No I read it dude. I disagree with like everything you said, but I read it.
Fair enough. I imagine you're in the "everyone knew it was happening, suck it up and enjoy the ride" camp like
Corp. I understand that camp but I'm just not there, not yet anyway.
I do think Brubaker is executing a bad idea well. But it still is a bad idea, and I can't get past it, at least not yet. Not completely.
Bought/Thought for 7/1/09, Part III:
DESTROYER #4: Still hasn't gotten around to telling Destroyer's origin for those not in the know, but at this point I am not sure if that matters. Kirkman has created enough of a world and cast for his title hero that may not matter to the readers of this. Usually Marvel MAX titles see abysmal sales even for $4 books, but DESTROYER is selling over 14k, which isn't far from where INVINCIBLE sells for Image, which isn't bad. Apparently Robert Kirkman's steady audience is about 15-20k, or about where Chris Claremont sells now. Fine for Image or Marvel MAX.
The series faced a problem last month, eliminating the elderly Destroyer's main villain, the generically named "Scar", but continues along. Destroyer's daughter Felicia will survive, and her husband, Turret, after having retired as a superhero for some eight years to marry her, has now gotten a new taste for the life. Despite his heart now seeming to hiccup every mission, Keene hasn't died yet, so when his superior tells him that the token terrorist group HORDE is centrally located for once, he hops out of bed to stop them. Despite being armed with a new laser canon, it is Turret's unexpected arrival that saves the mission and defeats the Horde's monster of a boss. Marlow is now in awe of Turret's might and considered having convinced him to quit for so long to avoid repeating his own guilt over what he puts his own wife through "his greatest mistake".
This mini has basically been an "old hero's last story" kind of thing, only littered with Kirkman's style of superhero banter mixed in with incredible amounts of gore. This issue has a lot but it's nothing compared to prior issues. It's not the best from Kirkman nor is it the most imaginative story ever, but it doesn't think it is more than it is, and satisfies as another Kirkman superhero romp, similar to how CAPES and TECH-JACKET worked for themselves. Corey Walker's art is quite good; he's improved greatly since he co-created INVINCIBLE five years ago to be honest, and he works well alongside Kirkman. I still am very curious if Walker and Kirkman deliberately intended to have the 80-something year old Keene Marlow look like a dead ringer for John McCain, or if old guys just look the same after a while. At any rate, a little mini that knows what it does and does it well. This may not become a classic, but it could be a little cult fave for some and I am curious how the last issue will go. A better work to end Kirkman's Marvel era than ULTIMATE X-MEN.
FANTASTIC FOUR #568: A run that even Marvel wants to end, as they're doing everything possible to make sure it ships on time. Whether that means attaching a co-writer for Millar, or getting Hitch some help on pencils, whatever it seems to take to make sure Hickman's run starts right on schedule. I'm sure there are some who would see that as some sign that professionalism at Marvel is returning. Don't be fooled. If this was a run like Whedon and Cassaday on ASTONISHING X-MEN, a run that averaged over 90k sales no matter what or when issues came out, Hitch wouldn't be on REBORN and if he was, Marvel could let FF slip 700 months behind schedule for all they cared. It it only because Millar and Hitch have underperformed sales wise, sales that stand at 46.5k sales in May (basically, outsold by CABLE, POWER GIRL #1, DEADPOOL, and even NEW MUTANTS #1, as well as McDuffie's last gasps on JLA) that Marvel has declared this run a bit of a failure and is eager for some new blood on the book. Marvel's about as shallow as a $20 ****e in this regard. Look at the shipping loop-de-loops Marvel pulled for Millar's OLD MAN LOGAN that ran late but was still selling over 75k an issue. So that is why the hack from FANTASTIC FORCE (whose sales have been dire, even for a mini) is co-writing the issue, although I hardly noticed any shift in theme.
I must say it is interesting to see Hitch draw two books this month for two different writers, since he also drew REBORN #1. Brubaker has a different script style, at times giving Hitch, gasp, some 6-8 panels a page to draw. Millar, though, usually sticks to four or less for Hitch, relying a lot on splashes and double page spreads. Not quite to the level of Loeb on HULK, which is almost a poster book some issues, but still noticeable.
I sometimes have criticized this run for being pretentious. This issue takes it up a notch. I almost feel as if Millar expects us to read it with gloves on, it takes itself so importantly. The irony of course is that like the McDuffie run, any changes have been superficial and all but ignored by subsequent writers. Like McDuffie, he has relied on Maguffin hooks like alternate realities that don't count and time travel that leads to nowhere. Just McDuffie's run wasn't as self important. Of course, this is coming from a guy who brags that KICK-ASS outsells AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, even when it hasn't.
In this issue, Thing and "The Shoehorned Random Love Interest That Walks Like A Woman" (known on Earth-616 as "Debbie from Brooklyn") try to have some human beats with Thing apologizing for scaring Debbie by smashing onto the set of her ex-boyfriend on TV and crying over the idea of their engagement breaking off. He then subsequently smashes through her wall and tears up the street to stop some hecklers from calling him dangerous. I guess we call that "The Hank Pym School of Provin' Them Wrong". My problem with Debbie is the same now as it was before, despite a few great panels. I don't buy her as a character, or her romance with Ben. She's come out of nowhere. Her only hook is "being normal" and is frankly uninteresting. Rather than try to build the idea of Ben falling for a woman as hard as he did for Alicia to the point of wanting to marry her (even after Dan Slott reunited them years ago in THE THING, that everyone ignored after MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #1, but Hickman recalled in DARK REIGN: FF #1) realistically and competently, Millar has shoved them together and tried to play it as fast hot love, but that doesn't work. It feels more forced than slow motion in a John Woo film. It feels like a stage direction from a script, which doesn't fly. Debbie will likely be gone after next issue, and not a soul will miss her.
Having gotten to "own" Dr. Doom and lambaste him last issue, as well as blow up Latvernia (which I wonder how that will fly with THOR and all, a book that sells over 75k that Marvel cares about a lot more), the Marquis of Death, or Milkshake of Apocalypse, or whatever the fork his name is, launches his attack on the Four. Of course, he is TEH AWESOMZ and he completely schools them with waves of his hands and a lot of talking smarmy-ness; maybe he's Bendis from another reality. He's actually Clyde Wyncham from 1985 and OLD MAN LOGAN, a character Millar has trucked around from three completely unrelated works and fully expects you to have read them all and agreed with how great it is, because Millar's awesome that way. Right? Eh, no. To me it just feels forced, a guy screaming about how cool he is rather than simply being cool. But hasn't that been Millar for years? I used Google.
Via the nature of time warps, I figure his "apprentice" is a young Dr. Doom at this rate, who gets in some shots when Muppet of Destruction is busy chewing Richards out for this and that and overselling himself. The issue ends with Reed being attacked by his family, and the Baxtor building being swarmed with alternate reality versions of themselves. I found myself being both completely confused and totally not caring to understand it. I never thought such reactions could co-exist.
I'll be honest; this title would be dumped if I wasn't interested in Hickman's run, but his ideas, or peaks at ideas, from his DARK REIGN mini have convinced me to at least hive him an arc or two on the main FF title before judging him harshly. So it's just wincing for one last Millar issue. To be honest, this hasn't been Millar's worst; it's not crass, and it isn't full of Socialist propaganda, but it manages the feat of taking itself of the utmost importance while being completely meaningless. It's only lasting contribution was a spin-off mini that is DOA, and maybe reminding people who Alyssa Moy was.
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #15: Proving why ex-girlfriends can be psycho for anyone. After mocking Lanchester Sneed/Shockwave for failing to kill Iron Man for him, Osborn has sent Madame Masque, the star of Stark's personal "SO I ALMOST MARRIED A VENGEFUL MAFIA DAUGHTER" film, to finish him off. The problem though is that all ex's have unfinished business that sometimes distracts from a task at hand, whether picking up a cell phone or professional assassins. Makes for great drama, though. And to be fair, Osborn is a guy who thinks sending Venom to fight Human Torch is a brilliant idea.
Some dislike Larroca's art, and he does rely a bit on D'Armata's colors, but he'd drawn every issue of this run so far, now bordering on a year and a half. That's an awful long time for an artist to collaborate on a book without at least one fill in issue or massive latenesses these days. It's worth appreciating.
WORLD'S MOST WANTED has now ballooned to 8 chapters, excessive by any era, and while some of those chapters felt a bit filler, this one doesn't. Maria Hill tracks down Black Widow and tries to convince her to work with her despite now having a rep for having "snapped" around the grid. Meanwhile, Stark and Pepper reunite in Russia, where Masque decides to take out a pound of flesh from Iron Man, taking Potts hostage and wanting to settle business about how he felt about her. Through all this Stark is now rapidly losing his memory as well as his intelligence, reduced to writing notes for himself or not being appalled at the idea of a mundane life.
It takes a hero to inflict brain damage on himself to protect his superhero buddies from a monster like Osborn. I suppose it reads a little like FLOWERS FOR IRON MAN seeing Stark at a different angle, without most of the attributes people relate with him. On the other hand, there are moments where I think Fraction risks taking it too far. Characters have well known and worn traits for a reason. They usually work to keep them distinctive. That said, it was interesting to have Stark of all people having to go through a "I am losing my powers" story. It also explains why Stark has been rapidly falling for Potts; he's literally forgotten Happy Hogan, his former best friend.
Masque comes in and easily steals the issue with her manner. It comes across that she's really too good for Hood and one wonders why she is even with him. Rebounds can be a bear for anyone I guess. She used to date captains of industry who could build a nuke in a bathroom with scraps; now she's dating a slave to a demon's bedsheet. I suppose it's realistic that she'd then want to get something out of Stark. Whitney used to rely on "bio-duplicates" of herself, at least to explain away some death's (such a rare thing for Marvel), so I wonder if this could be one. I thought some of the scenes with Potts, Stark, and Masque were entertaining.
The bit with Hill and Widow was fine, although a part of me was wondering why Widow would find it so hard to believe that Hill would have some vital data that Barnes could use. It read a little as Fraction needing to extend the scene a few pages and add a chase, so he stretched a bit to do so. The bit with the woman calling HAMMER was funny, though. But for a storyline that has already been stretched eight issues and counting, I am not sure decompressing pages of material here and there is needed. Fraction has collaborated with Brubaker in the past (IMMORTAL IRON FIST) and like him he often likes to do very long term stories that stretch a while but try to give you enough every issue where it feels worthwhile. He hasn't succeeded with every issue of IRON MAN so far, but he's running well with DARK REIGN and I solidly enjoyed the issue.
