Bought/Thought July 16th, 2008

[CaptainCanada]

Captain America #40

We're now at our fifteenth Steve-less issue, as Bucky faces off with Evil 50s Cap in a rooftop brawl and Sharon dukes it out with Sin in the bowels of the Red Skull's evil lair. New Cap's plot is interesting, since Bucky has no idea who Evil 50s Cap is, and so at first isn't sure what to make of him, even recoiling at looking under the mask and seeing Steve's face. The best part, though, is the final reveal, when we learn that Sam guessed what Bucky would do, and that this is what the Skull wanted, and so he let Bucky go to draw out Evil 50s Cap, who will now lead them back to the Skull's base. David Xanatos and Tony Stark would be proud, Sam. Less happy is the result of Sharon's fight, which ends with Sin getting the best of her and stabbing her in the gut with a bowie knife. The Skull is not happy at this development, as the prospect of losing the Cap-fetus is apparently a significant wrench in his plans (despite the fact that he only found out about it a few issues ago). I hope the kid survives this (certainly, if it's possible, Zola can make it happen), otherwise that's a bit harsh, even for Brubaker. Great issue.

Incredible Hercules #119

So Athena would seem to be in the clear, as Skrull-Kirby is the traitor, wrecking the God Squad's dreamship on the rocks that surround Kly'bn's big temple; the temple is surrounded by the wreckage of 978 conquered divinities' temples/bodies, all of whom are now slaves to the Skrull Gods, and the God Squad must fight there way through. I have to say, Demogorge doesn't really come across as all that powerful in this sequence, though he does eat a couple of bad guys; I'd expected a bit more razzle-dazzle from him. I do like, though, that this issue's big myth-flashback turns out to be spectacularly unenlightening as strategy (Herc has beaten shapeshifters, but all he did was hit them a bunch of times). Surprisingly, Snowbird does the Big Heroic Sacrifice, transforming into some monstrous Great Beast of the North, saying she'll not allow another team to die. Mind you, we don't see what happens, so she's primed to make a dramatic return next issue (given Van Lente's obvious love for Alpha Flight). The issue ends with Herc and co. coming face to face with Kly'bn, who is now indisputably the "He" that the Skrulls are always talking about. Sandoval's art is a bit less impressive in this issue; all the soft colours kind of blend together in the big brawl scenes, which would have benefited from a bit more contrast. Still, this is among Marvel's best; having both this and Captain America come out this week is a real treat.

X-Force #5

The opening arc hits its penultimate issue, as Bastion's big plan for mutant extermination hits its biggest roadbump not from X-Force itself but from Matthew Risman, the Purifier chief who had Bastion resurrected in the firstplace. Risman has had enough with Bastion's actions, including using Magus to resurrect the corpse of Stryker as a sort of puppet, which he sees as just as unholy as mutants themselves (Satan's army). I was wondering how X-Force could possibly defeat the massive array of high-powered foes that were in place as of #3, but it seems from this issue that the civil war between Risman and Bastion will take care of most of the work. Risman's army of archangels (using the Celestial-tech Apocalypse gave Warren) assault Bastion's tower, slaughtering the guards, and the issue ends with Risman confronting Bastion. Meanwhile, Archangel, in a rage at the Purifiers, beats up X-Force and flies off to confront them, with X-Force following in their jet. This arc has been a reasonably compelling action tale, but, strangely, the most interesting stuff has mainly involved the villains; X-Force itself doesn't get a whole lot to do so far, and whatever success they have at the end would seem to mostly result from the villains killing themselves. Crain's art is, I think, unsuited to this type of story; too CGI and muddy.

 

[Brainiac 8]

I wonder if this new development of Angel's will carry over or if it's just temporary to the current arc.

 

[Doc Destruction]

I wonder if this new development of Angel's will carry over or if it's just temporary to the current arc.

GOD I hope so. It was soooo good to see Warren all jacked up again. And not boring. With healing blood. Ugh.

 

[Texas]

Captain America #40

We're now at our fifteenth Steve-less issue, as Bucky faces off with Evil 50s Cap in a rooftop brawl and Sharon dukes it out with Sin in the bowels of the Red Skull's evil lair. New Cap's plot is interesting, since Bucky has no idea who Evil 50s Cap is, and so at first isn't sure what to make of him, even recoiling at looking under the mask and seeing Steve's face. The best part, though, is the final reveal, when we learn that Sam guessed what Bucky would do, and that this is what the Skull wanted, and so he let Bucky go to draw out Evil 50s Cap, who will now lead them back to the Skull's base. David Xanatos and Tony Stark would be proud, Sam. Less happy is the result of Sharon's fight, which ends with Sin getting the best of her and stabbing her in the gut with a bowie knife. The Skull is not happy at this development, as the prospect of losing the Cap-fetus is apparently a significant wrench in his plans (despite the fact that he only found out about it a few issues ago). I hope the kid survives this (certainly, if it's possible, Zola can make it happen), otherwise that's a bit harsh, even for Brubaker. Great issue.

Incredible Hercules #119

So Athena would seem to be in the clear, as Skrull-Kirby is the traitor, wrecking the God Squad's dreamship on the rocks that surround Kly'bn's big temple; the temple is surrounded by the wreckage of 978 conquered divinities' temples/bodies, all of whom are now slaves to the Skrull Gods, and the God Squad must fight there way through. I have to say, Demogorge doesn't really come across as all that powerful in this sequence, though he does eat a couple of bad guys; I'd expected a bit more razzle-dazzle from him. I do like, though, that this issue's big myth-flashback turns out to be spectacularly unenlightening as strategy (Herc has beaten shapeshifters, but all he did was hit them a bunch of times). Surprisingly, Snowbird does the Big Heroic Sacrifice, transforming into some monstrous Great Beast of the North, saying she'll not allow another team to die. Mind you, we don't see what happens, so she's primed to make a dramatic return next issue (given Van Lente's obvious love for Alpha Flight). The issue ends with Herc and co. coming face to face with Kly'bn, who is now indisputably the "He" that the Skrulls are always talking about. Sandoval's art is a bit less impressive in this issue; all the soft colours kind of blend together in the big brawl scenes, which would have benefited from a bit more contrast. Still, this is among Marvel's best; having both this and Captain America come out this week is a real treat.

X-Force #5

The opening arc hits its penultimate issue, as Bastion's big plan for mutant extermination hits its biggest roadbump not from X-Force itself but from Matthew Risman, the Purifier chief who had Bastion resurrected in the firstplace. Risman has had enough with Bastion's actions, including using Magus to resurrect the corpse of Stryker as a sort of puppet, which he sees as just as unholy as mutants themselves (Satan's army). I was wondering how X-Force could possibly defeat the massive array of high-powered foes that were in place as of #3, but it seems from this issue that the civil war between Risman and Bastion will take care of most of the work. Risman's army of archangels (using the Celestial-tech Apocalypse gave Warren) assault Bastion's tower, slaughtering the guards, and the issue ends with Risman confronting Bastion. Meanwhile, Archangel, in a rage at the Purifiers, beats up X-Force and flies off to confront them, with X-Force following in their jet. This arc has been a reasonably compelling action tale, but, strangely, the most interesting stuff has mainly involved the villains; X-Force itself doesn't get a whole lot to do so far, and whatever success they have at the end would seem to mostly result from the villains killing themselves. Crain's art is, I think, unsuited to this type of story; too CGI and muddy.

I must've missed this, which issue was it they said they had plans for the fetus ?

 

[Blader5489]

The ending for Cap #40...wow. I did not see that coming.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Batgirl #1: Well, Beechen didn't make Cassandra a cannibal or a prostitute or anything, so he's got that going for him. It's established pretty clearly that this mini essentially exists to allow Beechen to clean up his and Johns' mess from Robin and Teen Titans, and to that end, Beechen actually gets about half of it right. The problem is that this still doesn't feel like the Cassandra I left off with before all the mind control and League of Assassins garbage. At all. It feels like the Cassandra of the first few arcs of her old series, maybe, when she was super-gung-ho about pleasing Batman and trying to earn her place with him, but Gabrych's entire run pretty neatly tied that up, along with the father issues at the root of it, and made Cass come into her own as a woman. That's gone now. Oh, and now that the drugs that turned Cassandra into a murderer are out of her system... she wants to murder the people who gave them to her. I get the sense that the whole mini is almost certainly about turning that impulse around by the mini's end, but it still just doesn't make sense. Everything that Cassandra has always been about has centered on her oath to never, ever, ever, ever kill again. That she would even consider it now--especially as a means of getting back at those who made her break it unwillingly just a while ago--shows how little Beechen grasps the character and everything she's been through. Oh, and Dick lives up to his name in spades here for apparently no reason, too. He's pissed at Batman for letting Batgirl back in spite of the explanation that she was mind-controlled when she "went bad," which is obviously correct because she's planning to kill more people, but there's not a whole lot of justification for Dick's stance. He and Cass were pretty good with each other before, and he himself has killed, and he has nothing to actually make him suspect that she's planning to kill again... it all just came off as awkward to me, like maybe Beechen's using Dick as a metafictional mouthpiece for all us pissed off fans of Batgirl or something, but it doesn't really work. Eh, I don't know. Not great, but not terrible. It'd be nice if they'd just decided to make the Batgirl who went bad a clone that Cain cooked up with Slade's help or some crap--anything to just sweep that whole awful period under the rug and bring us back the Cassandra Cain we know and love. With the mini harping on that period endlessly and adding insult to injury with more mischaracterization of Cassandra, it looks like nothing but a lot of time is going to make that happen now, unfortunately.

 

[CaptainCanada]

I must've missed this, which issue was it they said they had plans for the fetus ?

It wasn't. They only learned about it a couple of issues ago.

 

[Dread]

Batgirl #1:

Now, I admit this is highly hypocritical, but I figure turnabout is fair play.

You HATE Beechen. He ruined Batgirl and has for years. You do nothing but spite his name over at the DC boards. So why in the heck did you pay money to see him take another stab at ruining Batgirl? It is at least as self-defeating as me buying Bendis comics.

I'm curious about what the answer will be. Probably a variation of, "you buy more Bendis books than I by Beechen books". Quantity, fine, I'll give you that. But the principle is the same. The principle that emerged in last week's B/T is, "Dread is a ****** because he buys _____ title because he expects to hate it and **** about it". How is this any different? I at least can claim that Bendis has a central role in the MU as their #1 writer, so even if one hates him, he needs to be paid some attention. Beechen is not in that position, and neither is Batgirl.

 

[BrianWilly]

The miniseries is meant for Beechen to literally fix his past mistakes, marketed with the idea that if you didn't like what he did to Batgirl, then you should read the book because what he did to Batgirl is going to be undone, by the same writer who now supposedly cops to the blame.

It's really not comparable to anything Bendis has done yet. A better comparison is if Bendis just one day, out of the blue, says "Hey I realize that I wrote Wanda really badly in Avengers Disassembled. So now I'm going to write a story that undoes and explains away the badness." That kind of book would be directed specifically at people who didn't like what he did before, with the assumption that at least it wouldn't be more of the same. If you read the book and it is more of the same (Avengers Disassembled 2: Wanda goes crazier!*), then at least you get the righteous indignation of being tricked by a book's premise...instead of having gotten a book knowing full well that you weren't going to like it.


*otherwise known as House of M

 

[fifthfiend]

post deleted.

 

[BrianWilly]

You know you do that a lot? Don't hold back.

 

[fifthfiend]

Don't hold back.

I think we can both agree I am not inclined to hold back. I only do the deleted post thing when something makes me saw wow, that was awful even by my own total lack of standards.

I deleted the post above mainly because it mostly came out as Bendis criticism and I figure really no, this is Beechen's moment.

 

[Dread]

The miniseries is meant for Beechen to literally fix his past mistakes, marketed with the idea that if you didn't like what he did to Batgirl, then you should read the book because what he did to Batgirl is going to be undone, by the same writer who now supposedly cops to the blame.

It's really not comparable to anything Bendis has done yet. A better comparison is if Bendis just one day, out of the blue, says "Hey I realize that I wrote Wanda really badly in Avengers Disassembled. So now I'm going to write a story that undoes and explains away the badness." That kind of book would be directed specifically at people who didn't like what he did before, with the assumption that at least it wouldn't be more of the same. If you read the book and it is more of the same (Avengers Disassembled 2: Wanda goes crazier!*), then at least you get the righteous indignation of being tricked by a book's premise...instead of having gotten a book knowing full well that you weren't going to like it.


*otherwise known as House of M

Doesn't Bendis say this a lot, though? Didn't he go, "Now read Disassembled, knowing what you know about Wanda"? Isn't he basically claiming he planned SI since 2003-2004 so all of his **** ups on Disassembled and early NA were part of a calculated script? Yeah, I don't buy it one bit, but Bendis says this.

I guess it isn't the same. Bendis has never outright admitted fault, if that is what Beechen is claiming now (or his editors).

 

[Dread]

Now back to the scheduled reviews. Thankfully, there are only 3 books this week. My wallet and my fingers after a long day at work are grateful.

As always, full spoilers.

Dread's BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 7/16/08:

CAPTAIN AMERICA #40: Can you believe that Brubaker, Epting, and Co. have been here for 40 issues and counting (plus add in a few one-shots and whatnot). It has all been one long, winding arc that goes beyond 3 years and when Steve was alive, and continues well over a year after his death (longer than Superman was dead, FYI). Cynics and realists alike believe Rogers will truly revive one day, but considering the buzz and sales of the Bucky-led issues, I wouldn't mind someone at Marvel reconsidering fulfilling that idea. I mean, yeah, DC just revived Barry Allen, but it took 22 years. Legacy heroes can work and be just as exciting, if not moreso, than the original, and this title and run have more than proven it for 616 Marvel.

As the cover suggests, it is Cap vs. Cap, or more precisely, James "Bucky" Barnes (formerly the Winter Soldier and currently "New Cap") vs. the Grand Director; 1950's copy-cat Cap, partner of the now-deceased Nomad, and pawn of Dr. Faustus and Red Skull. Bucky may have experience and guile, but the Grand Director has superior strength & stamina than Steve ever had. He also is flipping nuts.

Of course, this plot-line connects not only to early in Brubaker's run when he had Winter Soldier assassinate Nomad, but in earlier stories where Fautus used the Grand Director as a pawn; having him do so again thus feels natural, especially as part of the Skull's plan to destroy America, one step at a time. As always, Brubaker on this title does his own thing, but finds his way to connect it to the franchise's rich history beforehand. If comic book writing is taught in a course somewhere, CA should be part of the required reading on how to handle a franchise run and still blaze new ground, even with "old ideas". Other writers brought Bucky back before; Brubaker simply took it to the fullest conclusion, and did it well. He even beguiles some promotional people because Brubaker is more of a writer who follows a course to a natural conclusion, even if it is predictable, than offer a hook or a twist for the sake of it. That's the kind of writing I usually enjoy.

Parallel to Bucky's fight is Sharon trying to escape with Sin as a hostage, and ending up at the end of her blade. The Red Skull hisses at his daughter for fouling his plan, which still seems to involve Sharon, her fetus, and Dr. Doom's mysterious device that Zola bought from the despot. Part of me is still wondering if this entire plan involves speed-growing Cap's bastard child, but who knows at this point.

Epting returns on art after a one month break and as usual, delivers on the action. The battle between the Cap's is different than, say, Buck vs. Crossbones, but it still works. I only have to presume that Bucky can take so many superhuman blows due to that "bulletproof" costume. The fact that Grand Director looks and sounds so much like Steve plays into Bucky's own doubts and fears. Yes, I am aware that we have read narration from Bucky going, "Why didn't I listen? Why did I jump in like an idiot?" about 14 times from him by now, but I still don't mind it. If this was a book I hated, it would be a major niggle, but as one I really enjoy, it is a minor detail of annoyance that usually is ignored due to the nature of the story-line. He may be over 60 years old, but the role of Cap is still new to him.

Plus, it puts Falcon in the role of mentor, and he is very comfortable in it. The title may be CA but Brubaker has maintained a little "unit" on this book of Cap, Falcon, Iron Man, and Black Widow operating on ops missions. Naturally this all works and also plays to history. There is a sense of wanting some finality to this story, but at the same time, it plays out in a very satisfying way in every installment that one almost forgets it has been the same enemy for over 3 years now. Maybe this is how LOST feels to those who watch it.

Few Marvel books can touch CA, and there are actually quite a few great ones out right now.

GHOST RIDER #25: Well, I'll be; a 2 part story. Sometimes that is seen as a lost art. Aaron continues to impress.

When the hulking mass of godly muscle that is "The Deacon" was introduced last issue, the geek in me recalled a very minor Shroud villain from MARVEL SUPER-HEROES III #7, circa 1991 with that name, and wondered if they were the same man. They aren't, at all. Only the name is the same. It isn't a big deal as some names are repeated quite often in the superhero biz, I just never imagined it would be "The Deacon". Nope, here he is simply an opponent for Ghost Rider to fight.

Johnny Blaze enters a prison to talk to a murderous ex-priest for leads on the angel that he wants to kill, Zadkiel. The priest mentions the angel's longtime agenda and that he is basically pulling a Lucifer, after God's Throne. There is a bit of bleakness with Heaven and Hell being portrayed as little different from each other, but this is hardly the first comic to make that claim. An agent of Zad gives The Deacon an elixir that gives him "Samson's Strength" and some angelic blades that, among other things, block Hellfire and can cut Ghost Rider. Considering Ghost Rider can sometimes seem unkillable, Aaron has managed to find interesting ways of challenging Ghost Rider. I have to admit that the sight of Ghost Rider pummeling someone down with a massive Bible is kind of funny, in a dark humor way.

Speaking of sights, it turns out Huat wasn't drawing Skull-face last month, and his GR isn't bad. Still, I prefered Boschi and hope that he returns soon enough. Huat's not bad, but not my taste on the book.

It is a little annoying that every threat that GR runs into is Zadkiel's doing, which sometimes seems as obligatory as Dr. Richard Kimble brushing across the One-Armed Man in nearly any random city or state to keep the story alive. Still, Aaron inherited Way's mess and is doing well enough with it. I am genuinely interested in his direction, especially his new stab at Dan Ketch; hey if legacies could work for some franchises, why not GR? Besides, GR has few distinct enemies and having Ketch as an opposing force would create some drama from a well known figure (besides The Devil). Still, why can't Nightmare appear? Hell, I'll even take Aqueduct.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #16: The review that everyone will pay attention to, no matter what. I've actually said a few times that MA is a better book on average than NA, even if it does have some infuriating moments (Dr. Doom jobbing to Sentry and acting like a washer woman is about as dignified as any character losing to Eye-Scream). This issue is one of those stories.

In more SI prequel stories to the event that had so little build up , Bendis details exactly how Elektra got "taken". He also firmly settles on the idea that Skrullectra was the one who originally hired Electro to free Sauron from the Vault in NA #1. Yeah, whatever.

What makes the issue shine are the fight sequences. They're quite good. Of course, one could say that merely means Bendis shut up and allowed Pham to do his work, but I am sure he had some hand in pacing the scenes. Once upon a time in the early years of USM, Bendis & Bagley could deliver some thrilling combat scenes. Once upon a time, I even found them less anti-climatic than Mark Millar ones (when he was then writing Ultimate X-Men). Yeah, this was maybe 5+ years ago. It isn't anything we haven't seen from Elektra, but it is good enough.

The story, basically, is that the Skrulls in prior issues settled on Elektra as being a nice, mysterious figure to impersonate without anyone noticing. A few simply walk up to her with no sense of guile or stealth and hope to overwhelm her with powers. Basically, the same tactic taken to Echo later on. Damn, these new generation of Skrulls seem extra-careful with virtually any character who isn't a ninja; against ninjas, they are about as cunning as a pro-wrestler on Roid Rage. "HERE ME AM! NOW YOU DIE!" basically.

Part of enjoying the kinetic action scenes is putting aside the idea that Elektra can overcome THREE super-Skrulls when far more powerful heroes and heroines have sometimes been unable to overcome even one. Of course, Bendis is hardly the first writer to write Elektra as if she was Deathstroke the Terminator (who can dodge the Flash and make it look easy), and he won't be the last. And it does involve the classic "Elektra impaled on a sai, circa Frank Miller" scene being homaged for what has to be, literally, the 100th time in Marvel publishing history (the cover is of course another such homage). I am usually a sucker for decent action scenes but even I rolled my eyes as Elektra seemed to withstand two optic blasts, including one to the chin, from an enemy who clearly wanted to kill her.

And if you hated seeing Tigra get pummeled to crap, then damn, Bendis shows less mercy to Elektra. But I never liked her, so I don't care if she was seriously beaten to death in an alley by a nameless Skrull. Elektra's been an empty cypher for the longest time. At the very least, Bendis isn't saying that she has been a Skrull since the 90's, which is fine. I feared that Bendis would be "replacing" heroes since the Kree-Skrull era; so far he hasn't gone back further than 2004 with the impersonations, so that is good for now. It still is tad annoying (depending on the character), but that is better than mind-****ingly horrible.

So, no, I didn't hate this one. Considering I have no doubt in my mind that Jessica Drew is alive, the blurb for the next issue with more data about Hank Pym makes me believe that he's still alive too (even if he went down like a ****e). Eliminate the murder of characters, and SECRET INVASION could simply go down as mediocre with some decent action; which in all honesty wouldn't be too bad, considering my expectations for it.

I wouldn't say this issue deserves to outsell CAPTAIN AMERICA #40, although it will.

 

[Darthphere]

Jesus, Dread can't let anything go.

 

[Dread]

Jesus, Dread can't let anything go.

You're talking to a guy who still gets miffed at Sentry because Marvel & Wizard lied about the original mini some 8 YEARS AGO. Are you seriously surprised?

Besides, I was also curious, and BrianWilly explained it decently.

 

[SouLeSS]

The art on X-Factor was absolutely disgusting.

I oringinally thought the other mutant with Longshot was supposed to be drawn like that, but then I realized that every single person was drawn with the same style.

I had to put it down twice reading it cause I couldn't stand looking at another panel of that art.

 

[Marcdachamp]

GOD I hope so. It was soooo good to see Warren all jacked up again. And not boring. With healing blood. Ugh.

The way I see it

Spoiler

Warren will be able to change into Archangel at will after this arc.

I could very well be wrong, but that's the impression that I get.

Captain America- PICK OF THE WEEK! Brubaker... this is the second time I've almost cried after reading something you've written. Just a really powerful last page that has me raising some major questions. God, I love this book. 9/10

Invincible Iron Man- Fraction is going to do with Iron Man what Brubaker has done with Cap. The movie set a high bar for future Iron Man writers, but Fraction and Larocca are just nailing this. Love this title. 9/10

X-Force- Calling this book dark would be an understatement. That 2 page spread was just jaw dropping. 9/10

Amazing Spider-Man- Wow, didn't see

Spoiler

Vermin showing up.

Looks like they're addressing Kraven's Last Hunt in a pretty big way. What I'm really loving about this book is how what you think is going to happen is pretty rarely the case. I'm really wondering where Vin's life is going after this arc. Female Kraven is just effing him up in a bad way. 8/10

Mighty Avengers- Khoi Pham makes his debut, and it's not too bad. A lot of people were hoping Elektra's replacement would have been earlier, but Bendis is pretty true to his word about not using this as a "Clone Saga" kind of out. Funny how people would have actually liked that, though. Oh well. The action's nice, and I hope we continue to see Elektra's story in between the Hank Pym story. 8/10

Transformers: The Reign of Starscream- I hope that this doesn't get retconned when the next movie comes out. It's cool seeing Arcee's story before she shows up in the next movie, and I'm genuinely interested in seeing what's up with the bots in the governments control. 7/10

X-Factor- I don't mind the art as much as a lot of other people. It's not awesome, but it's not as bad as some would make it sound. Anyway, how much does it suck to be the Skrull that takes on the form of

Spoiler

Longshot?

Now that's just a sucky draw. It makes sense that the Skrulls would want to get close to Darwin, though. That's pretty much an ideal capture for them, I'd think. 7/10

 

[Darthphere]

The way I see it

Spoiler

Warren will be able to change into Archangel at will after this arc.

I could very well be wrong, but that's the impression that I get.

That was my theory as well.

 

[Marcdachamp]

How did I double post? Oh well.

 

[SouLeSS]

I should clarify. The art on X-Factor as a whole wasn't too bad. But giving everyone the same neutral face on every single panel is just stupid and bad. Reminded me of things I used to draw where most of it was decently detailed and I'd just lob some stupid looking neutral samefaceforeveryone until my buddy would add the face/head.

 

[Marcdachamp]

I should clarify. The art on X-Factor as a whole wasn't too bad. But giving everyone the same neutral face on every single panel is just stupid and bad. Reminded me of things I used to draw where most of it was decently detailed and I'd just lob some stupid looking neutral samefaceforeveryone until my buddy would add the face/head.

I didn't really see that, but that's just me.

 

[Red]

You know as much as I like Captain America I really wish Bru would finish Sharons sub-plot, its becoming really frustrating. It's like one step forward and then two steps back every issue.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The miniseries is meant for Beechen to literally fix his past mistakes, marketed with the idea that if you didn't like what he did to Batgirl, then you should read the book because what he did to Batgirl is going to be undone, by the same writer who now supposedly cops to the blame.

It's really not comparable to anything Bendis has done yet. A better comparison is if Bendis just one day, out of the blue, says "Hey I realize that I wrote Wanda really badly in Avengers Disassembled. So now I'm going to write a story that undoes and explains away the badness." That kind of book would be directed specifically at people who didn't like what he did before, with the assumption that at least it wouldn't be more of the same. If you read the book and it is more of the same (Avengers Disassembled 2: Wanda goes crazier!*), then at least you get the righteous indignation of being tricked by a book's premise...instead of having gotten a book knowing full well that you weren't going to like it.


*otherwise known as House of M

Yeah, that. I was ambivalent about buying it at first specifically because I figured it'd just be more of the same from Beechen, but then I saw what the whole thing was about and figured I ought to at least see how it was. Basically, I figured it'd be even more stupid to not give Beechen a fair shot at undoing the mess he created with Batgirl after he came out and admitted he f***ed up. I'd give him an arc normally, but since this is just a mini-series, I'll just get the whole mini unless it becomes unbearably bad and I drop it halfway through (a rarity for me with minis).

 

[Blader5489]

You know as much as I like Captain America I really wish Bru would finish Sharons sub-plot, its becoming really frustrating. It's like one step forward and then two steps back every issue.

There's only two issues left of this whole story, so you'll get your ending soon enough.