Bought//Thought March 07 2007.

[WOLVERINE25TH]

BOUGHT:
52 #44
BULLET POINTS #5
CAPTAIN AMERICA #25
CIVIL WAR INITIATIVE
CRIMINAL #5
DARK TOWER #2
DETECTIVE COMICS #829
FANTASTIC FOUR #543
FANTASTIC FOUR THE END #6
FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #18
HULK AND POWER PACK #1
INCREDIBLE HULK #104
IRON MANY HYPERVELOCITY #3
JLA #6
MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #25
MARVEL ZOMBIES ARMY OF DARKNESS #1
MIGHTY AVENGERS #1
NIGHTWING #130
ONSLAUGHT REBORN #3
PUNISHER #45
SQUADRON SUPREME HYPERION V NIGHTHAWK #3
SUPERMAN BATMAN #32
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #106
ULTIMATE VISION #3
UNCANNY X-MEN #484
WONDER MAN #3

THOUGHT:
52 #44 - Black Adam's fate is decided as he becomes a badass with a cause to avenge his family. Cliched, but handled well. And Montoya is the Question. Gonna hafta see how she handles it.

BULLET POINTS #5 - So the heroes come together to defeat Galactus and life goes on. This series was an utter piece of crap. It had a good concept, but it's execution was haphazzard and poorly planned. It went from interesting to rediculous by the third issue.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #25 - Well Cap is dead. The issue was done great, but I'm just worried about the implications on the industry. With the return of practices from the 90s and the speculators, we're being set up for another bust that could cost us a lot. We shall see.

CIVIL WAR INITIATIVE - Another book of advertisements, leading into Marvel's new series. Once again it shows that Bendis can pull off decent single issue stories. But goddamn, that dialogue has GOT to go. I'd seriously love to know what people he's spent his life talking to.

DARK TOWER #2 - I started reading it, then I trailed off. Blah, blah, blah...this thing just goes on and on and has yet to hook me in. I may save $20 and not pick up the rest of the series. Or I may hold out for the handbook due out next month. We'll see.

DETECTIVE COMICS #829 - No Dini. Disappointed there. So we got a fanatic in Wayne Tower with exploding gunk. Not too bad, your generic story. Artwork wasn't that great. Dini, come home!

FANTASTIC FOUR #543 - Double-sized anniversary issue. First we got the lead-in to the new FF (which I'm not really looking forward to). Then we got a Stan Lee-penned tale done in a Kirbyesque style that's worth a couple of laughs. Finally, a Torch/Spidey team-up from the past where more hilarity ensues, although the art was kinda funky, Overall, decent anniversary issue.

FANTASTIC FOUR THE END #6 - That battle is won and the FF's kids are back to life, all part of some elaborate scheme Valeria cooked up with her abilities of foresight which's why they put themselves in a position to be killed in the first place. And Doom? He's happily ruling the Negative Zone, now sealed off forever. The End.

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #18 - The mystery continues as the clues fall into place. Getting better than it has been, but still not thrilled with this alternate Ben plot. Hopefully this is the fix.

HULK AND POWER PACK #1 - The new artist is a bit jarring, but fortunately didn't take away too much. Another good installment of the Power Pack series. This new style has me loving them like I never would have before.

IRON MANY HYPERVELOCITY #3 - Another one I started reading, and I found myself just going...no. I was thinking about sticking this one out, but I think I'm done with this mini. The story is such pure garbage I can't be bothered to find out how it ends. I suffered through the entirety of Phoenix Warsong, I won't do it again.

JLA #6 - Team's finally assembled and Tornado's a robot again. Not too bad, a bit wordy and suffering from decompression, but at least it didn't take over a year and 3 arcs to do it all.

MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #25 - Spidey vs. the Circus of Crime! Funny and enjoyable as ever. The all-ages books are Marvel's current best.

MARVEL ZOMBIES ARMY OF DARKNESS #1 - One issue in and it feels a LOT more like MZ quality than AoD...which is a damn good thing. Ash meets some heroes, comes off like a nut, then the world goes to hell. Decent start so far. Unfortunately, Ash won't get to do a lot of major damage since this is a prequel and certain zombies NEED to be intact to keep continuity with MZ. That part's disappointing. But, hopefully, enough cannon fodder's left for Ash to get his slash on.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #1 - Pros: The team is assembled in one issue. The Avengers fight something OTHER than Ninjas. The assembly is a lot more thought-out. The return of thought bubbles. Something ACTUALLY happens. Cons: Mischaracterizations gallore. Bendis dialogue. Okay, so aside from **** dialogue and crappy characterizations this book is doing a lot better in other regards than New Avengers. Let's see if it can keep that up.

NIGHTWING #130 - The origin of the Bride and Groom with Dick caught in the middle. Wolfman has redeemed himself so far. Let's see if he keeps it up.

ONSLAUGHT REBORN #3 - Onslaught is yet another epic villain reduced to common thuggery as he tries to pummel Hulk, then Thor. And it looks like Loeb managed to slip Wolverine in there. Yeah, thanks Jeph...THAT won't cause any more overexposure talk.

PUNISHER #45 - More Punny goodness as he's led into the skanks' trap. Can Frank survive? Hope so.

SQUADRON SUPREME HYPERION V NIGHTHAWK #3 - The Bats/Supes comparisons couldn't be made more accurately with this series. Except for Hyperion's dark 'tude, I almost feel like I'm reading an old Bats/Supes team-up where Supes is Bats' *****. I kinda like it.

SUPERMAN BATMAN #32 - Bats is possessed by the Darkstone as Supes regains his control. Now it's Supes vs. Super-Bats while the alien armada attacks! Not too bad, and really love the artwork.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #106 - I'm really sick of Bendis' dialogue. Who the hell talks like this?! At least the decompression isn't TOO bad as things are wrapped up from the last arc and we move into the final Bagley arc. But this is still a crap book.

ULTIMATE VISION #3 - My misgivings about this book have been justified. You have the spin-off of a crappy mini that sucked on every possible level and it fails to thrill any more than it's parent series. Ultimate books have seriously been in a state of creative decline for a good long while. They keep this up, they won't be around much longer.

UNCANNY X-MEN #484 - Decompression doesn't just happen in space. Another issue where barely anything happens to move the story forward. Lilandra gets a new recruit, Vulcan has words with Darwin and announces Xaviers death at his pending marriage, and Havok and Lorna are back together. This could've been done in less than 12 parts. By far, Bru's weakest book.

 

[Dread]

CAPTAIN AMERICA #25 - Well Cap is dead. The issue was done great, but I'm just worried about the implications on the industry. With the return of practices from the 90s and the speculators, we're being set up for another bust that could cost us a lot. We shall see.

Glad I am not the only one who fears this. The Mile High Comic Blog all but blamed the 1992 DEATH OF SUPERMAN campaign for ushering in the crash of 1994, and comics still sell 75% less than they did then. Both companies are subsisting on perpetual crossovers and media-grabbing stunts again, and I too fear hitting a wall again. Marvel is better protected thanks to merch deals, but it still would stink.

And if I can quit a "crap book" like USM, you can too.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

I MAY leave with Bagley. Maybe. We'll see if I can overcome.

And yeah, I fear it. Big time. Fear it so much, I've pre-empted my next article at Dimestore.com to write about the similarities of then an' now. The four horsemen of the Comipocalypse (TM) have re-reared their ugly heads. All I can say is my Wolvie-sense is tingling.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

UNCANNY X-MEN #484 - Decompression doesn't just happen in space. Another issue where barely anything happens to move the story forward. Lilandra gets a new recruit, Vulcan has words with Darwin and announces Xaviers death at his pending marriage, and Havok and Lorna are back together. This could've been done in less than 12 parts. By far, Bru's weakest book.

I've never felt more like a book was stalling than now. We all complained about JLA taking it's sweet time but UXM is just creeping along.

 

[PhotoJones]

Mighty Avengers #1- So I walk into my store last night to beat the Cap rush (they only had enough for subscribers and not even) and the comic book guy hands me my pull. He turns to me and says, "You going to get Mighty Avengers?" and paused and I said "No, I'm waiting for the trade but I might be interested if I hear good things" so he turns gets a copy and says "Its on the house, you better buy some Magic cards or something though". I didn't. That said, I read Mighty Avengers and this is what I thought about: Damn good.

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not on an IV drip of Bendis Hate, I'm willing to give a guy a shot like New Avengers (newly added on my pull lost, I still feel dirty). Bendis does some great work here weaving a pretty straight forward story here. Tony wants to form an Avengers team, asks Carol to lead, they pick a team, they fight Mole Man. Decompression out the door, we get abig fight, the team is together and we get the introduction of the big arc villain. Meltzer may be able to learn a thing or two from this issue.

Now I've read online reviews and some them seem to focus on what they claim to be the second coming of christ: Thought bubbles. Its used innovatively throughout the issue and effectively for some funny moments and such, but overall, it was pretty meh. Clearly something I'm not used to and will have to if I continue on this title. There was some hiccups in the writing though, Bendis still has a hard time writing the Sentry, he goes from ******ed 7 year old syaing sorry a lot to Greek God like being in a couple of pages. Some funny yet irritating dialogue with Wasp and Ms Marvel about how hawt Sentry is.

Frank Cho does some solid work showing off that he can draw good women, but also some great sequential scenes with solid panel layout. His Iron Man isn't the best as he gives Tony a "fatass" IMO, but nothing to really start a *****fest over.

Overall, Bendis hits a good note here, with some solid team dynamics and fight scenes and some of the old fashioned Bendis talking heads involved. If Bendis can keep up this pace and quality, I may have to permanently add this to my pull list.

nice review darth. i should know, huh?

 

[hippy fascist]

I liked mighty avengers for the most part, the stuff with ares was awesome.

But am I the only one who thought the whole iron man morphs into ultron thing at the end made ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE?

It just felt like something he chucked in at the end for a shocking last page

Other than that I was pleasently surprised. Nice to see that Carol's stopped acting like an unthinking foot soldier and started to actually feel some guilt about the treatment of the Anti's.

 

[PhotoJones]

I liked mighty avengers for the most part, the stuff with ares was awesome.

But am I the only one who thought the whole iron man morphs into ultron thing at the end made ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE?

It just felt like something he chucked in at the end for a shocking last page

Other than that I was pleasently surprised. Nice to see that Carol's stopped acting like an unthinking foot soldier and started to actually feel some guilt about the treatment of the Anti's.

i don't think we're supposed to know what that's all about just yet. hence the need for a story arc, you know?

 

[hippy fascist]

i don't think we're supposed to know what that's all about just yet. hence the need for a story arc, you know?

That's not the point, it made no sense in the context of the issue. Carol/Simon/Janet/Natasha. These people have known stark for how long exactly? And they couldn't spot he was a fake?

 

[PhotoJones]

That's not the point, it made no sense in the context of the issue. Carol/Simon/Janet/Natasha. These people have known cap for how long exactly? And they couldn't spot he was a fake?

what? what the hell does captain america have to do with iron man morphing into ultron??

 

[hippy fascist]

what? what the hell does captain america have to do with iron man morphing into ultron??

My mistake I meant stark, obviously

 

[PhotoJones]

My mistake I meant stark, obviously

perhaps ultron "downloads" himself (or herself) into stark's body at that moment. not unlike agent smith taking over people's bodies in the matrix movies.

bottom line, though, is that it's WAY too earlier to be complaining about a lack of sense. the arc hasn't really begun. just wait and be patient. like all things, it will be explained...

and if not, then you can *****.

 

[hippy fascist]

perhaps ultron "downloads" himself (or herself) into stark's body at that moment. not unlike agent smith taking over people's bodies in the matrix movies.

bottom line, though, is that it's WAY too earlier to be complaining about a lack of sense. the arc hasn't really begun. just wait and be patient. like all things, it will be explained...

and if not, then you can *****.

I said I liked the issue, I just felt the ending was a bit weird and didn't make much sense. I'd hardly call that *****ing, especially considering this is me giving what is overall a positive review to bendis. I went into reading the book thinking I was going to hate it but actually really enjoyed. I was simply stating that the ending seemed forced and illogical

 

[Kevin]

I haven't read the issue yet, but I really can't wait for Ultron's reason for being a girl now. I'm actually interested. And before anyone dares says "So Cho can draw boobs!" that's the reason for why the creators wanted ultron to be a girl. I wanna know the in-story reason.

 

[PhotoJones]

I said I liked the issue, I just felt the ending was a bit weird and didn't make much sense. I'd hardly call that *****ing, especially considering this is me giving what is overall a positive review to bendis. I went into reading the book thinking I was going to hate it but actually really enjoyed. I was simply stating that the ending seemed forced and illogical

i guess we have different thought processes then. i usually wait until a story is played out before i make judgements.

seems more fair that way...to each his own.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

I haven't read the issue yet, but I really can't wait for Ultron's reason for being a girl now. I'm actually interested. And before anyone dares says "So Cho can draw boobs!" that's the reason for why the creators wanted ultron to be a girl. I wanna know the in-story reason.

Ultron and Danger need to get it on.:heart:

 

[The Ether]

Ultron and Danger need to get it on.:heart:

Due to Mighty Avengers. Lesbian Robots turn me on

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

I've just made a decision. Once Bagley leaves USM, I'm droppin' it. I support Bags, not Bendis.

 

[Red]

Any chance someone can scan that last page of Might Avengers?

 

[The Ether]

would this mean that Victor have two moms?

 

[Kaboom]

I think its sweet that both Cap and Iron Man are

Spoiler

now written out for rebuilding

does it smell like a

Spoiler

pocket universe heroes reborn type thing to anyone else?

 

[kbtoyz902]

So yeah. I guess Victor really had(has?) two moms:

Spoiler

EDIT: the cut off box says "ULTRON PROGRAM UPLOAD SUCCESSFUL". Sorry I have no scanner, hopefully the picture's clear enough.

 

[Frico]

Any chance someone can scan that last page of Might Avengers?

Spoiler

 

[Dread]

The last page of MIGHTY AVENGERS #1 was kind of trippy to me too, and frankly I'm no fan of Ultron becoming a busty naked chick, much less transforming Iron Man into one (I am assuming Ultron just hacked his new Extremis form). But that's not going to negate some previous decent pages, so I like it. Despite starring Iron Man's team of *****ebags (save for Ms. Marvel, the only one with any morality), it may end up better than New Avengers.

If I had to pick a Book of the Week, though, it'd be DYNAMO 5, easy. Got to start supporting some readable non Big Two books sometimes.

 

[Anubis]

Damn right. Dynamo 5 was great

 

[kainedamo]

I think I'm gonna drop USM until the space crap is over. But there are only two issues left. This Shi'ar space storyline is a piece of crap. Each issue is a bore.