Bought/Thought June 25th, 2008

[Doc Destruction]

I'm going to miss Ravager on TT. I think I'm her only fan

 

[fifthfiend]

You are correct.

 

[CaptainCanada]

I'm going to miss Ravager on TT. I think I'm her only fan

I like her quite a bit.

 

[gildea]

Because he goes out of his way to BE the issue.

Evidence?

And gildea, you are the worst poster ever. And my only proof is to have everyone else simply read your posts. That's all I need.

I doubt everyone would agree with you. Aren't you supposed to be a grown man?

 

[Darthphere]

I don't even agree with that.

 

[UK_Stu]

I want to say something about the planning for this event. I see a lot of comments about how there's no way that Bendis was planning this since Disassembled. And that could very well be the case. But I've seen no evidence that convinces me otherwise. My suspicion is that BMB set up the shadowy figure, and the rotten-eggs-at-SHIELD subplots as kind-of Mad-Libs. In other words, he knew he wanted to do something big, so set up a framework that something he comes up later could fit into. But I'm finding it just as likely that he came up with the idea 4,5, or 6 years ago. I have no problem with that. I mean, were not talking Stephen King planning the Roland Saga over 30 years here. For all Bendis' faults, he has shown that he'll stay on a title for a good long time. Time enough to develop a larger storyline (I won't call it an epic.) I see no reason why he couldn't go to JQ and say that he wants to develop a story over a few years.

I think a lot of people are ready to knee-jerk complain that BMB is going to use this to "fix" some of his mistakes (See, all you people complaining that Spider-Woman was flying, I knew what I was doing all along. Ha!) And I would say, Oh, so what? They're comics. If he comes up with a fun little explanation post-facto, that's fine with me.

Now, if and when BMB drops some Deus Ex Machina in our laps to end the whole story, I take all of that back. But so far, so good.

I like Dread's reviews and I agree with a lot of what he has to say, but I think you've hit the nail on the head here 'clones.

Bendis wanted to do an 'epic' event but hadn't decided on exactly what it would be, so left the mysteries and plots deliberately ambiguous, so when they did come up with the answer they could tie it in. It's not ideal I agree, but this could have come off a lot worse than it has done. This is probably why so many of BMB's early NA stories seemed quite tepid and unresolved. As I said these explanations could have come off a lot worse than they have done.

On a different note, what's everyone's feelings on the characters who have been replaced - are they dead? or alive in a bubble somewhere. Duggan appears to have been killed, does this mean we can assume the others have been too?

 

[fifthfiend]

I like her quite a bit.

Liar

 

[Doc Destruction]

I don't even agree with that.

That I am a grown man? Yeah, I don't agree with it either.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Young Avengers Presents: Kate Bishop (Whom I Will Never Call Hawkeye): Great spunky ball-hairs, this was good. Like, really good. Like, one of the best reads of a relatively meh-filled week for me. That's surprising, given the quality of the other issues. You know how people have been talking here and there about who could replace Heinberg on Young Avengers? Well, I was undecided before but sign me the hell up for Fraction now. He completely gets the dynamic of the team and seems to know the characters pretty well. I even liked the romantic subplot, and I almost always hate romantic subplots. My one very minor problem with the issue is that Fraction's dialogue sometimes gets so broken up by characters talking over each other that it ventures into Bendis territory; but unlike Bendis' schtick, it's not so pronounced here that it overwhelms the characters' individual voices. It's more of a minor irritant for like 3 panels, total. Other than that... Get Fraction, get a solid artist who can render teenagers well, have Hawkeye divide his time between the New Avengers and playing the advisor role he promised Kate in this issue, and I'd be all over it.

 

[Red]

Immortal Iron Fist #16 is now my favorite issue of the Bru/Fraction/Aja run.

 

[K4tzm4n]

Ultimates 3 #4: I really thought this series couldn't get any worse...Man was I wrong. A soild 4/10.

Ultimate Spider-Man #123: A surprisingly entertaining read with Venom as the main character. 8.5/10

Hulk #4: More dumb fun and I'm absolutely loving it. 9/10

Marvel 1985 #2: The effect of the characters in this world lost it's impact for most of the issue...That is up until th end. That aside it was still an enjyoable read and I'm excited for the next one. 9/10

Uncanny X-Men #499: Choi's artwork is beautiful...The other guy, not so much. An entertaining read, I was pleased to see Omega Red receive some credit. Amusing, but nothing special. 7.5/10

X-Men Legacy #213: Interesting how they've brought Sinister back. It's certainly better than a clone or anything along those lines...And I'm a Gambit fanboy, so that helps. 8/10

Thunderbolts #121: A great way for this creative team to leave. Every bit as good as #120, which was amazing. 9.5/10

Captain America #39: Do I even need to say it? Good as usual. 9/10

 

[Galact-Gal]

I like Dread's reviews and I agree with a lot of what he has to say, but I think you've hit the nail on the head here 'clones.

Bendis wanted to do an 'epic' event but hadn't decided on exactly what it would be, so left the mysteries and plots deliberately ambiguous, so when they did come up with the answer they could tie it in. It's not ideal I agree, but this could have come off a lot worse than it has done. This is probably why so many of BMB's early NA stories seemed quite tepid and unresolved. As I said these explanations could have come off a lot worse than they have done.

On a different note, what's everyone's feelings on the characters who have been replaced - are they dead? or alive in a bubble somewhere. Duggan appears to have been killed, does this mean we can assume the others have been too?

I think at least some of them are still alive. In the most recent issue of SI, we're supposed to think that that's really Mockingbird that came off the Skrull ship with all the other 'heroes'. Also, in the current New Avengers, when Skrullojacket contacts the Queen about the Avengers/X-Men going to Genosha after Wanda, the Queen tells him to kill Wanda. She says something about having him pretend to snap (because Wanda killed some of Hank's friends) and kill Witchie, and then they would "Switch him out". I took that to mean that the real Hank (suitably brainwashed) would be returned to take the fall, while Skrullojacket would get away scot free.

 

[Dread]

Uh, those are separate issues.

One retcons a bunch of stuff by other writers.

Another is a writer shining a different light on his own work, whether or not you believe he had it in mind from the start.

Which I don't.

A retcon can still render past stories worthless. Whether they were written by the same guy or not is rather irrelevant. George Lucas essentially did some stuff like this with his prequels, and he lost a few fans in the process.

Which is exactly why he said he canned the Spider-Woman ongoing.

True, but that wasn't canned in 2004.

Re: Fantastic Four 558, I didn't think it was possible to fit every single awful new-villain cliche into one book. It's like a paint-by-numbers except Millar left all the numbers visible.

When I was typing the review for FF #558, I found myself coming down harder on it than I imagined. I'm glad I wasn't the only one.

Uh, wasn't the shadowy figure who hired Electro revealed way back as one of the Savage Land people? I forgot his name but he hired Electro to break out their leader, because a SHIELD faction (now revealed to be Skrulls) was stripping the land.

I think they basically revealed that Electro was hired by the Savage Land mutates to free Sauron, and the rest was a bonus. But, of course, Bendis retcons himself and now it is all Skrulls.

Another episode in our occasional series where I ask if you've any actual proof of this? And wonder why you can't comment on the issue without commenting on the man?

Aside for Mark Millar, no one comes off as smarmier or more smarter-than-thou at Marvel than Bendis, least in terms of writers. I hear he is friendly at cons, but he clearly is uncomfortable with the social situation. Every single time anyone has ever brought up any criticism of his work on a forum, what is his reaction? He basically says you didn't read it right. Even Joss Whedon, a guy who has every reason to be full of himself, admitted that "DANGER" was chock full of flaws and "wasn't his best".

Whenever Bendis makes some error in a story, what happens? The buck is passed to an artist, or an editor.

Since we're talking about the skrulls, it really doesn't matter who he was. It's like saying, "Which mask did the bank robber use, Reagan or Carter?"

I want to say something about the planning for this event. I see a lot of comments about how there's no way that Bendis was planning this since Disassembled. And that could very well be the case. But I've seen no evidence that convinces me otherwise. My suspicion is that BMB set up the shadowy figure, and the rotten-eggs-at-SHIELD subplots as kind-of Mad-Libs. In other words, he knew he wanted to do something big, so set up a framework that something he comes up later could fit into. But I'm finding it just as likely that he came up with the idea 4,5, or 6 years ago. I have no problem with that. I mean, were not talking Stephen King planning the Roland Saga over 30 years here. For all Bendis' faults, he has shown that he'll stay on a title for a good long time. Time enough to develop a larger storyline (I won't call it an epic.) I see no reason why he couldn't go to JQ and say that he wants to develop a story over a few years.

I complain about Bendis when he deserves it, but I think, so far, SI has been good. Better than HoM. Less character-mangling than CW. And less "action-movie" than WWH. And I liked all of those (in reverse order.) In fact, this might be the one time that I'm enjoying the tie-ins more than the event.

I think a lot of people are ready to knee-jerk complain that BMB is going to use this to "fix" some of his mistakes (See, all you people complaining that Spider-Woman was flying, I knew what I was doing all along. Ha!) And I would say, Oh, so what? They're comics. If he comes up with a fun little explanation post-facto, that's fine with me.

Now, if and when BMB drops some Deus Ex Machina in our laps to end the whole story, I take all of that back. But so far, so good.

So far I liked CW and WWH more at this stage, despite their flaws. What matters at least is that this is a major improvement from HOM; granted, it has gotten more build-up, so it should be. I am patiently waiting for SI to go off the rails, as all Bendis arcs beyond 6 issues, or at 6 issues, do. Aside for DAREDEVIL, which was more his niche.

I do concur that the tie-in's for SI have been much enjoyable. Granted, hasn't it already been proven that other writers have an easier time, as if by magic, of making some of Bendis' wiggy ideas readable? Hence why I have been saying for years that as an editor, Bendis would probably be great. But he doesn't want the gig.

See, I'm perfectly fine with Bendis leaving things loose, being uncommitted to one particular story, and then coming back some year or two later with the Skrull idea and connecting dots. That's perfect. That's human.

But the first interview from Newsarama and Bendis goes on about having planned this since he first writing Avengers in 2004, and THAT I cannot buy. There are so many traces of backpedal writing.

I am not liking the treatment of the best damn villain in the history of comics...first Bendis has Doom's a** handed to him by the Mighty Avengers...then Millar has him SCARED....of a bunch of new characters that can torture his mind...this story better end with Doom dominating everything...and taking back his country, and show the MU just why you should fear the name DOOM!

I know this is suppose to lead to some revelation about some epic character that Doom knows or something...yeah Doom being scared of something....yeah right...Waid did it right...when Doom was in Hell...the demons were torturing him and they said "Cry, beg for our master, Mephisto"....Doom whimpering yet in defiance says "Co...rec.tion...temp..temporary master" Perfect...

Yeah, I am not liking Doom's wimptastic turn these last few months either. And guess who sparked it? Bendis.

Bendis wanted to do an 'epic' event but hadn't decided on exactly what it would be, so left the mysteries and plots deliberately ambiguous, so when they did come up with the answer they could tie it in. It's not ideal I agree, but this could have come off a lot worse than it has done. This is probably why so many of BMB's early NA stories seemed quite tepid and unresolved. As I said these explanations could have come off a lot worse than they have done.

On a different note, what's everyone's feelings on the characters who have been replaced - are they dead? or alive in a bubble somewhere. Duggan appears to have been killed, does this mean we can assume the others have been too?

Again, I would see no problem with Bendis if he acknowledged that he left things loose and came up with this later. It is kind of like there are usually two different types of sports announcers; those who make an error on air and pretend you didn't notice, or those that acknowledge your intelligence and apologize for it. The latter come off as human, the former as arrogant hacks. Comic writers are much the same way. It is how Robert Kirkman, in his letters pages, admits blatant errors or mistakes when his readers call them. It makes him seem human. Bendis almost never does that. If he has, it hasn't been since he became "hot ****" in 2004.

But Bendis is selling the idea that he has been planning this for over 4 years, since his first drafts on AVENGERS tearing them apart, and that is nonsense on stilts.

Even Brubaker, who has clearly been planning long-term on CA, had to rethink and reshuffle when CIVIL WAR came down the pipeline, and admitted as much. Did anyone hate him for admitting that? No.

As for the fate of whoever the Skrulls have taken over, I don't know. I am fully certain that Jessica Drew is alive in a tube somewhere, because Bendis doesn't have the stones to kill a character he clearly loves and worked hard for years to bring back into the mainstream (one of the few good points about Bendis; if he wants to "mainstream" a character, they get mainstreamed). Any other character who isn't Ms. Drew, your odds are about 50/50. It isn't like any editor is going to demand who Bendis can't kill. Only Joe Q could tell Bendis "No" at this point, and he's sipped the BMB Kool-Aid years ago. Bendis is Marvel's Money-Train, and no one wants to risk slowing it.

 

[iloveclones]

If JQ were interested in making some serious bank (as if they weren't dominating already...), he would just lock Bendis in a room and say, "Generate some ideas!" and then pass them off to Bru, Kirkman, Slott, McDuffie et al. That, I'd like to see!

 

[Dread]

If JQ were interested in making some serious bank (as if they weren't dominating already...), he would just lock Bendis in a room and say, "Generate some ideas!" and then pass them off to Bru, Kirkman, Slott, McDuffie et al. That, I'd like to see!

Yeah, I wouldn't mind that. I've never said Bendis didn't have ideas. His biggest issue is always the execution.

 

[BrianWilly]

I, uh, agree with Dread. Bendis pulls the same tricks over and over and people just keep falling for it. I mean, c'mon, responses like "I've seen no evidence that convinces me otherwise" just have me rolling my eyes up the wazoo. It's just...come on. Has everyone already forgotten that the whole "Jessica can fly" issue was in itself an explanation/retcon for prior stories? And now we're changing that, so basically Bendis has explained away an explanation that was originally meant to explain something else. And somehow he's planned it all from day one, right in front of our eyes. WOW!



And you're right, it shouldn't be a big deal...and it wouldn't be a big deal if Bendis had went ahead and said, "Yeah, I thought of this Skrull invasion and tied it back to my Avengers stories." The end, yay, good job, especially considering that these new stories aren't actually too bad at all. Instead he's trying to pass the whole thing off as this super mysterious schemey conspiracy that he's masterfully masterminded in plain sight and it's just, come on. Who do you think you're fooling? Well, apparently, a lot of people..

 

[Anubis]

bought Daredevil #108

Hope it came out this week, if not, f**k you, I just got it.

Good issue. real law and Order stuff. Don't know what the hell is going on, but it's good to see Matt doing some lawyering work. Trying to dig up just who really offed a buncha kids instead of the guy who confessed to it.

 

[Doc Destruction]

If JQ were interested in making some serious bank (as if they weren't dominating already...), he would just lock Bendis in a room and say, "Generate some ideas!" and then pass them off to Bru, Kirkman, Slott, McDuffie et al. That, I'd like to see!

I would LOVE that.

 

[Dread]

The rest of this week's books which are "the junior division":

NEW WARRIORS #13: The battle against Machinesmith ends for our quirky band of former X-Men, but the war to figure out exactly what Night-Thrasher's motives are is still a mystery. Much like his deceased brother, Donyell is still the type to manipulate the team to do what he wants, although in some ways may be overdoing his brother. I don't recall Dwayne outright lying about the threat level of the villains he was after just because he wanted to raid their weapons cache, but I could be wrong. Perhaps once a thief, always a thief, for Bandit.

Just when things seem hopless for the New Warriors left behind in Machinesmith's lair, Night-Thrasher leads the cavalry, clad in a sort of "Hulkbuster" version of his NT armor, and allowing Grace, Kaz, and Aja to control three robot bodies (of Iron Man, Nimrod, and Destroyer) to aid in the fight and upload a virus into Machinesmith's systems. While the New Warriors save their own without any casualties and hand the android menace a stunning defeat, the "virus" that Thrasher claimed he had never existed. This once again forces Jubilee to call him on his manipulation, and this time more of her teammates are starting to agree with her that Thrash's motives are anything but shifty.

Once again, I am really liking Jubilee/Wondra here. While the shift from mutant to depowered mutant-in-super-tech as a hero(ine) hasn't worked for all of these characters, for Jubes it really has. When NW inevitably ends, I hope other writers carry on with her along the vein Grevioux has started. I actually don't mind the whole premise; one of the niggles of A:TI is explaining why all of these heroes we never heard about before could come out of the woodwork if no (or few) new mutants are being born. This book doesn't have that because their whole cast (virtually) are depowered mutants and former X-Men. Sure, some characters are lost in the shuffle, but in a team book with some 10 members, that happens.

The biggest niggle is the pace; we've known that Night-Thrasher had shifty motives for a good 7 issues now, and nothing has changed. Sales are low and I get the feeling the next arc may be the last, so hopefully Grevioux has a resolution in hand. Medina's art is as cool as ever and I can't wait to see the upcoming confrontation between the NW's and Counter-Force (which are founded by the Old New Warriors). I know this book has lost a few readers, and while I'm not as jazzed about it as I was in the beginning, I still enjoy it and want to see where the direction leads.

RUNAWAYS #30: The first issue of the Whedon/Ryan run on this book shipped in April, 2007. Yes, that means it has been 14 months to provide 6 issues worth of stories; late even if it was on a bimonthly schedule, which it wasn't. The first two issues shipped on time and the the remaining four adopted a "whenever the hell it is ready" schedule. Supporters of Whedon defend him by going that his scripts were always on time. Fair enough. But this now marks the second Marvel project he has been on where he has chosen to pair himself with an artist who CLEARLY cannot handle a monthly schedule. Whedon chooses which artists he collaborates with, so he bares some responsibility for the sluggish rate of his issues. BUFFY issues are never this late, because clearly he puts more care into the creative team there. Marvel's just the weekend gig. Whedon says he cares, but he really doesn't. Actions and results are what matter in the real world, outside Hollywood or Politics, and despite his talent, Whedon simply doesn't get it.

Of course, RUNAWAYS fans know that a good chunk of the audience just reads the digests, and will only care about the finished work. So, how does it read as a whole? Besides more cool covers?

Frankly, it has been so long between issues that even though I re-read some of them about 1-2 months ago, I forgot a lot of the details. At the very least, Whedon improved his pace from AXM here. In that book, 1 issues worth of action would happen in about 3. RUNAWAYS is the reverse. Every issue is packed to the gills. Had Whedon planned this run in 2003, this would have been 12 issues. He's learned to tighten stuff up, which is good. The problem is that this story was so full of new characters from 1907 that the Runaways themselves had to fight for space in their own book. The final issue is a slugfest of characters I barely recognize or care about amongst the few that I do. Molly has also become more annoying during this run. Chase was back to his Vol. 1 goofy self, but later issues smoothed him out, as he returned here with his Fistigons back. The kids naturally survive the street battle, defeat the Yorkes, and make it back to their own time. They bring Klara back with them 100 years into the future, and it turns out that Lillie had organized the whole thing because she wanted to try to reverse her fate. Her problem is, of course, her young self always declines Victor's offer.

One could argue it is a feat of arrogance to go through all the trouble to add yet ANOTHER annoying little girl to the team and then essentially leave her to the fate of future writers, but I digress. Klara is basically a one-joke character, even if she has some potential. "Oh, she isn't used to modern times! Ha ha!" Look, Whedon, quite a few movies and done that plotline via time travel, and it never is still funny after 90 minutes.

The final pages, detailing bits like Kingpin and the Punisher only remind one of how late the issue was. But it leaves the team with an extra member in the middle of Time's Square in time to fight the Skrull Invasion and run into the Young Avengers again. Basically, this was ideally read before RUNAWAYS/YOUNG AVENGERS #1. Ryan's art is as solid as ever, but is it worth waiting 3-4 months per issue? No. The idea of the Runaways going back in time and fighting a bunch of wonky characters is perfectly fine for the franchise, it simply stretched a bit too long and was too crammed with named faces. Am I seriously supposed to CARE that "kid with lucky stick" has the stick broken? If so, I don't. But in a way, this is Whedon's trick; write the most generic story in the universe, but add some spiffy one-liners and fool the audience into thinking it is deeper than it is. This worked on TV, because, well, it's TV. Whedon was a professed fan of RUNAWAYS and I feel with the characters themselves, he captured a lot of the heart that BKV did; not ALL of it, and not PERFECTLY, but more than some writers may have. He simply tried to do everything, and it was too much. BKV was able to balance the complicated and the simple well; Whedon, at least on this book, didn't so well. He wrote the run like a fanboy, and it showed; complete with a Mary Sue. And while that is better than a writer who has contempt for the franchise, like Bendis on the Avengers, it also has it's share of problems.

On the whole, I'd grade it a B-. It may have been a B if it was timelier, but B- fits anyway. It is an average premise, but Whedon works in some good, defining moments. They just don't all work as a precise whole.

It is wonky how my feelings on this title have changed. When BKV was on the book, this was my #1 from Marvel, ever since Vol. 2 started. But once he left, he took a lot of that lightening in the bottle with him. I don't think I can stomach Ramos art to give Terry Moore a chance, so the SI cash in mini with YA may be my last on the franchise. Still, it has been a great ride, and I truly hope Vaughn & Co. can get it to the big screen, and do it justice. It could really fly high. RUNAWAYS wouldn't be the only original franchise that lost luster without the original creative team; just look at HOWARD THE DUCK.

RUNAWAYS/YOUNG AVENGERS #1: Right off the bat, I like how this mini is only 3 parts. That means the writers aren't trying to bleed this longer than they could have, which is noteworthy. Granted, with the market the way it is, Marvel may be learning that not every thin premise can be stretched to an obligatory 5-6 issues for a $19 trade.

The mini has some talent from the solo RUNAWAYS book. Ryan provides the covers; Strain returns on colors, and Miyazawa was often Vaughan's go-to guy if he needed a 2 issue fill in to give Alphona a rest. The writer is Chris Yost, best known as one half of the writers killing off your favorite young X-Men in NXM for the past few years. But considering the premise of the book is, basically, "The Runaways and the Young Avengers both run into each other and fight Skrulls", he may be cool. One can sincerely doubt any character is going to die, but none did in the Wells/Caselli CW mini between these two, and that was enjoyable.

Most of the issue focuses on the RUNAWAYS, fresh off their trip through 1907 in their own title. They are giving Klara a tour of the city while Xavin acts a bit "imperialist Skrull" on them, demanding they be more than they are. The Skrulls attack, and Xavin seemingly turns on her team, TKO'ing all of them. Only Victor and Nico recover in time to break free from Xavin's capture, where Xavin pleads with them to flee for their lives. After a short scuffle, Victor & Nico oblige, loading their friends into the Leapfrog, but are unable to escape the super-Skrulls.

On the other side of the title, the YOUNG AVENGERS portion runs into some hassles because Bendis has actually covered some of this, and not too poorly, in his SECRET INVASION mini. The YA happened to be in Times Square when the Skrulls attack, and they fight them. Yost basically does likewise, adding in a moment where they are half-changed and leaping into action, and a bit in space where the new Skrull Queen's forces planned to assassinate Hulkling to eliminate the "prince" of the Skrull & Kree races to not cause confusion in her ranks. Considering she is a religious extremist and the Skrulls usually abolished a lot of mysticism, this makes some sense. Unfortunately, we know how some scenes are going to play out, and Yost reuses some lines. The YA can't handle the armada alone, but the Initiative comes in to help them. I imagine in #2, the Skrull mage will freeze the heroes and begin killing them one by one, starting with tearing Vision 2.0 in half and snapping Geldoff's neck. The extra bits involve Xavin trying to save Hulkling, which makes sense.

Miyazawa's art is hard to get used to; he uses the same face for almost every character so keeping them straight depends on clothes and colors. His Wiccan especially resembles Tetsuo from AKIRA, which is almost distracting. I've rarely seen the YA look so...skinny. Oh, and for come reason the "evil" Crusader is among the Initiative. The one dressed like a knight, who almost killed Spidey in NA #2. What the--?

The action at least gets started quickly, but this isn't high calliber entertainment for either franchises. It reads like an exercise in continuity and obligation, and that is alright. It isn't Eisner worthy, but it is entertaining enough. I don't demand all my comics be timeless works, and this one suffices. I am interested in the Runaways reactions to everything. Hopefully Chase gets to fry someone with his reclaimed Fistigons.

YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #6: Hope everyone isn't tired of the second YA product this week, because this is the better of the lot. Whiz kid Matt Fraction and timeless artist Alan Davis unite to tell a story with Hawkeye, a.k.a. Kate Bishop, and it easily is the best of the 6 issues since the first one with Brubaker & Medina. Fraction, if nothing else, has proven to be a writer who gets characters well, cares to snag continuity, and can make it all work out with sacrificing either for his stories.

Which means, of course, he will never actually write an event himself. That would make it good, and events aren't supposed to be good. They're supposed to sell. Sadly, much as with movies, the two often are mutually exclusive. Still, if INVINCIBLE IRON MAN can stay in the Top 25 a while, there is some room to hope.

Kate and Eli are trying to have a casual "non date date" via horse carriage in Central Park, when their horseman turns out to be Ronin. He challenges Kate to meet him at a certain address, which turns out to be the loft where Danny Rand is housing the New Avengers. Much as with Bucky as New Cap, it is apparently Clint Barton's job to approve of anyone who tries to take on an abandoned legacy right now. But this makes sense as Clint is one of those longtime Avengers who is almost synonymous with the team, so it works that he would want to defend the legacies of them. Especially since, of course, Kate Bishop is taking his name AND gimmick, and all Clint has is Echo's leftovers. Once again, we get a moment where Clint so obviously demonstrates how skilled he is with arrows that it only cements how ****ing ******ed it is that Bendis made him a ninja. It is like Dane Whitman proudly demonstrating how skilled he is with a broadsword before giving it up for nunchucks. But I digress.

Clint basically shows off his archery skills while trying to instill his motto to "take the shot", no matter how ridiculous the odds are, if you believe it is the right thing to do. When Kate balks, he bets her very bow (which was his) and the codename (which was also his). Clint wins, and Kate walks away in distress. Distraught back at the clubhouse, she ends up on a date with Speed, which I seriously didn't see coming. Most writers never capture the "casual dating" aspect of teenagers, usually just sticking two together like immortal lovers (ahem, Scott & Jean). Kate isn't as into Speed as she is Eli, but they have enough chemistry for casual smooching. Speed convinced Kate to not take things sitting down and to go back to the loft and steal "her" bow back. With a bit of prodding, she agrees, and does. Clint discovers the theft and pretty much gives his okay. The issue ends with Clint giving Kate his blessing and "including" her into the Avengers family. Cap tried to start that ball rolling before he was killed, and now Clint is taking over. Unlike Cap, of course, Clint started out as a rogue and earned his place as a hero, so it seems appropriate.

I especially liked the speech about how "the Avengers were here for them" and giving them permission to go out and be heroes, even, GASP, make mistakes. It has been a while since I read a hero not thinking anyone under 21 in a costume without a federal badge is a WALKING GENOCIDE like Stark and the Pro-SHRA heroes seem to feel. Clint, at the very least, can tell the difference between the exception and the rule, and the YA are the rule. There also are allusions to the Kooky Quartet, with Patriot, Kate, Speed, and Wiccan in for Cap, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch. This is a story that is rich in character and in connecting the past with the present.

I also second Fraction for a YA ongoing, but he may be too busy. And Marvel has a "stay the course" logic with poor decisions, and that includes waiting on Heinberg, especially since years of that have now sucked the YA's sales as a franchise.

The only niggle is the outfit Davis dresses Kate in when she goes clubbing; it would have looked garish in 1978, much less 2008. But aside from that, Davis art is solid art.

Out of the 5 teen superhero team books I bought this week, this was clearly the best one. Check it out!

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS #13: Jeff Parker is following a loose subplot now as Angel is still off the team, in his underground paradise. This causes the team to miss him in various ways, and Xavier to agree to a new kid hang at the Mansion for a while. However, the term "kid" is loose, for it is Machine Man.

Roger Cruz returns to art for the usual lighter-hearted story of the X-Men meeting X-51 and the clash in personalities. They eventually go out on a mission to fight Lava Men, which is continued next issue.

Not essential reading, but light hearted fun for a break. Like Ultimate, only not as bleak and pretentious.

WHAT IF THIS WAS THE FANTASTIC FOUR?: More of a tribute to Mike Wieringo than a one-shot, this is basically the last work he was doing when he suddenly died of heart issues. He had penciled 7 pages and Jeff Parker and a slew of other artists teamed up with him to finish the story, so that work wouldn't be wasted. The issue also bares the symbol of HERO.

In some ways it seems like a callous thing to nitpick the story premise of what is basically a tribute issue, but if the story seems familiar, it is. It was basically WHAT IF? #78, an issue I still own. The opening and a lot of the plot is amazingly similar; during the original adventure that paired Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, Hulk (still "Joe Fixit") and Wolverine, the original Four are killed. These leaves the ad-hoc assembly to carry on more out of guilt and obligation than genuine feelings. Dr. Doom, in both versions, takes things very poorly. They even encounter an alternate "Fearsome Four" In WI #78, it was Abomination, Lady Deathstrike, Paibok and Devos. In this issue, it is Abomination, Sandman, Sabretooth, and Venom, possessed demonically by Mephisto.

There is a continuity niggle as while Ghost Rider appears to be the Ketch version in costume and bike, 'Ringo clearly drew Johnny Blaze, who for many is the de-facto version. Jeff ran with it; it's a WHAT IF story after all. Add a tagline to the title, (AND WHAT IF JOHNNY BLAZE WAS NEVER BRIEFLY FREED OF THE GHOST RIDER?).

Despite these niggles, compared to WHAT IF #78, this is a better story all around with stronger art. Ben Grimm actually isn't killed in this version, but is depowered and leaves NYC to raise Franklin in peace. You also have more notable appearances by associate to the Four like She-Hulk and Captain America. The team bands together to fight Super-Skrull and eventually don Four-colored costumes that don't look too shabby. Mephisto posesses the Frightful Four and eventually Dr. Doom, but the team are able to weaken Mephisto enough for Doom to purge him from his body, and the demon seemingly dies. I liked how this story involved Ghost Rider's main enemy into the mix, as WI #87 all but ignored his mythos.

The last few pages are testimonials and tributes to Wieringo.

Besides the tribute, it is a fun story for a lark starring four characters who, at least 3/4ths of whom, are still incredibly popular right now. In terms of quality, WHAT IF: SPIDER-MAN VS. WOLVERINE a few months back was much better. Still, I again recommend chasing down SPIDER-MAN & THE FANTASTIC FOUR, another work by Parker & 'Ringo, which sold far worse than it deserved, especially as it would prove to be 'Ringo's last multi-issue work after his FF run with Waid ended.

 

[gildea]

Aside for Mark Millar, no one comes off as smarmier or more smarter-than-thou at Marvel than Bendis, least in terms of writers. I hear he is friendly at cons, but he clearly is uncomfortable with the social situation. Every single time anyone has ever brought up any criticism of his work on a forum, what is his reaction? He basically says you didn't read it right. Even Joss Whedon, a guy who has every reason to be full of himself, admitted that "DANGER" was chock full of flaws and "wasn't his best".

Given that I haven't read many of his message board posts I'd have to take you at your word, however I could link to interviews i dimly remember about how he invites criticism from his editors and peers which certainly doesn't sound like the picture you're painting. (I can remember a con interview with an arc in USM being slagged off by JoeQ with bendis sitting by smiling)

Whenever Bendis makes some error in a story, what happens? The buck is passed to an artist, or an editor.

This is factually incorrect. He copped to the dardevil car lifting incident being his fault quite readily.

 

[gildea]

I, uh, agree with Dread. Bendis pulls the same tricks over and over and people just keep falling for it. I mean, c'mon, responses like "I've seen no evidence that convinces me otherwise" just have me rolling my eyes up the wazoo. It's just...come on. Has everyone already forgotten that the whole "Jessica can fly" issue was in itself an explanation/retcon for prior stories? And now we're changing that, so basically Bendis has explained away an explanation that was originally meant to explain something else. And somehow he's planned it all from day one, right in front of our eyes. WOW!

I think that was jessica giving that explanation though, so that actually works on the unreliable narrator basis. (like the grant morrison xorn issue in mutant town)

And you're right, it shouldn't be a big deal...and it wouldn't be a big deal if Bendis had went ahead and said, "Yeah, I thought of this Skrull invasion and tied it back to my Avengers stories." The end, yay, good job, especially considering that these new stories aren't actually too bad at all. Instead he's trying to pass the whole thing off as this super mysterious schemey conspiracy that he's masterfully masterminded in plain sight and it's just, come on. Who do you think you're fooling? Well, apparently, a lot of people..

Don't get me wrong I don't believe the skrull invasion has been planned the way we're being told either. I agree with dread too in this respect.

 

[THANOSRULES]

NEW WARRIORS #13: The battle against Machinesmith ends for our quirky band of former X-Men, but the war to figure out exactly what Night-Thrasher's motives are is still a mystery. Much like his deceased brother, Donyell is still the type to manipulate the team to do what he wants, although in some ways may be overdoing his brother. I don't recall Dwayne outright lying about the threat level of the villains he was after just because he wanted to raid their weapons cache, but I could be wrong. Perhaps once a thief, always a thief, for Bandit.

Just when things seem hopless for the New Warriors left behind in Machinesmith's lair, Night-Thrasher leads the cavalry, clad in a sort of "Hulkbuster" version of his NT armor, and allowing Grace, Kaz, and Aja to control three robot bodies (of Iron Man, Nimrod, and Destroyer) to aid in the fight and upload a virus into Machinesmith's systems. While the New Warriors save their own without any casualties and hand the android menace a stunning defeat, the "virus" that Thrasher claimed he had never existed. This once again forces Jubilee to call him on his manipulation, and this time more of her teammates are starting to agree with her that Thrash's motives are anything but shifty.

Once again, I am really liking Jubilee/Wondra here. While the shift from mutant to depowered mutant-in-super-tech as a hero(ine) hasn't worked for all of these characters, for Jubes it really has. When NW inevitably ends, I hope other writers carry on with her along the vein Grevioux has started. I actually don't mind the whole premise; one of the niggles of A:TI is explaining why all of these heroes we never heard about before could come out of the woodwork if no (or few) new mutants are being born. This book doesn't have that because their whole cast (virtually) are depowered mutants and former X-Men. Sure, some characters are lost in the shuffle, but in a team book with some 10 members, that happens.

The biggest niggle is the pace; we've known that Night-Thrasher had shifty motives for a good 7 issues now, and nothing has changed. Sales are low and I get the feeling the next arc may be the last, so hopefully Grevioux has a resolution in hand. Medina's art is as cool as ever and I can't wait to see the upcoming confrontation between the NW's and Counter-Force (which are founded by the Old New Warriors). I know this book has lost a few readers, and while I'm not as jazzed about it as I was in the beginning, I still enjoy it and want to see where the direction leads.

Yeah, I have really liked this book from the start, but I agree it has been given more time that it has "logically" deserved.

But the book never really seemed set up for sales.

-first you get a no-name writer (who I think has developed very well)
-second, you include no Old members except 1 (and this was also kept secret until the end of issue 1)
-Third, the old characters you do have start in disguise from their old personas.(and we don't find out who most are till issue what 6 or 7?)
-fourth, said characters are all (fringe) X characters.
-Lastly, the book only really ties into A:TI, and has little relevance in the marvel U.
-Oh yeah, the villians..while done well and interesting..require diving into OHOTMU appendices to remember who they are.

So I ask, what was the incentive for the "non Night Thrasher homer fan"(of which there are few , and I am one) to buy this book??

The book has always been Jubes and NT. Maybe they should partner up for a mini or somthing...

I can't blame the trade/flipbook pace of the stories..as this practically an industry standard now.

In fact I am quite happy with the series..But I'm hoping next time around, we get a more SERIOUS attempt at establishing an ongoing with momentum.

 

[iloveclones]

I would LOVE that.

The locking in a room part, or the generating ideas part?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

How about we lock him in a room and, if he generates ideas, great, but if he doesn't, well, at least he's still locked in a room?

 

[iloveclones]

I, uh, agree with Dread. Bendis pulls the same tricks over and over and people just keep falling for it. I mean, c'mon, responses like "I've seen no evidence that convinces me otherwise" just have me rolling my eyes up the wazoo. It's just...come on. Has everyone already forgotten that the whole "Jessica can fly" issue was in itself an explanation/retcon for prior stories? And now we're changing that, so basically Bendis has explained away an explanation that was originally meant to explain something else. And somehow he's planned it all from day one, right in front of our eyes. WOW!



And you're right, it shouldn't be a big deal...and it wouldn't be a big deal if Bendis had went ahead and said, "Yeah, I thought of this Skrull invasion and tied it back to my Avengers stories." The end, yay, good job, especially considering that these new stories aren't actually too bad at all. Instead he's trying to pass the whole thing off as this super mysterious schemey conspiracy that he's masterfully masterminded in plain sight and it's just, come on. Who do you think you're fooling? Well, apparently, a lot of people..

I never thought it was that big of a deal that SW flew in those stories. In fact, when people started complaining, I had to go back and re-read some stuff to remember exactly what her powers were. I thought it was all pretty stupid. So roll your eyes until they fall out, I think it's pretty silly.

And considering all the pissing and moaning about that, if he were planning this (which I'm not entirely convinced of), than I would do a pre-emptive retcon too (only Bendis could prompt me to invent a term like that).

I see no harm in giving him the benefit of the doubt in this. I mean, what's the harm, that I'm going to enjoy my comics more than the pissers and moaners? That I'm wasting money on something I'd probably buy anyway? I've got the money.