Bought/Thought May 7th, 2008

[Hush]

Well it was 20% off due to a sale my shop is having so I was like hell I really want to read this and even thought Corp says its good and i trust him.

Now i want a delicous cookie.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

 

[El Bastardo]

That is an incredibly delicious looking cookie, sir.

 

[Hush]

Dear God man that cookie is reinvigoratingly awesome!

 

[Dread]

I ****ing hate you for making such a idiotic comparison.

I thought you ****ing hated me for long review posts.

I totally hate to do it but I kind of have to take my previous comment back, I read Detective and the last what was it, four pages of ugly, ugly goddamn Bruce-Zatanna flirting? That was some Claremont-ugly **** right there.

I mean I don't know if it was just awful or Dread bringing up the Claremont thing made me think it was awful or it would have been awful and having the Claremont thing brought up just made me realize how awful it was but man, ugh.

Just for the record, again, I think Dini's stories with Zatanna have still been better than Claremont's more recent Storm fetish sessions.

I know I'm being a comic book nerd and all, but hey Bendis....we saw Mockingbird in hell, when Hellcat was revived...just a little FYI.

Yeah, I noted that in my review.

 

[Blader5489]

On the other hand, having Capt. Marvel fight the Thunderbolts last issue all but tears out the heart of Reed's CAPTAIN MARVEL, which had the false Mav-Vell vow to fight the good fight regardless of origin. Well, the Skrulls gave an order so **** to that, right? What a waste. His entire 5 issue mini is now worthless. Shame, because it was pretty good.

Brian Reed said his story in the "Who Do You Trust?" one-shot would essentially be a Captain Marvel #6, bridging the mini with SI.

Still...I'd rather this basic story happened with Giffen, Abnett, and Lanning, and have featured Great Ultron and his Phalanx warriors.

You'd rather have SI be ****?

(Ignoring Giffen, of course.)

Can Bendis, for once in his mainstream career, evolve and correct his mistakes?

Daredevil and Ultimate Spider-Man aren't mainstream comics?

 

[Dread]

Brian Reed said his story in the "Who Do You Trust?" one-shot would essentially be a Captain Marvel #6, bridging the mini with SI.

Fair enough. I may, MAY, give that a try, if it is a slow week. I already buy a messload of comics.

You'd rather have SI be ****?

(Ignoring Giffen, of course.)

We'll continue to disagree on that. ANNIHILATION CONQUEST was inferior to the original event that Giffen penned by one full grade level, but to me that is hardly ****. But, to each their own.

Daredevil and Ultimate Spider-Man aren't mainstream comics?

I'll give you DAREDEVIL, although it was decompressed as hell. USM, though, melted into fan-fic level dribble by Clone Saga and I know I wasn't the only one who jumped that ship after that, or after Bagley left.

 

[Darthphere]

Detective doesn't bother me for the sole reason that I like the Zatanna/Batman dynamic, and if it became romantic at some point, would not mind at all.

 

[fifthfiend]

Zatanna-Batman itself doesn't bug me so much as the way it was done in that comic. It was really I don't know, overwritten or something.

...In fact that's pretty much exactly what it was. The Zatanna/Bats thing works best when it's sort of unspoken but understood, having them both come out making long-ass speeches about "I LOVES U BUT YOU CANNOT LOVES ME BECAUSE YOUR EMOTIONS ARE UNEMOTIONAL BECAUSE U LOVES TOO MUCH UR CITY BUT SOMEDAY BLAH ****ING BLAH" just kills it.

 

[Darthphere]

Type that backwards.

 

[BrianWilly]

I see shades of Storm/Black Panther popping through. Characters with very little actual history? Overenthusiastic writer who just really really really needs to 'ship them 'cause in his mind they're just the perfectest couple? No problem, just add assloads of flashbacks! It's as if we're writing actual characterization...but in reverse!

OMG lol "reverse"

 

[fifthfiend]

Type that backwards.

It was painful enough typing it forwards.

 

[Darthphere]

I see shades of Storm/Black Panther popping through. Characters with very little actual history? Overenthusiastic writer who just really really really needs to 'ship them 'cause in his mind they're just the perfectest couple? No problem, just add flashbacks!

Except, even fifthfiend will admit, there is a history. A much more defined history as opposed to "Yeah Storm hung out with T'Challa for like an issue when they were kids in a comic in the 70's."

 

[BrianWilly]

A romantic history?

 

[Darthphere]

A romantic history?

A flirtacious history.


Italics FTW!

 

[BrianWilly]

I've never seen that sort of thing.

And you can't deny that whatever flirtations they've had are just being a bit exaggerated now by Dini. All that stuff with them being childhood friends and their fathers were superbuddies that we've coincidentally never heard of before? And the whole "Don't you wonder what could have been" spiel, making them out like destined soulmates or something.

 

[fifthfiend]

Batman's also a bit different than Black Panther in that in Batman's case individual history is almost beside the point, they've made it abundantly clear on any number of occasions that basically every single woman in the DCU wants to **** the Batman's brains out and would do so at pretty much any opportunity.

Besides he's setting them up as ****-buddies, not husband and wife. Flashbacking is allowed if alls he's setting up is a first date.

 

[Darthphere]

I've never seen that sort of thing.

And you can't deny that whatever flirtations they've had are just being a bit exaggerated now by Dini. All that stuff with them being childhood friends and their fathers were superbuddies that we've coincidentally never heard of before? And the whole "Don't you wonder what could have been" spiel, making them out like destined soulmates or something.

You just described every love interest in the history of comics short of Lana Lang.

As long as the retcons make sense, I don't have a problem. Zatarra and Thomas Wayne being buddies, makes sense. Both rich and famous, they ran in the same circles. And I think there was a lot more to that line than the obvious you're getting at.

 

[Dread]

Now for the rest of my comic pile. As always, full spoilers.

Dread's BOUGHT/THOUGHT for 5/7/08:

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1 Or, rather, the book Fraction chose to do instead of the "destined for cancellation" THE ORDER. In theory, it sounds like a good idea. Launch a new Iron Man book a week after the debut of the hit film (which was GREAT, FYI) that isn't so terribly heavy in Marvel continuity that a newcomer couldn't at least have a decent idea of what is going on. Insert Pepper Potts. Put on a sort-of "hot" artist like Larroca.

In reality, though, IRON MAN's solo title has been struggling for quite some time, regardless of the buzz for the movie the last month or two. Movies have very rarely resulted in spikes for subsequent series for long. And Larroca's star has faded a bit since he started playing the game of "which celebrity will I draw into a comic next?", which is only one rung above swiping as on the list of artist blunders that fans hate. And while Fraction is a talented writer who has written some decent selling books, one wonders if he is quite A-List in terms of hype yet. With the main IM title sagging towards the bottom of the Top 50 for months now without CW or The Initiative to boost it, it could be seen as silly to launch a SECOND title.

On the plus side, I like Fraction's work, which was the reason why I decided to buy this. I've never bought an issue of Iron Man before. How'd it stack up in terms of quality?

Firstly, it does everthing a first issue should. It sets up the status quo and gives some minor exposition in regards to Stark's current gig as head of SHIELD, and his Extremis powers. And it isn't Part 2 of a storyline. That alone makes it better than some DC debut issues (re: THE TITANS #1). It also narrows down a key point of Stark's character, which the movie naturally defined; his quest to not see his technology fall into the wrong hands, and his horror when it inevitably does. Instead of nutcases in armor, it is cybernetic suicide bombers. Supporting characters like War Machine and Potts show up and have some good banter with Tony. Fraction has a ball with lines, especially in a sequence where "Zeke" Stane (his carry-over rogue from THE ORDER) takes out a board of directors. Larroca's art also delivers. Sure, it plays into what Iron Man is doing right now, but it isn't so continuity heavy that someone who has never read Iron Man (but saw the movie) couldn't grasp it. Granted, the last "new" comic book fan entered the industry in 1984 (according to archeologist digs), and aside for televised "event" issues (Death of Cap/Supes, Unmaskings, etc), none remain. This issue will sell to the die-hards, but it may have a decent debut. The question will be lasting power. IM's normal book has never been able to keep high sales past a year or so, and it will be interesting to track this one.

On the upside, Fraction doesn't write Tony as a jerk, and I seemed to like his banter with Rhodey better than Slott & Gage usually write it in A:TI. Overall, a solid debut of a title I will add to my pull-pile, at least so long as Fraction is on it. The guy's definately a rising star and if this can get good numbers, that'll be a big plus for his career.

LOGAN #3: Vaughan's best selling Marvel work aside for Ultimate X-Men, naturally being a franchise with a heavilly exploited character. The series is over and I still see nothing that was "too extreme" to have been an arc in WOLVERINE, but I digress, that has always been the issue with side mini's and one-shots for many other characters besides Wolverine. Besides, Iron Man gets around a lot more than he does these days.

My summary of the last two issues is that BKV & Risso have created a fairly generic Wolverine storyline and told it very well. This remains the case in this final chapter. You could literally search an entire list of arcs from Wolverine's ongoing title over the years (as well as his MCP storylines, one-shots, mini's, etc.) and find one at random that has all of this story's elements; Logan's past comes to haunt him in the present, usually to avenge some woman who got murdered on him, against an enemy who we will never see or hear from again. LOGAN has all of that.

So why was it worth reading? Vaughan & Risso pace it well, it has some great visuals and a lot of style, and they don't make it out to be more than it is. I have a hard time buying that Atsuko was the "first" woman Logan slept with, considering by the 40's he would have been in his 50's at least (in numerical age, he was born in the late 1800's), but aside for that it tells the story well of star crossed lovers and an insane enemy who is consumed by anger and bigotry. Warren, a mutant who can't regenerate, but also cannot die, is suck as a flaming wraith after the atomic bomb, and Wolverine has returned to settle the score. The fight doesn't turn until Warren eats Wolverine's heart (this is about the 2nd or 3rd time Wolverine has had his heart removed in a story) and it's regeneration abilities seem to stabilize Warren, giving him his body back, but rendering him apparently powerless. I think. It seemed obligatory, as a way for Wolverine to finally prevail. But, again, it IS a generic story basically. Wolverine says farewell to his lady love's ghost and everything's peachy at the end. Generic stories done well are still better than interesting stories done poorly. Risso's art especially carries a great mood to things, reminding me of a "young and still good Frank Miller" in style.

Still, a shame this will outsell DR. STRANGE: OATH, which was better in practically every way.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #13: Ares has a cameo but it really is just a continuation from NEW AVENGERS, with Nick Fury out of the shadows and assembling a merry band of metahumans to play "save the day" with. The biggest complaint I have about the story (with art by Maleev again) is that Bendis' classification logic seems odd. Mutants are born with their powers. But apparently, if you are born from a superhuman (who wasn't a mutant) like Daisy and the other folks here are, you're NOT a mutant. You "just have screwy genes". Oh. This from the man who invents a drug taken from DNA captured from other heroes, i.e. Spider-Man, and calls it MUTANT Growth Hormone (even when most times it isn't taken from mutants). C'mon, it is pretty simple. If you're born with super-powers, and you're not an Inhuman, alien, or some biologically grown being from a lab somewhere, or mystically empowered, you're a mutant. If not, then Namor isn't a mutant, and Marvel has been claiming he is simply by being "born" empowered beyond Atlantians for over 15 years now. I really see no need to complicate things. Even if you can go, "one of their powers had mutated genes from some accident", if their kid is born with powers, they are mutants. All of Marvel line wide said this throughout the 90's and even into Joe Q's tenure. It just seems like extra work for Bendis, or maybe he seems too big on himself to admit he is making new "mutant" characters when his HOM was supposed to ERASE them. Heh, even Bendis is trying loopholes around his own story.

So, Daisy goes recruiting, and the first person she recruits is Ares' son. Who was supposed to be human, hence some of the point of his ARES mini (or so I heard), but now is Phobos who can scare anyone with a glance. Also assembled are new characters, the offspring of the Griffen, Phantom Rider, and Dr. Druid.

Oh, and you HAVE to "love" that scene with Layla Miller, where Bendis capitilizes on the things that PAD has done to improve his own character and seems to play with them like they were his own. It was inevitable that Bendis would write Miller again somewhere, but after all the effort PAD has done to fix her in X-FACTOR, it almost feels cheap seeing Bendis write her now. She was WORTHLESS in HOM. Just a Mary Sue Maguffin. Peter David worked his arse off to even begin to make her interesting in his own series for years, and now Bendis plunks her back in for an overall WORTHLESS scene (other than to hype, naturally, his own character Daisy into being, of course, of cosmic importance to all of Marvel, like any Bendis character creates) like he never left her for dead after HOM. The funny thing is, I really don't even read X-FACTOR and yet it pissed me off, the idea of Bendis picking at PAD's work.

You don't see Dan Slott or Matt Fraction having some godly knowledgable character look at their own creations and go, "you're going to be one of the GREATS" in so many words. McDuffie did that for Gravity in FF and BEYOND!, but that wasn't his own character (McKeever created him). No, only Bendis has the inflated ego to do that, consistently, for any character he creates or happens to "love", like Cage or Drew. That's some cajones', man. No one loves Bendis stories as much as he loves them, except maybe his editors. The shame of it was Bendis was a talented writer, until Marvel coddled the edge out of him.

Still, aside for that annoyance, it isn't a bad issue. It is obligatory but at least it creates some new character legacies, some of which have potential (Marvel can always use more speedsters). And naturally Maleev and Bendis are a good pair together. The cover is a nice homage, even if the story really doesn't have any Skrulls. It is another SI installment and it seems Bendis' team books during this event may as well be called "SECRET INVASION BI-WEEKLY", but that may not be so bad. After all, it keeps ninjas off the panels.

MOON KNIGHT #18: Part 5 of hopefully a 6 part storyline where Carson Knowles has donned his black armor again and is framing Moon Knight for murders he didn't commit. Specter's still crazy, though, and Iron Man wants to shut him down, although he offers Marc more chances than half the heroes he jolly-stomped in CW (some for just APPEARING IN PUBLIC IN A COSTUME). And Marc's life is crumbling around him.

The issue isn't bad, and Texeira's art is good, and the showdown begins at the end of the book, but I've checked out of this series a few months ago, and am just waiting for this story to end so I can drop the book with closure.

I enjoyed this less than two Bendis comics this week, which is saying something from me. I like MOON KNIGHT in general, but the series has just worn a bit thin for me.

NOVA #13: No crossovers or viruses, outer space's #1 solo hero is back in action as DnA & Alves team up for a new arc. While people may have been disappointed with AC, hardly anyone can complain about NOVA. Seriously, they write him so well, why DIDN'T he do more in AC? Sure, that'd have just imitated the first ANNIHILATION, but hey, the X-films relied on, "have Wolverine save the day" for at least two movies and they all earned a mint.

But enough about that. This is more NOVA greatness. DnA continue to right Richard Rider as a bold, inspiring and all around cool hero; the fact that space is his primary territory and element is the icing on the cake. Summoned to the planet Orblicen as the last remaining Centurian, Nova faces a world that is being devoured by Galactus and is in it's death-throws. All that can be done is an attempt at evacuating the populace. When Adjudik, the planet's leader, summons Nova simply to ensure that his nobility survives, while leaving the poor to die, Nova is naturally infuriated and plans to save both, regardless of the odds. Now, THAT'S heroism, and it is something that didn't used to seem so rare in 616 Marvel. Unfortunately, there seems to be a psychic serial killer named Harrow who is possessing bodies and off on a slaughter. This seems a bit similar to the menace back at Knowhere for me, and if they aren't connected then it just seems a bit lazy. Nova manages to contain Harrow in time to load the escape pods, but can't due to Galactus' machines effecting the planet. So he is off to do the impossible, delay the big purple helmet, and naturally runs into a fight with Silver Surfer.

Of course, the one downside of ANNIHILATION was it basically stuck Surfer back to his 60's status quo of being Galactus' herald, which is a giant step backwards in character development worthy of a Geoff Johns/Alex Ross Seal of Approval ("Nothing matters after 1980, baby!"). But it is what it is and at least this match-up will give us nerds a way to compare Nova's new weight-class. Is he actually a match for Surfer now? Considering Surfer's past love for Earth and sentient beings, what sorts of moral conflicts will Rich bring up? It all is a goldmine of potential.

NOVA's a rocking series, the space book for people who normally don't like space books. Richard Rider continues to be one of the coolest heroes in 616 Marvel right now, and all without compromising who he is, or donning black emo garb. Nova stepping up is one of the best character revamps of Joe Q's tenure and it is worth bragging about (along with Iron Fist and some others). And congrats on this volume of NOVA being the first in years to last past issue #12. Some posters doubted it would.

PUNISHER: WAR JOURNAL #19: The second Fraction book for me this week, and it seems Chaykin has become the series' new official artist. I don't really care for his style, but it has some appeal for this series. Frank Castle is having a "day in the life" and Fraction sets up more of a supporting cast, and a chunk of them get slaughtered at the end of the story. It is a stock ploy but Fraction does it well.

Jigsaw's plan is coming together, framing Punisher for acts beyond just killing crooks and getting him branded a full on terrorist, bringing the cops in force and even making some of his few allies second-guess him. Ian nearly offs Castle's disfigured medicine lady and Jigsaw sets up a final deathtrap. Fraction even acknowledges NA and notes that Jigsaw is doing this "with The Hood's approval", noting that the Hood is the seeming leader of the underworld now (or at least still is in the crazed eyes of Jigsaw, one of Hood's first allies). Jigsaw's donned the Punisher's colors before so Fraction is clearly having a ball with some of the craziness of Jigsaw, but alongside his own "Zeke" Stane in THE ORDER/ INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, he seems to do well with insane rogues.

Nothing Eisner worthy, but still entertaining. Not as "fun" as some past issues, but a good enough storyline pitting Castle against his only real arch-enemy, bringing things to a head.

 

[BrianWilly]

You just described every love interest in the history of comics short of Lana Lang.

As long as the retcons make sense, I don't have a problem. Zatarra and Thomas Wayne being buddies, makes sense. Both rich and famous, they ran in the same circles. And I think there was a lot more to that line than the obvious you're getting at.

Every love interest gets told in flashbacks? I don't have a real problem with it either, I'm just saying what it reminds me of. If the pairing makes so much sense, why can't it be developed in the here and now instead of inserting ninja edits into their continuity?

 

[Dread]

Every love interest gets told in flashbacks? I don't have a real problem with it either, I'm just saying what it reminds me of. If the pairing makes so much sense, why can't it be developed in the here and now instead of inserting ninja edits into their continuity?

Fair point. I actually wouldn't have minded Bruce & Zatanna exploring something in the NOW. But instead their stories always end the same. "Every girl in the DCU" may want to **** Batman, but Batman is a master at turning away easy lays.

The "you're too grim, determined, and emotionally suppressed to love anyone" schtick is really getting old.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Granted, the last "new" comic book fan entered the industry in 1984 (according to archeologist digs)

Incorrect; I arrived in 2004.

 

[Dread]

Incorrect; I arrived in 2004.

So you're the "new comic reader" the legends spoke of.

You're probably college aged, at the very least. Comics have ceased to be something a lot of kids read.

 

[Hush]

So I read Thor issues 1-6 and it was pretty awesome not gonna lie, DC Universe #0 was fun and I think some people are reading way to much into it. I think Barry may come back but he is done after this crisis. Its all so much easier than I originally thought it was. I almost picked up SI 1&2 but decided against it cause i really just don't care right now, I was really let down by Civil War and that just kinda turned me off on events by MARVEL.

 

[SouLeSS]

So you're the "new comic reader" the legends spoke of.

You're probably college aged, at the very least. Comics have ceased to be something a lot of kids read.

Techincally I started reading during "The Other" spider-man arc realtime.