Bought/Thought March 24, 2010 Edition SPOILERS

[Doc Destruction]

Of course it doesn't matter since they lost their home. AGAIN.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Supposedly, Fraction's run starts off with something about the Asgardians reclaiming their home, but it turns out someone else has set up shop in the little dimension where Asgard used to be. Last we saw of it was the Thor God-Size Special, where it seemed to be barren and empty but otherwise intact.

 

[Dread]

I thought his realization was that the prophecy wasn't about him; the "God of War" who was to be carrion was Ares.

I read it as Tyr being inspired that Ares wasn't as afraid to die in that battle as Tyr was, and he wasn't even from the Norse pantheon. He's a Greek god who turned on Osborn and gave his life to try to defend Asgard. But I suppose it works both ways.

2 thoughts:

1) I've always liked USAgent, so him losing limbs actually really bugs me, cuz that means they'll probably give him cybernetic limbs, and we need more characters with cybernetic arms like I need a hole in the head.

2) The hinting at Wasp coming back to life frankly sickens me. There are way too many freakin resurrections in comics. It's gotten to the point when they write a death scene now the only emotion it gives me is disgust because I know they'll be back in less than 2 years anyways (which is how i reacted when Wasp died actually) , or I laugh. There is zero dramatic value left.

I can name more x-men and avengers now that have died and come back then have not died at all, and that's just pathetic. The more they do it, the less it matters every time.

It does suck that U.S. Agent lost limbs (or could be dead for all we know). I suppose it is possible to reattach limbs without making them cybernetic. Occasionally normal people in real life can have limbs reattached so long as it is done soon enough and properly enough. It is very rare but it does happen, and they're not empowered by "super steroids" basically. Maybe he could beam up to the Guardians Of The Galaxy and get fixed up; worked for Jack Flag's spine. For all we know Hank Pym could pull something out of his tool box and fix Walker. Or maybe the Asgardians do something magical. I do agree cybernetics are a bit mundane these days.

As for Wasp, I wouldn't mind because I don't think it is worth keeping a good character off the books just to "keep 'em dead" if the death in question was stupid, poorly plotted, or both. Even Bendis broke his own rules when he brought Gwen back in USM after her own ridiculously stupid death (which HE wrote). It's the same as me not minding if Namorita is back for real in NOVA. It isn't like resurrections are any rarer now than they were in 2004, even. I probably have more faith in Namorita sticking around than Wasp being revived so soon, but who knows.

Hank looks like he's building her like a Terminator. Robot underneath with a living, feeling shell on top of it. would that count as a resurrection? Not really. Did she really die in the first place? Thor just kinda zapped her away somewhere.

Fair enough, but she was about to explode so the theory was he zapped her to another dimension where she couldn't destroy all the heroes (or New York City or whatever).

Geez, the Asgardians just suck at everything. I almost wish they'd stayed dead rather than become the Marvel universe's collective whipping boy. But at least readers know they exist now. Better than being relegated solely to Thor's comic.

I think the theory I have seen kicked around one or two of the tie-in's is that Hood's Norn Stones are empowering the army to do better against the Asgardians than they normally would. Hence why Tyr tried to rip them from him. I don't think that's what Bendis went with, though, so it's probably contradictory. And the Hood didn't show up until after Osborn was starting to get slapped around.

I actually am pretty bad with Norse mythology and didn't know "Odin's Spear" was supposed to be the Gungnir. Yeah, in THUNDERBOLTS the idea was that the T-Bolts would go in as a stealth team while most of the Asgardians were busy fighting the Dark Avengers, the Dark Initiative, and Hood's Goons. Also keep in mind that Loki set this all up and kept Heimdall hidden in the basement (literally) with magic to prevent him from warning Balder until the battle was already underway (as seen in THOR).

To be fair to Parker, accessing the armory to get the Spear wasn't easy. Hogun the Grim blew up their plane with a single arrow, and if not for Paladin's eye, they might have all crashed and died. Once in the armory they did attract the attention of an Asgardian grunt warrior, but Mr. X managed to kill him with a knife.

I do agree that some of the Asgardian warriors, considering that according to Handbooks they all should be able to lift at least 30-35 tons (which means even a random Asgardian warrior is as strong as Luke Cage), they seem to be going down way too easily. Quicksand claimed that they were told that Asgardians were "only about as strong as Spider-Man" (in A:TI), and if that's true then someone lied. Even Asgardian women are about twice as strong as Spider-Man. Kelda could punch Venom through a wall if she wanted.

I guess it depends. Taskmaster being able to kill 3-5 Asgardian warriors isn't something that I think is far fetched. The guy's taken on the Avengers and managed to escape. He can fight Steve Rogers AND James Barnes and at least hold his own. Hell, he even survived fighting 2/3rds of the Warrior's Three. I did think it was a bit easy for Mr. X, a Wolverine C-List villain, to slay an Asgardian with a bowie knife (although to be fair, Mr. X was slapped around for a few panels).

On the plus side, Grizzly grumbled that apparently even Asgardian doors that aren't locked require at least Class 5 super strength to open. And Ant-Man III did have to pick the lock to the Gungnir (which was mechanical, and not magical). Although if even an unlocked door needed 5 ton strength to open, a lock likely should need more than O'Grady's human strength in ant size form, but...whatever. The T-Bolts aren't leaving with the Gungnir. It's rather obvious the Avengers are going to stop them, with or without help from defectors like Ghost, O'Grady, and Paladin (who don't want Osborn, or Nuke, or Mr. X to get the Gungnir either).

To be fair, Thor was the one who decided the best place to park a kingdom for gods used to a cold weather climate was in the middle of a hot state in America. He also was the one who was absolutely stunned that everything would go to pot after Loki moved back in. Apparently the Asgardians are not very bright, or at least haven't been since they were resurrected. The rules are different now, maybe they're not as strong as they used to be (obviously). Still, I do kind of expect their status quo to revert back to pre-2004 standards rather soon in HEROIC AGE. Fraction seems to want to go there, and unlike JMS he usually finishes what he starts.

 

[squeekness]

You do have to wonder why they believe anything Loki says. It's not like his past track record is any good.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

His past track record doesn't count anymore. General amnesty since the resurrection.

 

[squeekness]

LOL, Look at how well that's turned out.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Doing the right thing sometimes sucks.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Something I forgot to mention in my review of Uncanny X-Men... it was nice seeing Cecelia Reyes again... even if it was just a small role

 

[TheCorpulent1]

What'd she do? I always liked her. If Beast and Brand weren't so uber-adorable now, I'd want Beast to date her.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Not much. Cyke just called on her to help Magneto and Kitty, both of whom were in rough shape and she just kinda showed up, I think maybe said a line or two. Not much... but it was nice seeing her at least. She was always assumed killed offpanel in Weapon X's Neverland... but then randomly showed up in the second NYX mini. So it's good to see her with the X-Men again.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

They got Kitty back from Whedon's giant bullet? When did that happen?

 

[JewishHobbit]

Most recent issue of Uncanny X-Men. Magneto did it but it left him in bad shape... so Cecelia was called in to help him, and Kitty once she was back.

 

[runawayboulder]

I was never really crazy about Whilce Portacio's art but he did a real good job on UXM# 522.

 

[Alastor]

I'm glad she's back, but I hope the DO something with her. I'd like to see her take a leadership role somewhere.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Maybe she can spend a full issue laughing her head off at Piotr's tattoo.

 

[Dread]

You do have to wonder why they believe anything Loki says. It's not like his past track record is any good.

His past track record doesn't count anymore. General amnesty since the resurrection.

LOL, Look at how well that's turned out.

Precisely! The general amnesty was a silly idea, and the fact that Thor pretty much left Loki to his own devices is even sillier. The fact that even Balder moans about how it sucks to follow rules when he could just be a bit more flexible is almost suicidal. Like I said above, Balder seems unaware that every ruler, of every kingdom/country/town/family/cave, since the dawn of time, whether god or mortal, has bent the rules when the situation required it, or even for personal reasons. Not all of them were evil for doing so. Even Odin did so once or twice.

The idea that Thor is a gullible idiot with Loki is one thing (Thor has rosey memories of that one time 5000 years ago when Loki did something nice or noble, and that eliminates the memories of anything else Loki seems to do since), but there was room for Balder to grow here, and instead he's just been a sullen patsy.

Not much. Cyke just called on her to help Magneto and Kitty, both of whom were in rough shape and she just kinda showed up, I think maybe said a line or two. Not much... but it was nice seeing her at least. She was always assumed killed offpanel in Weapon X's Neverland... but then randomly showed up in the second NYX mini. So it's good to see her with the X-Men again.

Question: Colossus has been a sulking, brooding depressed sack of metal since the 90's for various reasons. In the 80's he was brooding over the Commies killing his family in Russia. In the 90's he was brooding over losing Illyana. Then post resurrection he's been brooding over losing Kitty. Now he has Kitty and Illyana back. Will he finally, for the first time in a generation, stop brooding and move on? Develop genuine character development beyond, "woe is me, I am sensitive because I mope because _____ died"? I mean, c'mon, they're the X-Men. They can't go a week without someone dying, being resurrected, or being mutilated. They should all be morbidly playing dark humored drinking games about that sort of thing by now.

"Oh, hey, Jean is back."
"Take a shot."
"Bishop is acting like a maniac again."
"Take two shots!"

Hopefully Reyes told her brother she was alive so he could stop running around in a Sentinel looking for her.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Oh yeah... forgot about her brother.

And until that last line... I wasn't sure what the heck your rant had to do with my comment?!

The thing with Cecelia is that she never actually died. She was in Neverland in the Weapon X ongoing, but then it was suddenly canceled. Eventually (as in years later) we're told everyone was exicuted. But Cecelia wasn't shown ever, and other survivors, like Random and Diamond Lil, showed up. I think Quesada stated that she was killed off-panel, but nothing ever hinted at it, and something like that is never definate... so people like me just wanted closure... ANYTHING! I mean, she was an official X-Man. She needed something.

Then she randomly showed up in NYX's second mini with no promotion or mention of it since. I didn't even know it happened until well after the fact, but still, nothing with the X-Men themselves. To see her show up in Uncanny last issue was just a breath of fresh air. It would have been equally gratifying if we'd learned during Beast's Endangered Species arc that she was killed. It still would have been the closure that was desparately lacking.

 

[fifthfiend]

2) The hinting at Wasp coming back to life frankly sickens me. There are way too many freakin resurrections in comics. It's gotten to the point when they write a death scene now the only emotion it gives me is disgust because I know they'll be back in less than 2 years anyways (which is how i reacted when Wasp died actually) , or I laugh. There is zero dramatic value left.

At this point I just imagine that in every story where someone dies, at the end of the story, they get up and go "Oh hey actually that bullet/explosion/brutal onscreen evisceration missed me, I'm totally fine! Also I'm going on a two to four year vacation for no particular reason."

EDIT: In Batman's case, it's kind of even true!

 

[fifthfiend]

In Thanos's case it's more he gets up and goes "That fist ripping my heart out of my chest didn't miss at all, I'm totally dead! Which is to say taking a two to four year vacation to **** my spooky girlfriend."

 

[JewishHobbit]

Thanos doesn't bother me because he's always had connections to the afterlife, so his death and resurrections kinda fit the feel of the character.

People like Wasp however, yeah, it's annoying more than anything.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Nobody's resurrection bothers me anymore. If you can't deal with resurrections, stop reading superhero comics. As long as writers still think of death as some kind of big dramatic moment and other writers have soft spots for the characters they kill, they're not going to stop anytime soon.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I agree. It won't stop until it becomes an editorial decision to stop... and unlike Quesada's earlier proclomations of 'Dead is Dead', the editorial people will have to maintain their stance for it to count as something.

And honestly, I don't mind resurrections and deaths and all that as long as they're done well. I personally believe that Colossus was done very well. He died in a sacrefice to save mutant-kind, and the issue was done extremely well and had some good followup, such as Kitty sprinkling his ashes over Russia, etc. He was dead long enough for it to make in impact on me and make me miss him. And his return, while a bit oddly planned, was extremely well written on the page. Both the death and the resurrection invoked emotion, which is what it should do.

Now I don't mind something like Magneto's death in Morrison's run, as his crappy death scene was always planned as something bigger and looking back you can see signs of it all throughout the 2 or 3 year run until he returned. And his reveal to have been Xorn all along was a great return moment. I HATED it! But only because I liked Xorn so much... the story itself was very well done and it invoked the feelings I think Morrison set out to do.

Now, Wasp dying in a slightly crappy inconclusive way one event ago only to potentially be brought back a year later in the next event... well that's just kinda bleh. I had no emotion when she died because it was so inconclusive, and I didn't really care when I saw her potential return in Mighty.

 

[fifthfiend]

I kind of enjoy the semirandom death-roulette.

In this event: character A dies!

In the next event: character A is BACK! And character B dies!

The event after that: Character B comes BACK! Then character C dies!

The event after that: Kitty Pryde!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Now, Wasp dying in a slightly crappy inconclusive way one event ago only to potentially be brought back a year later in the next event... well that's just kinda bleh. I had no emotion when she died because it was so inconclusive, and I didn't really care when I saw her potential return in Mighty.

My reaction to deaths for the past year or so has been as follows:

Character A dies.

Me: Meh, they'll be back in a year at most.

Character A comes back within a year.

Me: Sweet, finally.

Character A does not come back within a year.

Me: Goddamnit, I wish they'd hurry up and bring A back already.

Character A finally comes back at some later time.

Me: About damned time. Now I hope they manage to do something worthwhile with 'em.

So killing characters off holds no emotional value for me, but I am excited when they come back.