JewishHobbit
Avenger
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2003
- Messages
- 26,683
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- 56
So I finally made it to the store and bought this week's and last week's comics, as well as another one I missed last month. I'll review them all, frankly, because I don't remember which was this week and which was last week.
Sword 5 - Man, what a great title, but sadly, this is the end of the road. Gillen said he wrote the first 5 issues as a mini just in case it didn't continue and it really does feel that way. Very complete. There are topics that seems like they would have continued if the story didn't stop here. I'm curious what story was being built up to with the White android guy. I think it sounds like Beta Ray Bill would have stayed on the book permanantly and I think Death's Head would have been an on again off agan character. All of this would have been great.
This story was just fun, and this issue itself was also phenominal. It made me like Lockheed more than originally, and I even got used to the stupid looking Beast. I was already a fan of Death's Head II, and this won me over for his predicesor. I'm really sad to see this book go. It was one of my favorites every month for the past few months. Maybe trade's will pick up sales and it'll get a relaunch, but I doubt it.
Son of Hulk 2 - I love the cosmic line but this Realm of Kings era really has been lackluster. With the exception of Guardians and Inhumans, the rest have been kinda bleh, even Nova. This title is no exception. It's an okay story but being a person with zero interest in the Microverse or Micronaugts I just can't get into it. If it wasn't Hiro-Kala, who won me over in the final issue of Son of Hulk, I'd have likely skipped the book.
As for the story itself, it was mediocre at best. The scenes with Rann and the other girl feel randomly added, though I will admit to liking Carl a lot. I hope he's okay and finds his way to other mainstream cosmic books. Heh, a smartalic Death's Head unit is pretty comical. The scenes with Hiro-Kala was just kinda filler-ish until the reveal that Hiro-Kala now has prophetic powers. We knew that his powers were altered at the end of Son of Hulk, and maybe more in the first issue of this title, but I don't much care for the prophetic angle. It feels like Hiro-Kala is at the beginnings of becoming a weighed down, convoluted mess, and it's only his second full story.
I'll finish this title, but I hope it comes together better in the next issue or two.
Cable 24 - Finally... the last issue of Cable I'm going to buy... of course, they rack up the price to get that extra buck out of us before so many of us do the swan song with the title, but that's to be expected of money ****es Marvel.
The story was crap for the most part. Bishop still chasing after Cable and Hope. Cable and Hope still getting the better of Bishop. Still timesliding. Etc. I was at least hoping for something to peak my interest, such as Hope doing something that might hint at Bishop being right... something... anything.... but it wasn't there. This would have been a great read at around 12-15 issues max. At 24 issues, 2 years, of repeating storyplot, it got real old real fast and I'm glad to be done with it. Next month the title becomes Deadpool and Cable and I plan on passing on it unless it somehow ties-in directly with Second Coming. But I doubt even that will get me to buy it. I'm too jaded with this book as is, and Deadpool's ****ing out is becoming more of a turn off to me than a turn on these days, so that only makes it worse.
Mr X/Wolverine One Shot - I wasn't planning on getting this but in skimming it I saw that it lead into Mr. X's joining the Thunderbolts so I got it on a whim... which at $4 is a RARE thing for me. But the art looked good, I like Mr. X, and I like Frank Tieri, so I took the chance. Fortunately, I found I enjoyed the book. Between this and Thunderbolts I think Mr. X has the potential of becoming a longterm villains for some people in the Marvel Universe. He's reached a standpoint here with Wolverine, though their story can continue, but I'd actually like to see him make the switch to an Iron Fist villain. Mr. X has been obsessing over Wolverine since he's the only man alive who beat him, well, in Thunderbolts Mr. X was beaten by Iron Fist as well, and the next issue we see him obsessing over it again. The two fightest could make for some interesting nemesisery (yeah, made that word up).
Anyhow, so this book takes place just prior to his joining the Thunderbolts. For those unfamiliar with Mr. X's past with Wolverine, they've met twice. Mr. X is a sedistic killer who is obsessed with being the best fighter in the world, and he relies on his light telepathy to give him that title. He can see people's moves right before they make them so he can counter and always win. In their first encounter he beat Wolverine. In their second encounter Wolverine won because he went berserk and Mr. X couldn't read his fighting plans.
So here, we see that Mr. X has been training for a rematch to reclaim his title as best fighter in the world. He focuses on trained fighters, but also savage beasts. His goal is to bring out wolverine's savage side and beat that, since that's what beat him before. He holds an elementary class hostage and sends the teacher's head to Wolverine to draw him out. They make a deal and the battle begins. Mr. X controls the match until Wolverine realizes that he's not trying to kill him, he's trying to get him to go berserk... and so realizing that he's in power, Wolverine refuses to fight and allows Mr. X to do everything from ripping out his eye to his crotch and such, but refuses to allow the beast to take over. This infuriates Mr. X but Wolverine calls his bluff, and in walking away, he takes Mr. X's hopeful victory with him. This really bumbs out Mr. X but then Osborn calls with an offer... the Thunderbolts.
All in all it was a realy good story focused on Mr. X. I'm glad I bought the book and I hope more comes of the character after Siege. As for Frank Tieri, I really like his writing, always have. I loved his run on Wolverine (whre Mr. X was debuted I believe) as well as his Weapon X ongoing, so it's nice to hear from him again.
Mighty Avengers 34 - Bleh issue for me. I hated the art and the story was very subpar. In fact, I only liked one page of art because it reminded me of Alan Davis, and that's the one with Herc and crew fighting the blue trolls. The ending was wierd and I find myself uninterested in this Ultron storyline coming up mixed in with the Siege story. I hate that attention is being diverted from the bigger story.
Some good stuff that I did appreciate though was Jarvis shopping through the Infinite Mansion and Pym being able to trap Loki. Both were cool. I know people are upset that it seems like Slott isn't returning to the Avengers, but I personally won't miss this title. It was good, but not enough to make me miss it.
Batman & Robin 10 - Good issue. We're on our track to finding Bruce Wayne and we learn that he's somehow leaving hints in the batcave in the past to where he's been. I'm not completely clear on what's happening but a second read through will likely help. I gotta say though, I'm liking this Gravedigger guy. He's got a cool look about him. But I'm so bored with this whole timetravel storyline. Captain America played it out with Reborn so this Batman one is going to get very old very quickly.
X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back 1-2 - On a whim I decided to try these. I loved the New X-Men and that entire generation of students and typically like anything with them in it. The girls beign focused on and going to school sounded wierd to me so I didn't bother with it, but I figured, what the heck, why not.
To be honest, it's not that great. The writing isn't very good, though I do like the characters. My suggestion, if you aren't already fans of the characters, don't bother. The students are all in character, though the adults all seem off, especially Emma, and the odd story with the school is revealed to be some type of mental game, so that's good as well. Makes it less wierd.
Now, I'm a little confused about something. The second issue came out yesterday, and in the end we learned that Mastermind is likely the father of Pixie... but I swear I've known that for a month. How in the world did that get out and how did I learn about it if it wasn't revealed in the first issue?
Sword 5 - Man, what a great title, but sadly, this is the end of the road. Gillen said he wrote the first 5 issues as a mini just in case it didn't continue and it really does feel that way. Very complete. There are topics that seems like they would have continued if the story didn't stop here. I'm curious what story was being built up to with the White android guy. I think it sounds like Beta Ray Bill would have stayed on the book permanantly and I think Death's Head would have been an on again off agan character. All of this would have been great.
This story was just fun, and this issue itself was also phenominal. It made me like Lockheed more than originally, and I even got used to the stupid looking Beast. I was already a fan of Death's Head II, and this won me over for his predicesor. I'm really sad to see this book go. It was one of my favorites every month for the past few months. Maybe trade's will pick up sales and it'll get a relaunch, but I doubt it.
Son of Hulk 2 - I love the cosmic line but this Realm of Kings era really has been lackluster. With the exception of Guardians and Inhumans, the rest have been kinda bleh, even Nova. This title is no exception. It's an okay story but being a person with zero interest in the Microverse or Micronaugts I just can't get into it. If it wasn't Hiro-Kala, who won me over in the final issue of Son of Hulk, I'd have likely skipped the book.
As for the story itself, it was mediocre at best. The scenes with Rann and the other girl feel randomly added, though I will admit to liking Carl a lot. I hope he's okay and finds his way to other mainstream cosmic books. Heh, a smartalic Death's Head unit is pretty comical. The scenes with Hiro-Kala was just kinda filler-ish until the reveal that Hiro-Kala now has prophetic powers. We knew that his powers were altered at the end of Son of Hulk, and maybe more in the first issue of this title, but I don't much care for the prophetic angle. It feels like Hiro-Kala is at the beginnings of becoming a weighed down, convoluted mess, and it's only his second full story.
I'll finish this title, but I hope it comes together better in the next issue or two.
Cable 24 - Finally... the last issue of Cable I'm going to buy... of course, they rack up the price to get that extra buck out of us before so many of us do the swan song with the title, but that's to be expected of money ****es Marvel.
The story was crap for the most part. Bishop still chasing after Cable and Hope. Cable and Hope still getting the better of Bishop. Still timesliding. Etc. I was at least hoping for something to peak my interest, such as Hope doing something that might hint at Bishop being right... something... anything.... but it wasn't there. This would have been a great read at around 12-15 issues max. At 24 issues, 2 years, of repeating storyplot, it got real old real fast and I'm glad to be done with it. Next month the title becomes Deadpool and Cable and I plan on passing on it unless it somehow ties-in directly with Second Coming. But I doubt even that will get me to buy it. I'm too jaded with this book as is, and Deadpool's ****ing out is becoming more of a turn off to me than a turn on these days, so that only makes it worse.
Mr X/Wolverine One Shot - I wasn't planning on getting this but in skimming it I saw that it lead into Mr. X's joining the Thunderbolts so I got it on a whim... which at $4 is a RARE thing for me. But the art looked good, I like Mr. X, and I like Frank Tieri, so I took the chance. Fortunately, I found I enjoyed the book. Between this and Thunderbolts I think Mr. X has the potential of becoming a longterm villains for some people in the Marvel Universe. He's reached a standpoint here with Wolverine, though their story can continue, but I'd actually like to see him make the switch to an Iron Fist villain. Mr. X has been obsessing over Wolverine since he's the only man alive who beat him, well, in Thunderbolts Mr. X was beaten by Iron Fist as well, and the next issue we see him obsessing over it again. The two fightest could make for some interesting nemesisery (yeah, made that word up).
Anyhow, so this book takes place just prior to his joining the Thunderbolts. For those unfamiliar with Mr. X's past with Wolverine, they've met twice. Mr. X is a sedistic killer who is obsessed with being the best fighter in the world, and he relies on his light telepathy to give him that title. He can see people's moves right before they make them so he can counter and always win. In their first encounter he beat Wolverine. In their second encounter Wolverine won because he went berserk and Mr. X couldn't read his fighting plans.
So here, we see that Mr. X has been training for a rematch to reclaim his title as best fighter in the world. He focuses on trained fighters, but also savage beasts. His goal is to bring out wolverine's savage side and beat that, since that's what beat him before. He holds an elementary class hostage and sends the teacher's head to Wolverine to draw him out. They make a deal and the battle begins. Mr. X controls the match until Wolverine realizes that he's not trying to kill him, he's trying to get him to go berserk... and so realizing that he's in power, Wolverine refuses to fight and allows Mr. X to do everything from ripping out his eye to his crotch and such, but refuses to allow the beast to take over. This infuriates Mr. X but Wolverine calls his bluff, and in walking away, he takes Mr. X's hopeful victory with him. This really bumbs out Mr. X but then Osborn calls with an offer... the Thunderbolts.
All in all it was a realy good story focused on Mr. X. I'm glad I bought the book and I hope more comes of the character after Siege. As for Frank Tieri, I really like his writing, always have. I loved his run on Wolverine (whre Mr. X was debuted I believe) as well as his Weapon X ongoing, so it's nice to hear from him again.
Mighty Avengers 34 - Bleh issue for me. I hated the art and the story was very subpar. In fact, I only liked one page of art because it reminded me of Alan Davis, and that's the one with Herc and crew fighting the blue trolls. The ending was wierd and I find myself uninterested in this Ultron storyline coming up mixed in with the Siege story. I hate that attention is being diverted from the bigger story.
Some good stuff that I did appreciate though was Jarvis shopping through the Infinite Mansion and Pym being able to trap Loki. Both were cool. I know people are upset that it seems like Slott isn't returning to the Avengers, but I personally won't miss this title. It was good, but not enough to make me miss it.
Batman & Robin 10 - Good issue. We're on our track to finding Bruce Wayne and we learn that he's somehow leaving hints in the batcave in the past to where he's been. I'm not completely clear on what's happening but a second read through will likely help. I gotta say though, I'm liking this Gravedigger guy. He's got a cool look about him. But I'm so bored with this whole timetravel storyline. Captain America played it out with Reborn so this Batman one is going to get very old very quickly.
X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back 1-2 - On a whim I decided to try these. I loved the New X-Men and that entire generation of students and typically like anything with them in it. The girls beign focused on and going to school sounded wierd to me so I didn't bother with it, but I figured, what the heck, why not.
To be honest, it's not that great. The writing isn't very good, though I do like the characters. My suggestion, if you aren't already fans of the characters, don't bother. The students are all in character, though the adults all seem off, especially Emma, and the odd story with the school is revealed to be some type of mental game, so that's good as well. Makes it less wierd.
Now, I'm a little confused about something. The second issue came out yesterday, and in the end we learned that Mastermind is likely the father of Pixie... but I swear I've known that for a month. How in the world did that get out and how did I learn about it if it wasn't revealed in the first issue?
