BOUGHT/THOUGHT July 25th

[TheCorpulent1]

I would melt.

 

[PhotoJones]

Darthphere's got a crush on James Marsden.

Well, he's got a 50/50 shot of James returning the feelings.

 

[BrianWilly]

I saw James Marsden making out with Scott Speedman.

Well, in a movie. Lucky little *****.

I'm done. I'm just done.

 

[PhotoJones]

I saw James Marsden making out with Scott Speedman.

Well, in a movie. Lucky little *****.

I'm done. I'm just done.

I saw James Marsden making out with my buddy. From across the table.

 

[BrianWilly]

Lucky little *****.

 

[PhotoJones]

Lucky little *****.

I know.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Were you desperately hoping nobody would notice what your hands were doing under the table?

 

[Eros]

Jimmy Marsden is married with a kid.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Have you ever heard the term "beard"?

 

[Eros]

Have you ever heard the term "beard"?

okay.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Some gay guys get married and have kids without really realizing they're gay or repressing it or to keep up appearances or whatever. Their wives are called beards.

 

[Eros]

Some gay guys get married and have kids without really realizing they're gay or repressing it or to keep up appearances or whatever. Their wives are called beards.

And some "gay" guys who get married and have kids are not really "gay" at all.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Uh... yeah? I'm talking about the ones who are.

Plus, it was a joke, which you've now totally ruined.

 

[Eros]

Uh... yeah? I'm talking about the ones who are.

Plus, it was a joke, which you've now totally ruined.

Mission accomplished.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't believe you're that diabolical.

 

[Dread]

Aw, I think those letters are funny. Kirkman must think so, too considering they're, you know...printed in his book.



There's a world of difference between being publicly beaten in Hell's Kitchen, and getting a prison beatdown in front of all of your prisonery peers. That's outright humiliation, dude. Especially when the Kingpin literally invited Peter to show, thinking he would be the one doing the beating.

He's been beaten before, but not like that.

I'm sure Kirkman finds them funny as well. I do wonder how many letters he has to choose from every month, though. His audience is around 15,000 readers and I'm sure they don't all write.

As for the ASM thing, yes I understand the circumstances. I was just noting how Kingpin's been beaten down and left for dead several times before, but he always bounces back and gets some clout back. Especially since, y'know, we know Daredevil gets Fisk out of prison and off to Europe, where he quickly does a U-Turn to hassle the Runaways. Continuity can be murder.

I wasn't saying I didn't like it. I do. I mean Peter's become borderline sociopathic with May being killed, but he's gotten incredibly violent in the past with lost loved ones. He nearly killed Norman after Gwen died, especially RIGHT after (when a bridge cable essentially stopped Spidey from pummeling Gobby to death on his glider). Then after Jean DeWolfe bit it and Betty was nearly next, Daredevil has to literally stop Spidey from killing Sin-Eater (and Spidey STILL delivered a beating so brutal that Sin-Eater was left with nerve damage; he'd later die in a police shootout). Behind the goofy jokes is someone who can and has snapped when his friends or family got hurt. Which happens fairly often.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

BOUGHT:
THE 99 SPECIAL
ALL NEW OFFICIAL HANDBOOK UPDATE #3
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #542*
ANNIHILATION CONQUEST STAR LORD #1*
BIZARRE NEW WORLD #2
BLACK PANTHER #29
BLACK SUMMER #1*
BLUE BEETLE #17
BUFFY #5*
CABLE DEADPOOL #43
COUNTDOWN #40*
DANGER ACE #0
FANTASTIC FIVE #2
GAMEKEEPER #1-3
GREEN ARROW YEAR ONE #2*
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #14*
HEROES FOR HIRE #12
INCREDIBLE HULK #108*
INVINCIBLE #44*
IRON MAN #20
MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #3
MIGHTY AVENGERS #4*
ONSLAUGHT REBORN #4
RED SONJA #24
SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #39
SHEENA #2
SILVER SURFER REQUIEM #3*
SKY PIRATES #0
SUBCULTURE #1
SUPERGIRL AND LOSH #32*
TEEN TITANS #49
TRANSLUCENT #0
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #44*
VOODOO CHILD #1
WHITE PICKET FENCES #1-2
WOLVERINE #55*
WONDER WOMAN #11
X-MEN FIRST CLASS #2

THOUGHT:
THE 99 SPECIAL
To protect ancient knowledge from destruction at the hands of invaders, wise men found a way to transcribe all the tomes into 99 gems. Along with the knowledge, they possess the power to grant a person with incredible power; and now the race is on to turn the world into a utopia, or to rule it. This is one way to entice readers to check out your new series; by presenting an entire, completed issue FOR FREE. By Naif Al-Mutawa & Fabian Nicieza with art by John McCrea and Jason Dennis, this issue crafts an interesting story that shows a lot of promise. We get a fairly familiar start to a new superhero epic, but the writing keeps it from being anything but stale, especially with the massive use of history. And the artwork is very good, creating a well-rounded book. If you see this at your shop, pick it up. You can’t beat the price, and if you like what you see, there will soon be more to come.

5 out of 5

ALL NEW OFFICIAL HANDBOOK UPDATE #3
More updates on some of your favorite characters! Now, you’ll only be SLIGHTLY outdated on their goings on.

5 out of 5

BLACK PANTHER #29
It’s the Fantastic Four vs. The Skrulls vs. the Marvel Zombies! This issue was an improvement over the, well, entire series. The dark humor of the Zombies was able to be captured a bit better, but the feel nowhere near matches what Kirkman and company created. Panther and Storm still come off as an interchangeable Reed and Sue; if you swapped them out you would never notice the difference, except maybe when they tried to have Panther meet Panther. The ending was also unexpected and a nice twist which gives a lot of hope to the next issue. Hopefully, the series doesn’t return to form and ends up disappointing.

3 out of 5

BLUE BEETLE #17
Typhoon is attacking the Mexican Coast, and Beetle finds himself grossly outmatched! It’s taken 17 issues, but this series has FINALLY started to find its stride. This was truly the most enjoyable issue yet, giving us some classic super heroics while showing Jaime is starting to evolve into a real hero. The unexpected cameo was also a nice touch, and quite amusing. If you stuck with this series, hopefully you’ve enjoyed this as well. If you gave up on it, keep an eye on it because it looks like things might be turning around.

4 out of 5

CABLE DEADPOOL #43
In the wake of Cable’s death, Deadpool begins his life trying to do the right thing by doing a job for…Cyclops! The innuendo in this story was just…hilarious! Pure hilarity abounds. Wolverine is also written a lot closer to the classic Wolverine. It’s amazing how so many writers NOT doing a core X-book can get Wolverine right, but the guys who get to handle him regularly can’t. It was nicely rounded out by the art of Ron Lim this time around, a great old-school artist perfect for this kind of thing. The only negative part was Cyclops’ reaction to Cable’s death, which seemed a little hollow. This was a guy who spends months moping over Jean every time she dies, but his own son? Nothing? Scott…c’mon, buddy! Work with us here!

4 out of 5

FANTASTIC FIVE #2
Doctor Doom is back, but can the Fantastic Five hope to defeat him as he wields the power cosmic?! Another great old-school installment from the MC2 universe. This has everything you could ever want in a Fantastic Four comic. Plus, we finally learn the secret behind Thing’s mechanical implants which has surely been a question on many of the MC2 fans’ minds. Tom DeFalco and Ron Lim never fail to deliver.

5 out of 5

HEROES FOR HIRE #12
Humbug finally reveals the purpose of the Heroes’ mission just in time for them to face the Warbound! Humbug is getting mighty creepy. He’s nowhere near the character he was when this started. Zeb Wells is starting to get a feel for the characters and crafting an intriguing story out of this little corner of World War Hulk. Clay Mann’s pencils also looked a lot better this time around; however Takeshi Miyazawa’s cover, while good, felt a little out of place in the overall project. The tone of the piece just didn’t fit the rest of the story. Gonna be interesting to see what’s up with Humbug.

3.5 out of 5

IRON MAN #20
While Iron Man is the Hulk’s prisoner, SHIELD tries to decide what it’s going to do. This was a very good issue. Since Iron Man took over SHIELD, the stories have had a varying degree of satisfaction to them. This was the first truly satisfying story, logical in its approach and nicely handled. The only issue is the handling of Dugan; he’s been in command before, and in war, but this issue paints him as a little in over his head. A little out of character for an old war horse, but otherwise a good issue.

3.5 out of 5

MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #3
It’s machine vs. plant as the world needs to be saved from…PLANTMAN! A big improvement over the last two issues as a better story is told in this issue. The only things really missing are the humor moments, featuring only one towards the end although it was very good. A positive upswing for the series?

3 out of 5

ONSLAUGHT REBORN #4
The Avengers try to take on Onslaught while Loki and his cronies go after Franklin Richards. The purpose of this series has been completely lost in the story that makes no sense. There have been no explanations on how Onslaught returned, how the heroes still exist on Counter Earth, or what’s up with the sudden Hawkeye mystery. Unfortunately, as it’s Jeph Loeb writing this, all answers will be saved until the next issue. But that doesn’t help the enjoyment factor of the rest of the series in the least. That doesn’t even begin to count the groan-worthy movie and TV lines slipped into the character dialogue. See if you can spot them.

2 out of 5

RED SONJA #24
Sonja takes on mystical killer whales as her and her crew get ever closer to Kulan-Gaath. Kulan-Gaath…wow that plot line is taking forever to mature or bear fruit. He returned, was forgotten so Sonja could have other adventures, and now only appears in the last two or three pages of each issue. Pretty anti-climactic build-up to the ultimate confrontation readers are sure to be expecting. Also, Homs replaces Mel Rubi with this issue, and while the art was good it just doesn’t have the same kick as Rubi’s art. Overall, not much in the way of story lately to keep reader interest for too much longer.

2.5 out of 5

SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #39
Eddie Brock still has a little Venom left in him, and it may just claim the life of May Parker. This was a very good issue, and very well done. Having Crain on board to do the séance scenes was a very good touch, and Eddie’s ultimate choice was very fitting of the character he was becoming in his heyday. Sacasa had managed to bring this series around to something very good, just unfortunate once again he was put on a Marvel Knights book that ends up being cancelled. But for a guy who gets it, Sacasa is your man.

4 out of 5

SHEENA #2
The saga continues as Cardwell Enterprises tries to learn the secrets of Sheena. This issue was a bit of a disappointment after such a great set-up last issue. Sheena’s appeal was lost with the small reveal this issue to Kellerman. The biggest part of the story was to show just how morally bankrupt anyone associated with Cardwell actually is, or becomes. The story also dragged as it chose to focus on the origin of Cardwell’s assistant Laura rather than the main story at hand. The best part of the issue was Matt Merhoff’s artwork, even if Sheena comes off looking like the stereotypical jungle supermodel.

2 out of 5

TEEN TITANS #49
The Titans guard the train transferring the imprisoned women to a new facility as the Amazons decide to attack! This issue kind of dragged to fill itself out, going back and forth between the Amazons and Titans talking about Supergirl and Wonder Girl, and the whole focus was on the fight. Then the ending came and felt a bit rushed. Too much blame can’t be placed on Beechen for that, as he only had one more issue before the new creative team takes over the book to finish his story.

2.5 out of 5

WOLVERINE #55*
An end of an era, the start of something new? What in the hell happened here? This arc, this story, fundamentally made little sense. We’ve got a new big bad villain out there that will probably take forever to reveal with a new origin of sorts that will probably be retconned or forgotten about. While Loeb’s characterizations were terrific, the story as a whole just left an incredible amount to be desired. Let’s hope the next arc fares a bit better.

2 out of 5

WONDER WOMAN #11
Wonder Woman faces Athena! This issue was very bland. Amazons Attack has had a very negative impact on this title which was showing so much promise upon it’s re-launching. The only thing saving this book is the artistic talents that have been on it. Hopefully, once Gail Simone begins her run on it the book will be back on track and free of event influence.

2 out of 5

X-MEN FIRST CLASS #2
The first part of the first two-part story! This was a pretty good set-up issue, however the mystery reveal was a little obvious if the reader pays attention to the dialogue and what goes on in the book. But still, a fun old-school style read.

4 out of 5

 

[Tropico]

How weird to come here to find out stuff about comics and in the process, instead, I find out that Darth has gone bi. Huh. Who knew? Anyway, since there've been so many comments about the thought bubbles...I think Bendis is doing it intentionally. Kinda like, "You guys want to biatch about thought bubbles? Well, let's see what you say when I bring them back. With a vengeance!" And we get complaints about that. So, in the end we come out as the stereotype, again; nothing can be done to make us happy. So, why listen to us?

 

[Dread]

How weird to come here to find out stuff about comics and in the process, instead, I find out that Darth has gone bi. Huh. Who knew? Anyway, since there've been so many comments about the thought bubbles...I think Bendis is doing it intentionally. Kinda like, "You guys want to biatch about thought bubbles? Well, let's see what you say when I bring them back. With a vengeance!" And we get complaints about that. So, in the end we come out as the stereotype, again; nothing can be done to make us happy. So, why listen to us?

I actually do sense this sort of rationale. The key point, though, is when fans complain about something, that doesn't mean we wanted it done BADLY. I don't think anyone said, "Not only do we want thought balloons back, but we want them to be more random and obnoxious than ever!" Because otherwise it reminds me of a kid who takes forever to do what he's told, and then when he does it, he does a half-arsed job to get it over with and attempt never to be asked again.

Not that I deny many fans can't be pleased. Heck, this week I noted some ignorant ones regarding Invincible. The problem is that these extreme, hardcores seem to represent the majority, who may be critical but still rational. But it's easier to just deadpan all fans as being perennially unpleased no matter what.

That said, I actually thought the MA balloons weren't as bad as in some past issues.

 

[Tropico]

I actually do sense this sort of rationale. The key point, though, is when fans complain about something, that doesn't mean we wanted it done BADLY. I don't think anyone said, "Not only do we want thought balloons back, but we want them to be more random and obnoxious than ever!" Because otherwise it reminds me of a kid who takes forever to do what he's told, and then when he does it, he does a half-arsed job to get it over with and attempt never to be asked again.

Not that I deny many fans can't be pleased. Heck, this week I noted some ignorant ones regarding Invincible. The problem is that these extreme, hardcores seem to represent the majority, who may be critical but still rational. But it's easier to just deadpan all fans as being perennially unpleased no matter what.

That said, I actually thought the MA balloons weren't as bad as in some past issues.

I know some people that also get the same "vibe" from the way Bendis has been using thought bubbles, but I'm still glad to see someone else around here gets "it" too. After all, there was this big explosion when the announcements were made about thought bubbles and caption boxes. In a way, it DID seem to come out of nowhere when they took an official stance on it, everybody got up in arms. I mean, not even Bendis is that obnoxious; even in chains of speech bubbles between characters has it been that bad. Either it WAS always that bad and we didn't know because he had never "verbalized" it or it's something intentional.

 

[Darthphere]

How weird to come here to find out stuff about comics and in the process, instead, I find out that Darth has gone bi. Huh. Who knew?

I'm just experimenting.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Akward college years, Dodge?

 

[PWN3R]

I'm just experimenting.

I have been noticing you and your fascination with ******* lately.


Oh yes before I forget I actually really fell in love with Meltzer's JLA #11. It took me two readings but too bad the rest of his run wasn't this good.

 

[Tropico]

I'm just experimenting.

Yeah, that stuff all over Maddrox...didn't quite look like snow to me either.

 

[Anubis]

ASM # 542 - Spidey beat the crap outta Kingpin. Made some empty threats and that's about it. As far as him getting the cash for Aunt May, I think he's gonna go to Stark for the dough. Just say, it's your fault, you pay for it.

BP # 29 - Great ish. Like a second FF book. I'm beginning to think that maybe McDuffie ghost wrote this for Hudlin. If not, he's really, really improved.