcon or a reset. In fact, the marriage's demise was the reset.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Once Joey Q leaves, then MAY BE the marriage will be back. That was his personal fan fiction that he made JMS write so, it won't happen, while he's around.

 

[squeekness]

Dark Avengers 13 - Good issue again, as it reveals some of the mysteries surounding some shoddy storytelling over the past year involving the Sentry. This issue was good but I think Dark Avengers could have used this chronologically for it to be better. The whole scene after his wife's shooting his face off really could have happened real time and would have better improved the ongoing. And I'm pretty sure this issue is revealing the Void as Norman's secret weapon (Norman does refer to him as his Secret Weapon after all) and if that's the case then I think that should have also been made known. And like Street Warrior said... this wasn't really a Siege tie-in. If anything, it may be a hint of what's to come, but none of it had anything to do with Siege... just filling holes from previous issues of Dark Avengers.

Seriously... I bind my comics, and when I bind Dark Reign... I'm strongly considering just throwing this one between those two issues of Dark Avengers when he's shot and the next issue when he's fine with no mention of it.

A good thing though... the ending page gave me goose bumps. The way Deodato drew the Void tendrils... just like Lee did in the original Sentry mini... was awesome. It had the same effect in the first scene in Egypt, but seeing it at the end was awesome. I'm really hoping that during Siege this becomes a major Void deal, not the crappy character thing from the Sentry arc in New Avengers 7-10, or in he second Sentry mini. In the original mini the Void was terrifying and I hope to see him like that here.

I can agree with this. I don't think the issue was horrid and yeah, it should have been given to us before this and not as part of Siege. I liked it well enough but maybe I'm just biased, I like the Sentry. I don't get all the Sentry hate.

 

[squeekness]

Dark Wolverine #83. I am going to surely cry when this series ends, I truely will I just love Daken's pure evil heart. he book opens with alovely sequence where a terrified soldier barfs on Daken's shoe. He apologizes, saying he is scared to death. Unlike the previous Dark Avengers we just talked about, this is an actual Seige tie in. The Asgardians are sure to kick som eass. Daken says he can help the man, keep him safe. The guy agrees, and then Daken smashes his face into the ground. Well, he was excused from the fight it seems, only he'll be needing a few surgeries to recover. That's how twisted Daken is. Later he picks a fight with Hawkeye/Bullseye, manipulating him into having to take the more dangerous point position. Then, later, when Norman is turned away, Daken runs him through and the book has Daken over Norman's body, that oh so dangerous third claw out and ready. How can any Daken fan not love this book? He's just so dark and twisted.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Once Joey Q leaves, then MAY BE the marriage will be back. That was his personal fan fiction that he made JMS write so, it won't happen, while he's around.

The way he went about it was his fanfic. The agenda to get rid of the marriage has come up at Marvel at least twice before: the Clone Saga and MJ's apparent death on a blown-up plane before JMS started writing.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

The way he went about it was his fanfic. The agenda to get rid of the marriage has come up at Marvel at least twice before: the Clone Saga and MJ's apparent death on a blown-up plane before JMS started writing.

Both of which failed. This will in time fail as well. Hell, they even knew this. I have no doubts in my mind that unrevealed whisper to Mephisto is their way out once sales start to plummet. And they do continue to fall just not an alarming pace yet.

 

[kguillou]

Sales are already steadily declining on ASM. I think they need to put an end to the thrice monthly thing and just stick with one writer and one artist and begin an ongoing monthly story instead of a jumble of creators every month.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Joe The Barbarian #1

How can you pass up a Grant Morrison title for only a buck? The set-up for this comic is one we've seen many times. Young kid (Joe) being raised by his mom is still mourning over the death of his father. He's picked on by bullies at school; but, does have a pretty cute gal who's interested in him....although, he's completely oblivious to it.

I'm not sure the direction of this book, as when you get to the last page, you'll have a lot more questions than answers. I read this issue with my daughter, as it looked like a comic she might enjoy. (I only had to change the word "homo" to "dork" to make it more appropriate for a 7 year old.) This is a very quick read, as many pages don't even have any words or narration; and, my daughter and I were both wonder at the end if Joe was actually being transported to another world, or if he's just got an over-active imagination. (Or, it might seem more like Joe's been experimenting with some crazy drugs.)

The art looks fantastic, and it did stem my daughter's interest into "what's a barbarian;" of which, I pulled out a trade which contained Conan The Barbarian #1, and we read that together afterwards. It's neat to have her interested in comics; and, this way I kill two birds with one stone. I get to read my weekly comics while we also do our daily reading together.

Dark Avengers #13

I really liked this issue, even though I don't see how it's connected with Siege. Bendis (rewrites?) the origin of The Sentry, as we see Bob was a drug addict who stumbled upon a laboratory that contained the secret formula which turned him into The Sentry. Of course, "once a drug addict, always a drug addict," as Sentry's new dealer is Norman Osborn. This not only explains Sentry's involvement with Osborn's Dark Avengers, but also shows us how and why The Void has slowly been making his return.

I've loved the slow build-up for the return of The Void, and Bendis is really good at setting up the scenarios for his storylines. (Good at the set-up, not necessarily the end results, though....let's hope we get a good payoff.) It's was a nice touch to have Bob's wife being the narrator to The Sentry's origin, as we get a real feel for her fear and distrust of Bob; then, the art really takes over, putting this issue over the top, as Deodato transform's Bendis' words into something special.

Dark Wolverine #82

While I didn't enjoy this Siege tie-in as much as Dark Avengers, it still captured my interest and left me beggin' for the next issue. This is really a two-part issue, as the first half is a narration by Daken about his motivations for taking part in Osborn's Siege and his feelings for those around him. The second part of the issue jumps right into the battle with the Asgardians, and we get a shocking ending as

Spoiler

Daken stabs Osborn through the stomach with his claws, and is about to give the final deathblow to his face, all while three witches (ala Macbeth) are watching these events through some mystic sightseeing, proclaiming that Daken is "the bringer of Ragnarok."

It's kind of weird to be shoved into the fight with Asgard, as we haven't gotten to that with Siege's main title; but, it's always interesting that the writers have us guessing at Daken's real motivations. What we see isn't always what it seems. Gotta wait until next issue to truly find out what the heck is going on at the end of this one, I guess.

Incredible Hulk #606

Greg Pak's entry into the Fall Of The Hulks storyline begins here. Banner has lined up with the Red Hulk, as everyone's motivations come into question. New York has accepted Skaar as a hero of the people, while Banner sees him as simply biding his time until the Hulk emerges...Skaar sees Banner as caring about nobody, but Betty...Doom sees Skaar as an access to greater power...The Leader sees Doom as another piece to the puzzle of his collection. There is just so many different pieces to this Fall Of The Hulks puzzle that it does get a bit confusing at times; and, the writers are keeping such a mystery to those motivations and secret identities, that it's a bit hard to work everything out at such an early stage of this story.

The other aspect to this Hulk event is that a reader's enjoyment is usually measured by who's writing which book. Loeb is the one who put these events into motion; but, it's Pak and Parker who have gotten me interested in it all.

Hulk #19

Case in point, Loeb's chapter in Fall Of The Hulks is a big step back from what interest I got from Pak's Incredible Hulk. As usual, we get another fight scene between various heroes and villians, while the actual story gets advanced very little. The main thing to get out of this issue is that The Leader is taking out the eight smartest people on the planet; and, in this issue, Reed is taken out by the Intelligencia when the Wizard gets together a new Frightful Four.

The Frightful Four's battle with the Fantastic Four is extremely annoying. Each page gives us four panels of action; and, each panel is a separate member of each of the four battling another. The next part of the issue is Rulk vs. Thing; of which, nothing is decided, as Rulk must convince Thing to work together to stop the Negative Zone particles from enveloping the Baxter Building.

This issue is somewhat essential to the Fall Of The Hulks storyline, as it explains how Reed is taken down by The Leader; but, Loeb isn't helped by my getting to read the better chapter by Pak the same week his issue comes out.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

However sales are doing relative to earlier sales, ASM is still a top 20 comic more often than not--usually for more than one issue per month, too. I think expecting the marriage to return is kind of a vain hope. But who knows? I could be wrong.

 

[kguillou]

The marriage isn't coming back, in fact it looks like marvel is aggressively trying to write mary jane out of spider-man's mythos all together as we've seen with Spectacular Spiderman having Gwen as Peter's main love interest and the next Spiderman movie will most likely have Gwen instead of MJ. I think the era of Peter Parker and Mary Jane is officially over.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Perhaps when the 90s generation takes control of the EICship and starts remaking everything to be like it was when they were kids.

The marriage isn't coming back, in fact it looks like marvel is aggressively trying to write mary jane out of spider-man's mythos all together as we've seen with Spectacular Spiderman having Gwen as Peter's love and with the next Spiderman movie most likely having Gwen as Peter's love interest instead of MJ.

Quesada doesn't have any real influence in those areas. Weisman runs (ran?) SSM, and he has been vocally supportive of Peter/MJ; the show was just cycling through Peter's love interests in comics order.

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

Also, you can't just compare the current issues of Amazing Spider-Man to the series when it was monthly. The second and third issues of ASM each month are replacing Sensational Spider-Man and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which didn't do nearly as well as ASM is doing now. Sales-wise, I think it's been pretty successful.

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

Perhaps when the 90s generation takes control of the EICship and starts remaking everything to be like it was when they were kids.

Haha, too true. I expect there to be plenty of Kaine, female Dr Octopus, and ****** stories in general in that coming time

 

[SouLeSS]

"I'm Moonstone again? I've been 'reality punched?' That's the stupidest ****ing thing I've ever heard of."

Holy ****. I laughed so hard at that, so much so that I stopped reading the issue to come post that on here. BACK TO MIGHTY AVENGERS

 

[MMMMM...Pancakes]

I picked up Wolverine for the first time since OML ended, and I enjoyed it. Daken is one evil little bastard, this guys intentions are still reletively unknown which I like.

Never really cared about Daken until recently, I don't know how or why, but I suddenly got interested in the charater.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Outsiders #26

Yet AGAIN another change for Outsiders. I have almost dropped this title about three times since Batman took over the team; as, this comic is in desperate search for an identity. Here we go again with Didio taking over the writing chores.

Now, I love Didio; but, I'm not sure if even he can save this title. Alfred's out, as Brion Markov has taken over as the leader of the Outsiders. I'm not sure why the other teammates are going along with this; but, they are. And, don't let the ads and cover for this issue fool you. (Like me, I'm sure you weren't fooled, anyway.) Superman does NOT take over this team. The new member of The Outsiders is

Spoiler

The Eradicator.

Since I'm a sucker...and, since this is Didio...I'll give this comic a couple more issues. But, that's it! It's the last friggin' straw!! If it does not improve, nothing is going to get me to continue with this book.

Unless it's a crossover....or someone on here lets me know it's gotten better.

Blackest Night: The Phantom Stranger

We get four Blackest Night titles this week; and, none of them did much for me. I'm feeling serious BN-Overload; and, the main reason is that while I've been reading many of DC's comics since Infinite Crisis, I still don't know...or care...about many of their B-list characters. (The only time I find myself really getting into one of them is with Brave and the Bold.)

In this issue, The Phantom Stranger and the Blue Devil try to save the soul of Boston Brand from the Black Lanterns after getting in a fight with The Spectre. I'm so tired of all these Black Lanterns invading Earth...I'm tired of the same old battles...I just want it to be over. At least over at Marvel, if you're not interested in Siege, you can check out Fall Of The Hulks. If you're not interested in that, you can maybe get interested in Realm Of Kings.

Blackest Night: Starman #81

Robinson does a good enough job with this extra issue of Starman; but, I really did not know any of the characters. It's another Black Lantern getting defeated by the good guy(s). It's kind of weak how they all get defeated; and, even though DC keeps explaining how these Lanterns aren't defeated and are just taken out of action, it makes them much less scary. This was a neat idea by DC to give an extra issue to some of their old cancelled series, it's still just another same old Blackest Night story.

Blackest Night: The Flash #2

While I'm enjoying John's main Blackest Night title, this tie-in fills rushed; and, except for some of the Rogues, I find myself bored with it. The art seems kind of sloppy, and I realize one of my big complaints about Blackest Night is how all the Black Lanterns look the same, and many times I can't tell (or don't even know) who they are. If you look at the cover for this issue, you see Captain Cold being chased by six Black Lanterns. I couldn't name a single one of them.

Green Lantern Corps #44

If you want to follow Blackest Night, I would really only recommend the main event title and the two Green Lantern books. Everything else is overkill. In this issue, Mogo has responded to the Green Lantern distress call to come to Oa, and the the main lanterns realize that this could be a huge problem, as they try to save the Central Battery from being destroyed by all the Black Lanterns. Also in the mix is the newly formed Red Lantern, Guy Gardner.

This issue was alright; definitely the best of the four BN titles that came out this week. But, it all felt a bit much, too. Something about Mogo coming to Oa...the way Mogo defeated all the Black Lanterns...and, Guy Gardner being a Red Lantern just made me feel like Tomasi was throwing in everything he could thing of into the title.

 

[Phaedrus45]

What a small DC week for me. Here are the last three I have to read today. My only other two are Azrael and Power Girl; but, I'm so far behind in my reading of both those titles, I know I might not get to them this week.

The Authority: The Lost Year #5

I would LOVE to talk to Morrison and find out if this comic even is close to what he imagined when he wrote the first two excellent issues. They still give him top billing for this maxi-series; but, that's only because he came up with the story. The actual writing duties are now done by Keith Giffen. (Oh, and the artist has changed, too, for the worse.)

This story was originally taking place on an Earth very much like our own. They had no superheroes, and The Authority was somehow stuck there. In issue #2, Morrison is going with the theme that some members of The Authority looked at this as an opportunity to make things right, where they once failed. THEN, Giffen takes over writing, changes the whole the whole direction of the first two issues, and has The Authority fight off a parasite that had attached itself to the Earth for many years. Last issue, they came up with a plan to defeat that parasite; and, now in this newest issue, they are back in The Bleed in a desperate attempt to get back home. Most of this issue has The Authority fighting off a different parasite that's trying to digest their ship. So, it's officially "goodbye Morrison Earth-storyline, welcome Authority-Bleed storyline."

It sucks! Morrison should be ashamed they've attached his name to the cover in an obvious attempt to gain some sales; because the good job he and Ha did with those first two issues have now gone to crap. You know, there are a few good comics I've really enjoyed from Wildstorm...but, for the most point, they put out a ton of sh#&!

Batman: Streets Of Gotham #8

Another 2-part storyline begins, and it's very generic. Someone is butchering some bad guys who have a habit of being "ladies men," and Batman is on the case. The comic only gets interesting when the Second Feature, starring Manhunter, begins. It's Manhunter vs. Two-Face on the streets, and Kate Spencer vs. Harvey Dent in the courtroom. Too bad they can't just get sales by having this title only be about Manhunter, and skip the generic Batcrap.

The Brave And The Bold #31

Easily one of DC's best 5 titles they are currently releasing, this issue features The Atom and The Joker. This time, we don't get a team-up; instead, The Atom must go into The Joker's brain in order to save his life. It's a common Atom theme; but, having it involve The Joker makes it a bit different. Stracyzynski shines when we get the flashbacks into the Joker's past. It's another great issue! More people should be picking up this title; especially if they have a short comic week or have something in their pull list that they do more complaining about than enjoying. Out of all the issues I've read today, this one is my favorite. It just makes me wonder why Stracyzynski couldn't make Thor a bit more fast-paced with his storytelling like these standalone issues are.

 

[Spider-Gnome]

Quesada doesn't have any real influence in those areas. Weisman runs (ran?) SSM, and he has been vocally supportive of Peter/MJ; the show was just cycling through Peter's love interests in comics order.

You beat me to it, CaptainCanada. Spectacular Spider-Man is following comic continuity dating back to the Lee/Ditko/Romita era, so Gwen was his love interest before MJ. It has NOTHING to do with getting rid of MJ as Pete's love interest. Hopefully, we'll get more seasons of SSM!

Seriously, Sony should look to SSM and Weisman for the Spider-Man film reboot, not Ultimate!

 

[Ikaris-Eternal]

ASM #618

I was in favor of the status quo change of Brand New Day from the beginning (though I agree that OMD was not a good gateway to that status), and I have found the thrice-monthly to be a little up-and-down in quality. But this issue is just what I want out of Spidey.

I first read Spider-Man comics during the Gang Wars days of the middle 80's (note - I skipped comics during the 90's for girls, booze/drugs, and general shenanigans), and I love what they're doing right now. Updated villains, new villains, street-level crime, small romantic subplots, gang turf wars...fantastic.

Dark Wolverine 82

I never read Wolverine Origins, but Daken has been a very intriguing character during this takeover of his dad's book. My wife looked over my shoulder at last issue's recap page and said "wow, that's interesting - how long has he been around?" Good artwork as well. Curious where he will be after Siege.

Dark Avengers 13

ok, they're finally doing it. turn the Sentry completely bad and call it a day. The mystery behind him and his mental/emotional problems have gotten old. Nice reveal on the junkie thing (though probably not what was envisioned in his conception, but whatever).

Every one of the good guys will be required to take him down, probably asgard included. Fitting end to him - my guess is he will go down like Dark Phoenix, a sliver of Bob Reynolds will permit his demise, leaving him a sympathetic figure...and certainly someone can revive him down the road.

 

[squeekness]

I picked up Wolverine for the first time since OML ended, and I enjoyed it. Daken is one evil little bastard, this guys intentions are still reletively unknown which I like.

Never really cared about Daken until recently, I don't know how or why, but I suddenly got interested in the charater.

Dark Wolverine 82

I never read Wolverine Origins, but Daken has been a very intriguing character during this takeover of his dad's book. My wife looked over my shoulder at last issue's recap page and said "wow, that's interesting - how long has he been around?" Good artwork as well. Curious where he will be after Siege.

Ever since Wolverine went Dark and focused on Daken the book has been wonderful. It has a great writer and artist team, it's made me chuckle every issue over Wolverine Jr's sly and clever maniuplations. It's been quite refreshing since Logan was getting a bit stale before this. I seriously hope that if the Dark section of this book ever ends, that Daken gets his own ongoing or placed on a team of other crazies that has this same writer and artist. It's just too wonderful to not continue.

 

[Phaedrus45]

I was surprised to see that Marvel allowed a character to flip the bird at Norman Osborn in one of the panels. It's one thing to see it in a Max or Marvel Knight title..but, Dark Wolverine was a shock.