Bought Thought - May 30, 2012

[JewishHobbit]

Only three issues this week and it felt so good spending so little (too bad one was $4 and another was $5, equalling 4 issues, but oh well). I even got caught up on some back issues I was missing.

First off, Gischler's last issue of X-Men came in damaged so my shop had to send them back. I'll get that issue next week.

Batman Annual 1 - This was barely a Night of the Owls tie-in. We learn that Mr. Freeze had taught the Owls how to freeze their Talons and bring them to life, or something along those lines. Now he is trying to resurrect his frozen wife, having perfected it on the Talons, on the same night that the Talons are attacking. It's a good issue though I feel like I missed an issue explaining Freeze's connection to the Owls. It's just sorta mentioned here, which through me off. But in the end we get an idea of how creepy Freeze is and the revelation that Nora isn't even his wife was pretty cool. It was a good issue, though I don't think it's worth the $5 price tag that DC prices these Annuals at. Fortunately, I don't read enough DC books to have to worry about many of those.

I don't regret buying the issue though. Having not bought Red Hood & the Outlaws a week or two ago, I'm curious how that one connects to this one. Anyone know?

Wolverine & the X-Men 11 - Bradshaw returns on art duties and the book gets better with it. He's such a better artist and fit on this book than Bachelo that it makes me sad that he's only on rotation. The issue is great. Iceman gets some good moments while taking on Red Hulk and I see the best written Wolverine since this event began. We get into his head and see what happened leading up to his betraying Hope to the Avengers in AvsX 4. It's actually HIGHLY believable and people who complain about Wolverine's bloodthirsty mentality would likely LOVE this issue (heck, this title).

The gist is that Wolverine is still playing the tough guy "do what needs to be done" routine with Hope but now that we're in his head we see that he's questioning and when finally give the oppertunity to kill her while in a Phoenix moment he decides not to because he can't bring himself to kill a kid. That is why he turned her over to the Avengers... because he doesn't want to kill her, he wants to save her. FANTASTIC! If only the main mini could have showed that, especially with Aaron being one of the writers of that event!

Also, Kid Gladiator continues being awesome but the ending promises a great next issue with Gladiator himself showing up wanting to know where his son is (who left to fight in the AvsX war).

All in all, a good issue. Great art, great storytelling, great characterization. Still the best book Marvel's putting out each month.

X-Men Legacy 267 - While not nearly as good as W&tXM, this was a vast improvement over last issue. I liked seeing Mimic in the thick of it with the other X-Men, a place I've wanted to see him be since the mid-90's. Rogue shines here and seeing her take out the entire team of Avengers was pretty cool. Gage did a great job with the characters, specifically his creative use of Moon Knight's psychosis with Rogue. That was very interesting.

The issue was definately enjoyable and I hope Gage can keep it to this quality or improve than where he was last issue. My only gripe is that I wish he'd do something with Chamber. The dude's a powerhouse and no one's doing anything with it. He's just there in the background along with Husk.


Best and Worst of the Week

Best: Wolverine & the X-Men - As far as tie-ins go this was about perfect. It captured Wolverine how he truly is and has been since Schism hit (and slightly before) and is the first time since this event started that I feel he's been in character. Just a really good issue.

Worst: Batman Annual - Not that it was bad but it wasn't as good as the other two and the overpriced cover hurt it even more. I don't regret buying it but I'd probably have enjoyed it more for $3 or even $4.

 

[Themanofbat]

I can probably get some Bradshaw signatures if anyone wants to pay the postage & handling for their books...

 

[runawayboulder]

How do I get him to sign my chest?

 

[CConn]

Would he be willing to sign a 12" Herman Munster doll?

 

[JewishHobbit]

How do I get him to sign my chest?

1) Take picture of chest
2) Sent picture to TMoB
3) TMoB gets picture signed
4) TMoB returns picture
5) Apply picture of signed chest to your chest with gorilla glue
6) Proudly walk down street shirtless

 

[runawayboulder]

And what if TMoB doesn't return the pic because he's impressed with my manly chest?

 

[JewishHobbit]

In which case TMoB should follow these ammendments:

1) Runawayboulder takes picture of chest
2) Runawayboulder sends picture to TMoB
3) TMoB takes picture of his own chest
4) TMoB gets both pictures signed
5) TMoB returns new picture pretending its original
6) TMoB attaches picture of swiped chest to his chest with gorilla glue
7) runawayboulder attaches picture of TMoB's chest to his chest with gorilla glue
8) Both runawayboulder and TMoB proudly walk down street shirtless, wearing each other's signed chest pictures

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Wolverine and the X-Men #11: This issue was decent, although most of it felt like filler. Heroes fighting each other with no real emotional impact doesn't do much for me, so I sort of breezed through those pages pretty quickly. Unfortunately, they comprise a lot of the pages in this issue. The real meat of the issue concerns Kid Gladiator and Wolverine, and both of those sections are great. KG realizes that he's actually fond of the weak, pathetic Earthlings now and ditches his ride to safety to rejoin them. Wolverine realizes he can't kill Hope because she's just a teenager and resolutely decides that he's not the sort of man who murders children. I very much doubt that'll stick for too long, since every other writer at Marvel has been characterizing Wolverine as the sort of man who'll murder literally anything for about a decade (or more) now, but it's a nice sentiment and I hope Aaron, at least, will follow up on it in WatXM. It makes Wolverine slightly less insufferable to me. Oh, and Hope apparently kills the death squad sent after her. At least, it looks like she burned the living s*** out of them pretty thoroughly, which is usually fatal. So, um... yeah. Looking forward to Gladiator in the next issue!

Batman Annual #1: This was surprisingly good. Maybe it's because I only had a vague knowledge of Mr. Freeze's origin before the reboot, but I rather enjoyed all the twists in this new one. One thing that made me a little wary, however, was Freeze's being tied to Bruce Wayne; I always start feeling like these characters' worlds are slightly incestuous when literally every villain is tied to the hero in some way beyond just the two of them fighting in garish costumes every other week. Speaking of costumes, Freeze's new one is another low point; his exposed arms in particular kind of kill the idea that this thing is a containment suit in addition to being armor. But other than those two admittedly minor points, I liked the issue a lot. I particularly liked the new twist on Freeze's relationship with Nora. The idea that his love for her is all the delusions of an already twisted mind is interesting, although it kind of detracts from the haunting Shakespearean tragedy of Freeze established in Batman: The Animated Series.

New Mutants #43: "Exiled" ends in this issue and it turned out to be pretty good. I like the new status quo for the Disir, since the Asgardian bogeymen schtick was wearing thinner and thinner with each arc they appeared in without feasting heartily on Asgardian souls; they seemed to be pretty poor bogeymen by the end there. Bor's kind of a dick, as it turns out, so I feel less bad that Thor killed him now. Sigurd's deal is still weird and confusing to me. I'm not sure whether he's a human or a god still. But I guess it doesn't really matter. The wedding vows had me cracking up. All in all, pretty solid. I look forward to what all the changes mean for JIM and its strong connections to Hela and Mephisto.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #10: Usually I leave TMNT for the back end of my pile, but the debut of IDW's Shredder shot it up to nearly the top this week. It's a pretty solid debut, although we don't actually learn much about him. He spends most of the issue standing around while Karai forces Splinter to fight a big Foot ninja to the death. Great design, though; not too bulky or cartoonishly spiky, but still very imposing. The Turtles, meanwhile, have made it to April's family's antiques shop, Second Time Around. I wonder if it's destined to burn down here, just as it has in pretty much every other continuity. Always a shame. Mike and Don's reactions to the comics and old electronics, respectively, were priceless, though. The reincarnation subplot that seems to form the main divergence from the original comics this time around is gaining a bit of traction here, with Leo and Splinter both firmly convinced that they're the reincarnation of Hamato Yoshi's family from feudal Japan, destined to avenge themselves on the Foot here in the present; the others--science-geek Don, especially--are more skeptical. Either way, it seems firm proof has finally arrived in the form of the Shredder himself, who pulls off his helmet to reveal himself as Oroku Saki, the same man who murdered the Hamato family back in feudal Japan. Unfortunately, we've gotta wait until the next issue (or possibly later) to get the full story behind how that's possible. I hope he's not an Utrom again. That worked well enough for the '03 cartoon, but it also took away from some of the Shredder's coolness. He's not a great ninja; he's just got a friggin' super-strong robot body. Oh well, we'll see.

 

[Themanofbat]

This is the best Bought Thought ever...

 

[Colossal Spoons]

This issue of Incredible Hulk was a joke right? The art, plot, dialogue, and especially the "villain", all ridiculous. No way Aaron wrote this. :

 

[CConn]

Yeah, I'm officially done with IH for good.

It's inconceivable that Aaron could write something quite that bad.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

The last page or two were the only parts that didn't suck only b/c Banner's plan was revealed. Next month: Atlantis

 

[CConn]

I kinda sorta like/get his premise and what he's trying to go for with the whole role reversal of Banner and Hulk, but Jesus Christ he's writing it awfully.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

He's also writing a very underpowered Hulk. Fighting gangbangers for longer than 4 seconds? Heads should have flown off in this issue. Can the Hulk even "hold back"? I blame Punisher.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Yeah the reversal is a really unique way of approaching it, but is he trying to write a parody? Or just trying lazily to be even zanier than he is on Wolverine and the X-men?
Basically this book is "Crank:Hulk edition."

 

[Colossal Spoons]

I'm gonna say something really shallow here. I would have disliked the issue a bit less if the artist were different. Hulk looked like Frankenstein, Punisher looked like Ned Stark. Just ugh.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Sean Bean should totally play the Punisher

But yeah Steve Dillon's art doesn't really suit big otherworldly characters like Hulk.

 

[Themanofbat]

In which case TMoB should follow these ammendments:

1) Runawayboulder takes picture of chest
2) Runawayboulder sends picture to TMoB
3) TMoB takes picture of his own chest
4) TMoB gets both pictures signed
5) TMoB returns new picture pretending its original
6) TMoB attaches picture of swiped chest to his chest with gorilla glue
7) runawayboulder attaches picture of TMoB's chest to his chest with gorilla glue
8) Both runawayboulder and TMoB proudly walk down street shirtless, wearing each other's signed chest pictures

I could see this happening...

 

[Watchman]

Basically this book is "Crank:Hulk edition."

That actually sounds really awesome.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Now I'm curious about what the hell happened in Incredible Hulk.

 

[runawayboulder]

I love Steve Dillon's art but he should never, ever be allowed to draw the Hulk again.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Well I will admit that It's the most insane Hulk story I've ever read. Considering all the changes the character's been through that's saying something. I never thought I'd see a comic where Hulk runs around drugged up on a truck load of heroin....

 

[CConn]

Now I'm curious about what the hell happened in Incredible Hulk.

Spoiler

Hulk wakes up in Mexico unsure of how he got there.

And realizes Banner comes back into existence every time he stops being angry, and is apparently on a quest of his own with sinister motives.

He runs into the Punisher, who's chasing a band of drug-dealing thugs who call themselves The Dog Men, whose leader is a literal dog man.

Hulk finds out Banner was working for him in order to gain samples of his DNA (Banner cut off one of the dog dude's finger/paws to do it).

Anyway, the dog man then shoots Hulk in the face with like twenty Heroine-tipped darts to sedate Hulk, so Hulk jumps out of a moving 18-wheeler with dog man in tow and drags himself along the ground at 60 mph to stay angry, killing dog man in the process.

Hulk then finds dog Man's finger in a igloo cooler somewhere and passes out/changes into Banner only to wake up again in Atlantis.

To be continued.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's... news to the Hulk that Banner comes back when he's not angry now?

That actually sounds sort of like the Hulk meets The Hangover. Only less entertaining than either.

 

[CConn]

Yes, because Hulk had Banner cut out of his head by Doctor Doom and implanted into a cloned body. They have been literally two different people for the past 8 issues.

But then Banner was seemingly killed in a gamma-based explosion and Hulk thought he was free of him for good. But apparently somehow Banners consciousness magically transitioned from his own brain back into Hulk's.