Bought/Thought October 28th, 2009 - SPOILERS

[CaptainCanada]

Part I: The Best

Dark Avengers: Ares #1 - in which Ares is given a group of soldiers to boss around and mutilate at his whims. Gillen wrote an enjoyable Beta Ray Bill story, and he does a great job with Ares here, a balance of thuggish nonchalance and god-complex rants (the opening one seems like a takeoff on Patton). Manuel Garcia, who did the later parts of Paul Cornell's Wisdom miniseries, does a great job on art, though sometimes his lines could be a bit firmer. I hope there's more to the ending plot then suggested, because immediately revisiting the Phobos angle doesn't strike me as especially interesting.

Dark Reign: Young Avengers #5 - after dropping back a few weeks in terms of time (Brooks is a good writer, but he's not exactly fast), Paul Cornell's Young Avengers miniseries comes to a pretty good conclusion. It's mostly dominated by a big brawl which gives most of the cast some good moments. The Speed/Coat angle really deserved a few additional pages of time (but that's a recurring thing I find in Cornell's writing; occasionally things can be a bit choppy). Patriot's faceoff with Iron Patriot was excellent; it toed the line in terms of power differential, but the hand-breaking thing was a nice touch. I'm...still not sure what to make of the last page. An odd note to go out on.

Fantastic Four #572 - Hickman's opening arc on the title comes to an end here, a swift three issues. He succeeded in subverting my expectations here, as the Council ultimately did not turn into a massive screwup that 616-Reed and his team had to fix. Indeed, they remain good-guys. It certainly seems like we'll be revisiting these guys later, so maybe that'll happen then. As it is, this is a decent finale; it ends with Hickman, rather more predictably, remembering that family is really important to him. The issue also sets up next issue's welcome focus spotlight on some other members of the group. I would really like Eaglesham's Reed to shave, and Val looks disturbingly like a bobblehead in some panels, but otherwise he's a great fit.

Incredible Hercules #137 - "The Secret Origin of Amadeus Cho" concludes, and does a good job of both providing satisfying answers to many of the series' past mysteries and setting up future plot points. Dupree emerges as a well-rounded character, Athena's first choice who ran away from the prospect, and set about murdering anyone who might follow (imagine how much all those geniuses could have accomplished). The explanation for what Athena's doing all this to ready for makes sense, but it seems like Hera was actually managed to catch Athena off-guard, which isn't something we've seen in a while. Elsewhere, Aunt May for some reason decides to set Peter up with a crazy goddess-impersonator who she found living in a cave last week.

 

[yenaled]

X-Factor #50 was a bit of a mind blowing book.

 

[MarvelWarrior]

How was Nova?

 

[squeekness]

I read both List Wolverine and List Punisher one shots and rather enjoyed them both. List Wolverine was funny and entertaining and List Punisher had a big surprise at the end that I didn't see coming. Both well worth picking up.

 

[kguillou]

How is it that nobody on the boards are talking about The List: Punisher?? Man..poor Frank, what a brutal end.

 

[squeekness]

I know, right? I never saw that coming....

 

[PaleRider]

How is it that nobody on the boards are talking about The List: Punisher?? Man..poor Frank, what a brutal end.

i was thinking the same thing. I liked the issue but I don't think Frankencastle is going to be good, in fact I think it looks dumb as hell. Tony moores art work looks awesome though.

 

[Vort]

i was thinking the same thing. I liked the issue but I don't think Frankencastle is going to be good, in fact I think it looks dumb as hell. Tony moores art work looks awesome though.

I haven't seen the punisher list yet, but will try to pick it up next week. I've heard about the ending.

Have you guys seen the cover of the next punisher yet? With the metal parts?

 

[PaleRider]

I haven't seen the punisher list yet, but will try to pick it up next week. I've heard about the ending.

Have you guys seen the cover of the next punisher yet? With the metal parts?

yeah theres a preveiw for it at the end of the list, art work is awesome but story looks awful.

 

[bored]

Blackest Night 4: Flash takes charge of the resistance on Earth, which gets most of the focus ("Green Latern" also came out this week, and showed Hal and co. kicking ass in space). Sort of a bridge issue, with lots of action and little plot development (though there is an interesting moment with new Firestorm absorbed into old Firestorm).

Guardians of the Galaxy: A good, strong issue. The members of the team who were jumping through time are rescued by, of all people, Kang the Conqueror, one of the biggest bads in Marvel. Basically, the result of Warlock's attaching the current timeline to the one in which he became Magus screws up all timelines, problematic for Kang, so he gives Starlord a Cosmic Cube that he apparently just sort of had, told them to use it to slow down time when Martyr was going to kill Warlock, and had them make sure she would succeed. And then,

Spoiler

it all goes pear-shaped, and almost all of the wonderfully over-sized team is killed. Seriously. Even Cosmo. THEY KILLED THE HILARIOUS TALKING RUSSIAN DOG!

X-Factor: Wherein the fifty-issue run under one writer screws with all our heads in ways we never expected. Falcone's plot to kill all mutants in the future timeline (which was assisted by Tryp, the villain from the earliest arcs of the title) involved easily-destroyed Sentinels covertly infecting all mutants with certain particles which would eventually be sucked through a portal, taking them along. Yep. It doesn't need to make sense, it concludes the story arc in a cleanish way. I shall write the rest in spoiler tags, because it is all continuity-affecting goodness.

Spoiler

First thing's first: Layla Miller's occasional nickname of "Butterfly" is finally explained. See, she first tested out her power of reviving the dead on butterflies. Oh, yeah, didn't know about that before, did you? Apparently "knowing stuff" was never her power, bringing back the dead is. What the ****? More on that later. See, Cortex kills Trevor "Soon to be evil" Fitzroy, and she revives him, knowing he'll be evil soon. The twist? When she revives people, it is apparently without a soul. Or basically, they come back sinister. And this is why Trevor Fitzroy is evil. Why, when you saw him back in the early 90s so much, was he a bastard? Because he was originally a nice guy, then he was killed by a pissed off Madrox dupe, then Layla Miller brought him back from the dead.

Take that in. Just look away from the screen for a sec, okay?

It ends with Jamie and Layla going back in time. Jamie returns to the team, while Layla apparently goes farther back in time, where she goes to the orphanage she grew up in. She tells her younger self the entire story, then injects her with some thing that gives her everything older Layla has seen and experienced in her life. And THAT is why Layla Miller knows stuff. And why does she know so little about herself? Information overload, basically.

And yet, it all works. It all reads well. PAD, never, ever, ever stop what you are doing.

 

[Shockdingo]

Yea the Punisher stuff this week looks interesting, but ugh...I just don't think I can take what happens in the List. The future of this book is majorly turning me off, so this is where I'll stop. I'm going to miss reading Frank in the MU, but not if this is the result...ugh...it's the 90's revival all over again....Q^%^%$

 

[samurai black]

I read both List Wolverine and List Punisher one shots and rather enjoyed them both. List Wolverine was funny and entertaining and List Punisher had a big surprise at the end that I didn't see coming. Both well worth picking up.

The ending The Punisher: The List dropped my jaw. I cant believe that

Spoiler

They actaully killed Frank Castle. And what a brutal end it was. I found it odd that they used Daken instead of Bullseye (they have more history). Decapitated, gouged eye, limbs severed, remains kicked into the sewer. Man, they did Castle all kinds of nasty.

. I'm still in shock and can't understand what the future holds for this title. Its sad, but this was the 2nd book (out of about 9) i read today and it totally ruined my experience with the rest.

 

[Vort]

The ending The Punisher: The List dropped my jaw. I cant believe that

Spoiler

They actaully killed Frank Castle. And what a brutal end it was. I found it odd that they used Daken instead of Bullseye (they have more history). Decapitated, gouged eye, limbs severed, remains kicked into the sewer. Man, they did Castle all kinds of nasty.

. I'm still in shock and can't understand what the future holds for this title. Its sad, but this was the 2nd book (out of about 9) i read today and it totally ruined my experience with the rest.

Spoiler

um....I just have no idea how they are going to bring him back as some sort of cyborg.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Okay... due to the sheer amount of books that came out this week that I'd normally buy, I only got part of them and the rest, along with what I couldn't afford last week, will all be spread out over the next 2 or 3 weeks. So here's what I did buy...

Starting with Blackest Night...

Blackest Night 4 – The middle of the road for the mini and we’re still having he Earth heroes kicking around dead Earth characters. Honestly, I feel like this needs to stop and they need to get into space. I understand that this book is for the company-wide portion of the crossover, but there’s only so much of this we can take before it gets really old and it’s already massively old.

However, there is plot development at the very end with whoever this Nekron guy is showing up that people’s been talking about on the Internet lately. I’m new to DC so I have no idea who he is, and thus, it had no impact on me in the slightest. But at least we have another true face of the Black Lanterns besides Scar and Black Hand.

Some moments that I did think were cool though?

- Azrael black lantern’s meeting with Scarecrow, who can’t show emotions now and thus, isn’t effected by the Blackest Night… but really wants to be. Interesting.

- The death of Damage. I read and enjoyed Justice Society of America up until the end of the Gog storyline and I really liked him. I figure a lot of these dead people will be back by event’s end, but his death shocked me more than most. At least it was an important character’s death that sent the Black Lantern’s power levels to 100%, leading to the rise of Nekron.

- The Rising of Coast City. Excited to see Hal deal with that!

Green Lantern 47 – The cosmic portion of Blackest Night, and the portion I’m actually interested in. This was a great issue that brings the focus of the event back to the multi-colored lanterns.

I like how the Red Lanterns are a threat to the Black because they can live without their hearts (as their Rings replace them basically), so as Atrocitus’s heart is ripped out, he commences on kicking bootay! And then he later goes and confronts the Orange Lantern, demanding his Lantern Battery. Cool things to come there! Though I will say this, I like Mahnke’s art, but his Larfreeze SUCKS!

The rest of the issue was great. It’s interesting seeing the Lanterns working together, and I’m really growing to like Sinestro in this event. At this point, I really like the Green Lantern titles better than the actual core event mini. We’ll see how it all turns out in the end though.



Now on to the Cosmic stuff….

Nova 30 – It was an okay issue. I still don’t give a lick about Starstalker and I don’t really want him to come back. I do, however, really like Philo, and I’m glad he’s staying on with the new Nova Corps as Kilowog… I mean the drill stargent .

The rest of the issue was just good, but I’m really excited for the next arc with Darkhawk. Yeah baby!

Guardians of the Galaxy 19 – While I hate, hate, HATE the art this book has had lately, this issue rocked all kinds of socks off! It was only a small role for Kang, and I was sad about that, but it was still a good one… but the ending… the ENDING!

You know those deaths that happen in books and you just know that it’s temporary and will change fairly quickly? Well, this one had some deaths and it actually feels fairly final. Now, I haven’t looked into future solicits but I really wonder if these deaths are going to stick so that the Guardians’s team is thinned and more manageable. The final casualty of the War of Kings.

Honestly, I could easily go without Warlock, Victory, and Phyla. Gamora and Mantis are a bit harder to swallow, but not pour Russian Cosmo. That one gets to me! If this does stick then I’ll be sad about those last three, but that pooch most of all. I’ve really grown to love that dog! We’ll see how it turns out, but if the book was written well enough so that I actually believe the finality of the deaths, then that’s one well written book!

Son of Hulk 16 – Is this series canceled yet? It just feels so pointless now. The issue is just like the previous few. Shadow kid is a *****e bag who thinks he’s Evil-Jesus and on and on. I will say this though, I was shocked at the deaths of Old Sam and Princess Omaka. And despite my growing bored with this title since the shift of focus, that last page had my jaw drop and NOW I’m eager for the last issue. Hiro-Kala apparently has been a *****e because he wanted this planet, not for his own sake, but to serve it to Galactus with hopes of becoming his next Herald. Now THAT’S interesting. I’m wondering how Silver Surfer and Stardust are going to handle that


And more to come soon....

 

[JewishHobbit]

Let’s see… what’s next… Ah! Avengers and such related titles….

New Avengers 58 – It was okay. About as good as recent New Avengers stuff, which really has been pretty decent. The Avengers are trapped by the Dark Avengers and Hammer and this is their escape. Luke was taken into custody last issue due to his heart problems and is near death. The escape is interesting, but I think the best part of the entire issue is the scene where the Night Nurse tells Ms. Marvel/Moonstone exactly how it is. She basically alerts the media, via Ben Urich, that Luke turned himself in and is near death so that Norman HAS to get him medical treatment and save his life at risk of causing a public uproar. Likewise, she’s also turned herself in though they had no reason for invading her place to begin with, and again, if they do anything to her then the media will know wrong was done. And so on and so on… and she just boldly tells Ms. Marvel when asked who she is. “I’m the Night Nurse!” Good girl!

Oh, and Jessica Jones’s reaction to hearing that Luke was captured and in really bad shape was touching. And it’s nice meeting her mother

Avengers: The Initiative 29 – I hate to say it but this book really feels like a tag-on these days. Some important things are happening here but it doesn’t really feel like any of the other Avenger-ish stuff care a lick about it. Camp Hammer is a big deal and there’s some big characters here, but it’s like it doesn’t really matter. That’s the impression I’m getting anyway. I really wonder if this book will be around after Dark Reign wraps up. It feels fairly directionless.

However, that said, I will say I loved the book itself. Being a fan of the most recent New Warriors series, I love seeing Donyell’s quest to bring back his brother, Dwayne, the original Night Thrasher, from the dead. I feel Penance’s story is growing, whereas before it felt like he was regressing from his progress made over in Thunderbolts. And we also see the progression of Trauma’s story, and especially in the end where Nightmare manifests himself through him. Curious where that goes.

I think my favorite scene though was Constrictor saving that plain and his reaction to the family who thank him. It was touching and, as someone who always kinda had a soft spot for Constrictor, I like seeing him as more than just a flunky here.

Secret Warriors 9 – You know, when this book first started it was slow and I almost dropped it about 3 times. MAN am I glad I didn’t This is by far one of the best books Marvel puts out each month, and has been since around issue 5 or so. I am LOVING this series. So much so that when I drop a lot of the Avengers titles early next year, I am more than likely sticking with this one.

We see a lot of interesting things with the new kids in this story, as they take center stage. We learn how Eve’s teleportation works, and it’s more interesting than most I think. We learn more about the big dude’s power (I forget his name… stonewall or something?). It turns out that he not only grows in size and strength, but he can take on the properties of things he touches. Dude’s a BEAST! He took Ares’s axe to the chest, became that metal and commenced to kick major butt… all while having the axe sticking out of his chest. Dude’s awesome! And then there’s Yo-Yo, or Slingshot, or whatever she’s called now. Girl gets back in the game after having new metal arms given to her and she kicks major butt. She gets some good hits in on Ares and then goes on to kick the living crap out of Hawkeye/Bullseye leaving him lying there in a bloody pulp! You Go Girl! And though it was a small thing, I liked seeing Quake shatter Osborne’s mask. That was fun.

All in all this was a great read. Everything was just spot on and I can’t wait for the next issue, the inevitable showdown between Ares and Alex. Here’s hoping that it somehow acknowledges Alex’s ability to actually fight, as was shown in the Ares mini a few years back that debuted the character.

If you’re not reading this book, get to reading! Yes, it started kinda bleh, but it’s become really good!



And now, X-Men…. In chronological order.

X-Factor 50 – this doesn’t connect to anything, so it can be read at any time.

But man, was it a good issue. I like this book but have been a little worn out on this whole long running storyline, but this payoff really was great. We learn a lot about several characters, such as exactly WHY Fitzroy is how he is (and I really liked the explanation), and exactly what Layla knows. It was cool but I’m worried it’s going to end up killing the interest in the character. Hew new ability to resurrect things soulless (well, not new as we’ve seen her do it to Butterflies early in the series) isn’t nearly as interesting as seeing things with a Butterfly effect. But oh well, I trust David to do the character justice.

I won’t go into much detail because someone above already did, but the feeling of the book was great and it even mocks a bit at the not Noirness of the title and I liked that. Heck, I’m okay with it only being semi-Noir, so that’s cool with me.

X-Force 20 – Not too much to say here. Good issue, great art. We finally see the injured Wolfesbane and her white wolf friend returning to the team. X-23 goes nuts and kills a lot of guards with one arm and finally breaks down, having had too much… showing her true human side. That was probably the best part of the book for me. And in the end we see Doug Ramsey alive, following up from when Warlock found his grave empty in New Mutants 5 last month, leading us into Necrosha.

Necrosha One Shot – VERY good issue. I like minor characters so the return of such characters as Blink, Senyaka, Pyro, Shinobi Shaw, and the Hellions was cool for me. And as a New X-Men fan, I’m glad to finally see Wither back again as well.

This story was split into 3 tales, one for the X-Force focus, one leading into New Mutants, and one leading into X-Men Legacy.

The 1st story focused on Selene and the beginning of the storyline. Basically, it’s Blink teleporting a bunch of dead onto Utopia and the X-Men begin finding them and chaos ensues. It’s all a bit ‘Blackest Night’ but as a long time X-Men fan, I’m cool with that!

My only complaint with this story was that I was REALLY hoping that Synch would come back and somehow stay back. It was building up to it when Emma started hearing people talking to her who she had let down. She has a long list of students to die on her and Synch was one of them. I was eager and smiling when I turned that page, and then was QUICKLY let down to only find Hellions. If Synch was going to return it would have been right then, so now my hopes are smashed. That was really the main thing I was hoping to see come out of this story, so I’m pretty let down now. But it was good and the story will most likely end up good, but we’ll see.

The 2nd story was the New Mutants lead-in that focused on Doug Ramsey’s return. Not much to say here other than that Doug’s brought back and we see that he understand’s every language and that is now how he sees things, through the binary code of the Phalanx basically. He gets the dead crew into Utopia’s main place (I guess leading into the previous story’s attack) but he doesn’t go with them because he finds info on Magma, who was one of the people who betrayed Selene in the past (as are the people they’re targeting) and so he decides to go after her…. Leading into the next issue of New Mutants (to be reviewed in a moment).

The 3rd story was my least favorite and focused on Selene talking to the resurrected Destiny. Basically, Destiny tells Selene that she sees her success and she is then taken to a cell. She attempts to send her mind out to find ‘her daughter’ whom I assume to be Rogue, but ends up finding Blindfold (who I think would make a better daughter for Destiny than Rogue). She discusses a bit with her and then gives her a message to deliver (which we don’t hear). She then returns to her cell and questions her message saying it isn’t… (something, as she doesn’t finish her sentence) but it must have been pretty bad because she ends up saying “What have I done?” And that leads into X-Men Legacy.

Great issue, great lead in. Very predictable due to previews and such, but now I’m real eager to see where all these stories lead from here.

New Mutants 6 – the first tie-in to Necrosha, and I loved it. Doug Ramsey finds his way to the New Mutants, who, of course, are a little freaked out. A fight commences and the New Mutants win, but after Warlock arrives and saves Doug, a little confused, he kills Warlock and is ready to kill the rest.

I highly doubt Warlock is dead (see! What’d I say about that during my Guardians review?!). I’m expecting him to somehow be the key to Doug’s real return due to whatever it was of Doug’s essence he injected into Doug’s body.

And I have to say Doug is one bad dude now. Before being just able understand languages and computer code and such, he can now read body language and the meaning behind words and such as if it were a language, leading to him being able to counter and fight anyone easily. He was cool! Can’t wait for the next issue.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Nova was great. Philo is a really promising character--I love his "old warhorse" perspective, as opposed to Rich's unorthodox ideas about everything and the probies' cluelessness. Ko-Relmind's reaction to him and Rich's response was great, too. "Him I like, he knows how to show respect." "Shut up, Worldmind." I'm interested to see how and when Starstalker will turn up again, and I'm looking forward to Ego's next appearance a lot. He was bad enough when he was just a crazy planet, but now he's a pissed crazy planet with Nova Corps tech like the ability to open stargates. That's gotta come back to bite the new Nova Corps in the ass later on.

Guardians of the Galaxy was good but didn't leave me with the funtastic feelings I usually have after an issue of it. Probably because of all the gratuitous death. Half the goddamn team is dead now. I'm sure at least most of them will be back, but geez, that's kind of ridiculous for one issue. And Kang's cameo in the issue really didn't warrant a cover image. Dude's there for like 4 pages and he mostly just talks. Hopefully this isn't the last we see of him on the cosmic scene; he fits there really well, and it doesn't look like any of the Avengers titles are going to use him anytime soon. Fairly weak issue by the series' standards but still decent. Should be interesting to see Moondragon become the Guardians' top psychic. I was hoping DnA would use her as more than a damsel in distress.

Fantastic Four was predictable, but never let it be said that predictable = unsatisfying. This was a wonderful arc and showed in no uncertain terms why "our" Reed is the best. Nathaniel's words toward the end of the issue sum it up perfectly: Reed has it in him to be both good and great, and he proves it with his climactic choice in this issue. So, yeah, if you read comics purely for shocks and thrills, go find yourself a Millar comic and be happy. But if you don't mind a little sensible character work and poignant emotion in your comics, this issue is excellent. And for me personally, it's great to be this enthusiastic about the FF again. I haven't enjoyed them this much since Waid.

Blackest Night is really losing steam for me. The first two issues were cool because they were building up the threat of the Black Lanterns and the heroes were immediately on the ropes, frantically trying to figure out how the BLs even exist and how to stop them. Then last issue we got the big, horribly delivered info-dump about how the BLs exist and how to stop them. Then everyone who can stop the BLs on Earth leaves and now we've got some more build up for the Black Lanterns with the heroes on the ropes, frantically trying to figure out how to stop the BLs again. There's no progress here. There's some nice speechifying from Barry Allen, who continues to be great within the confines of Blackest Night, and Mera continues to be a major presence, which I personally love; but other than a few nice pages with them and Nekron's arrival, not a goddamned thing of any worth happens in this issue. I was actually bored while reading it. I wouldn't say the series could've lost an issue or two, but the pacing is definitely off--way too much was thrown at us in speech bubbles in the previous issue, and way too little actually happens in this issue. It seems like Johns could've spread the content of these two issues out across them better. Anyway, I just hope next month the pace will finally pick up. Oh, wait, that's right, there's a "break" next month for no bloody reason at all that will further draw things out and drain my interest in this crossover.

Dark Avengers: Ares was unbelievably great. It's extremely testosterone-driven and violent but also a ton of fun. And, given that it's a series about Ares, testosterone-driven and violent make perfect sense. I like that Ares has lately been recast as basically the embodiment of war's savagery. Ares' tirade about how all the strategic and logistical stuff in war is his sister's purview sums up the character pretty perfectly. I loved his training exercise and the shades and his instant knowledge of all the weapons. Really fantastic start to what looks like another promising series from Gillen, whom I am becoming a really huge fan of.

Incredible Hercules was great too. I was not particularly enthusiastic about Cho's story knowing that we would be treated to a Herc/Thor showdown in Herc's issues when the characters split, but Cho's story has absolutely proven to be the more substantial. Herc got a bit of fun while Cho got pretty much all the character development we could ever ask for. For much the same reason I loved all of Ares' talk about the savagery of war and his comprehensive knowledge of the tools of war in his mini, I love Athena's take on the advancement of warfare in this issue. Where Ares sticks to the constant underlying substance of war--kill your enemy, period--Athena evolves with the methods of war. The juxtaposition of Herc and Cho as the greatest warriors of their times because they each embody what the wars of their times need was pretty brilliant as far as superhero comics go. Cho choosing not to play Dupree's game and refusing to kill Dupree shows a noticeable evolution in the character, given that he was hell-bent on revenge against SHIELD at the beginning of the series. Great character work all around.

Avengers: The Initiative was solid. Looking forward to Robbie's fight with the former New Warriors next issue. I hope they knock some sense into him and he gets over the Penance bulls***, since the fact that he's in A:TI implies that no one "important" at Marvel is interested in using him anymore. Kind of sucks about Trauma getting turned into a fleshy host for Nightmare, but I have to admit, I'd much rather see Nightmare kick some ass than continue to see Trauma be conflicted about selling out to Osborn.

X-Factor rocked. Cortex was insanely annoying. He played into all the supervillain clichés and, contrary to what PAD may think, the fact that Jamie hung a lantern on Cortex's being the latest in a long line of evil dupes didn't actually make the character any less boring or derivative. Other than Cortex, though, everything else is pretty good. Everything Layla was great. I'm curious about how she'll return to the X-Factor fold (I mean, she's on the X-Factor #200 cover and she hasn't married Madrox yet, so she'll obviously be back). Doom was great. I hope I never see Ruby again, so leaving her in the future was great. But as good as this issue was, the absolute best part was easily the post-return-to-New-York preview/epilogue/whatever with Val and Franklin Richards. Hickman should borrow PAD to write Valeria's dialogue from now on. She's awesome in the preview.

I read some other stuff but frankly I'm tired of typing reviews now. Be back later.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I actually grew to really like Ruby, though that could just be because of my love of the ever growing difficult Summers family. With her mother being Emma instead of Jean she could be the red-head (er.. skinned) stepchild!

Or Emma's personal play thing, etc.

I was really hoping she'd return, but I understand the reasons of leaving her in the future.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

She was annoying. She's as imperious and obnoxious as her mother, whom I also don't like much.

 

[squeekness]

i was thinking the same thing. I liked the issue but I don't think Frankencastle is going to be good, in fact I think it looks dumb as hell. Tony moores art work looks awesome though.

Yeah, nothing spells lame like stitches and metal parts stickin' outta ya. I won't be reading the continuation of the FrankenPunisher. It's just to stupid. I am guessing they were trying to come up with ways to make the character more interesting. They needed to try harder.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

My shop's owner and I were talking about Frankencastle yesterday and we both agreed it seemed like something that might be fun. Clearly, it's not gonna appeal to fans who take their Punisher grim-n'-gritty, but those people have Punishermax or Frank Castle: Punisher or whatever the MAX series is called these days. The Punisher's an inherently silly character in the context of a superhuman-laden world anyway, and Frankencastle looks like silly fun. Should be interesting to see where it goes. It's not like we're never going to see normal Frank again in the main Marvel universe, either. Frankencastle's clearly a temporary thing.

 

[Doc Destruction]

So Frank is dead again, eh? Didn't learn anything from the awful angel crap, eh?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

They apparently learned not to take killing Frank and bringing him back as some unholy monster seriously, at least.

 

[kguillou]

Can someone please post a scan of Punisher's demise?

 

[IFryKids]

I'm really liking Blackest Night, but I agree what some of ya'll are saying in that the pacing in the past couple of issues has been a bit "off". It seems to be a case of "fight, escape, talk, repeat" over and over. It'd flow a lot better if Johns mixed up that formula a little more, than having it go step by step like that.

The Nekron appearance, while everybody knew it was coming, was still very cool. I'll be interested to see how Flash gets out of that scenario, since he's face-to-face with Nekron, Black Hand, AND Scar by himself. Too bad we have to wait an extra month to see that.

Green Lantern #47 was a lot of fun too. Atrocitus just became a lot more badass to me, and I can't wait to see what happens with him and Larfleeze in the next issue. I have a feeling that's going to be hilarious. I also liked the touch of Abin Sur indicating he knew the Indigo Lantern previously, getting blown to shreds before he could finish what he was going to say about her. I'm curious to see where that goes, as to whether or not the Indigo Lanterns can truly be trusted, if they have a more villainous agenda, etc.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm not really sure why I'm still reading Green Lantern. I read it at lunch and the whole time I was just speeding through pages without feeling anything. I don't care about any of the characters it covers. Larfleeze's half a page or so was kind of funny, though.