Average amount of comics this week. We have another installment of a Marvel mini-event, the final issue of a heralded but poor selling ongoing, two series moving towards a climax and a quiet little book that spotlights a recently killed X-Man. As usual, shorter and fewer reviews of three of these books are at my Examiner page link below. Full spoilers ahead.
Dread's Bought/Thought for 9/16/09:
AGENTS OF ATLAS #11: This is it, the final issue of the ongoing launch attempt. It isn't the end for the book; the Agents will fight the top billed X-Men in a two part mini titled X-MEN VS. AGENTS OF ATLAS, as Ken Hale tells us on the recap page, and that will run until December. After that, the story is this will return as a back-up feature in INCREDIBLE HERCULES. While I imagine both titles cater to the same audience, IH is a book that usually struggles to keep sales at over 30k a month so I am curious whether it will see any boost from this back-up strip. Granted, if even 1,500 of AOA's readers hop aboard IH, that may help. The books do share a bit of history; Namora dated Hercules, and the only unresolved subplot of the Agents in this issue is the goddess Venus being irritated at the siren Venus using her name. Much as BLUE BEETLE tries to have stories that vaguely tie into the main BOOSTER GOLD strip, I imagine Jeff Parker wants to align well with Pak & Van Lente in the near future. He did work alongside Pak during the WORLD WAR HULK tie in that led to Incredible Herc, after all.
The book wraps nearly everything up in this final issue, the third part of the Jade Claw story. In an age of decompression it is rare that I feel a story could have been stretched another issue, but this one probably could have been. At any rate, we get a lot of bang for our three bucks here, with the usual trademark witty banter and delivery from Parker and Hardman. Jimmy Woo's ex and now enemy, the similarly de-aged Suwan/Jade Claw, is caught with him in Venus' love song, but M-21 is still massacring his Atlas soldiers, and defeats M-11 a second time. Fortunately, Ken Hale and their mad scientist play a little "Micky" with him, downloading some "fighting spirit" into M-11 when the Agents have to hold a last stand after the Great Wall has wrecked every other Atlas holding aside for their main base. Everyone gets their crap together and I must say for an emotionless robot, M-11 often steals many scenes he is in. His final triumph over M-21 is pretty damn cool. The book ends with the Great Wall defeated, but Atlas severely damaged in the war with both dragons Lao and Yao being able to plot together again. Hardman's art is crisp and solid as usual, and it is easy to see why he gets Hollywood storyboard work. Even the cover is rather sweet. Ken Hale also gets some of the best lines, as usual.
The conclusion wraps up subplots or details from earlier issues, such as the Red Triangle dimension and even the car that Jimmy Woo left behind there. Those who criticized the flashbacks as "pointless" now may have less reason to complain.
This was not only an excellent series, but a speedy one; by all rights this should be issue eight, not 11, from what it launched. Even after the double feature showdown with the X-Men, Parker and company will have gotten 13 issues of material out in under 10 months, an incredible accomplishment in the era of nearly every book needing a "skip month" after some 5-7 issues (or a book like THOR or ASTONISHING X-MEN, unofficial bi-monthlies). Much like the finale of CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13 #15, this is a bittersweet climax. It's satisfying, but the last issue of a good book is always a little sad, especially when it ends before a year is up. This one isn't on Marvel, of course. They promoted this launch well, they kept the franchise alive in bits before it since 2005, and even the announcement of the X-Men mini was a last ditch effort to drum up interest. It's retailers and fans who sadly didn't bite. They never seem to for the best stuff, do they? At any rate, at least they'll live on in another great book, much as BLUE BEETLE has. The question is of course is how long until INCREDIBLE HERCULES succumbs to sales woes?
I imagine an Omnibus of all of the AOA material once it is all done would be about 20-22 issues worth of material and would make a nice package. Anyone who hasn't tried it would be advised to look out for it.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN #3: A mini that is in no sales trouble; issue two in August was behind BLACKEST NIGHT #1 in sales but still sold over 125k, which is still amazingly well. While taking the story out of CAPTAIN AMERICA and upping the price may have annoyed some fans, obviously commercially it was a wise move for Marvel. Especially since Cap is due a movie soon. Compared to MARVELS PROJECT, this is the louder, more commercial of Brubaker's recent works. It isn't really about anything other than fulfilling what editorial wants and what fans have expected (or dreaded) for over a year. Delivering the inevitable is almost never a good launching point for a story narratively. Still, Brubaker is handling things quite well through execution alone, and Bryan Hitch is managing to maintain a schedule at the halfway point, considering he probably got less lead in time than for FANTASTIC FOUR. That said, this story still has a bit of drag to it; at five chapters, I am thinking it could have been tighter at four.
The main dilemma are the "Steve stumbles through his time-line" elements. Now, I understand the idea of Brubaker trying to have a "theme" with them every issue, akin to MARVELS PROJECT. The first issue of that was about heroes who popped up in 1938-1939, and the second for heroes from 1940 or so. The flashbacks are similar. We started with 1930's and 1940's stuff like the origin of Cap and his wartime exploits, and now we have moved to his revival in the 1960's where he was found in the ice by Namor and revived the Avengers, even into the Kree/Skrull War of the mid to late 60's. If you don't know Steve Rogers' history rather well through his own series, handbooks, animated DTV's, even that "blah" 1990 DTV film, or even CA #600 or other sources that have recapped that origin about a trillion times over the last decade, then I imagine these flashbacks may be informative. If you are vaguely familiar, though, then they serve as page filler, knocking off a few pages so the story can last an extra issue. This one actually seems to end with something that may become key; Rogers seemingly having Vision lay in some data into himself that one figures will be of use in the next issue or in the last. Hitch's style is fine for some bits but struggles with simple costumes in the Kree/Skrull parts; it is amazing he once started out drawing CAPTAIN PLANET in the 90's, as now such a design would look atrocious under his pencils.
Apparently Osborn freed Black Widow, but took James Barnes into Thunderbolts custody after they were captured at the end of issue two. Widow naturally returns to her Avengers allies, who are reacting to the media catching wind of Sharon Caster's involvement in Steve's shooting. They beg her to be reasonable, but she surrenders out of guilt. In the meanwhile, Mr. Fantastic and Namor dig up Steve's corpse, and literally see it vanish before their eyes. Guess they were the last to be surprised, eh? The Falcon gets in a great action sequence helping Barnes escape the Thunderbolts, with some trademark action pacing from Brubaker and even the Eric O'Grady Ant-Man getting a moment to shine. See? He's not ALL bad.
If anything, what I like about REBORN is that extending it beyond a CAPTAIN AMERICA story makes sense as plenty of other heroes would want to be involved in it, such as Hank Pym, Namor, Mr. Fantastic and so on. It goes Brubaker more excuse to include other characters in his continuity, even Ant-Man or the Thunderbolts. After all, Steve was one of the greatest heroes of two generations; if most superheroes saw even a snowball's chance in hell to revive him, they should and do try to help. I mean, this isn't Typeface we're talking about here.
The issue ends with Red Skull getting back in the game and things seeming to shift into Doctor Doom's court again. The whole time machine was his, after all. Even if it basically is a resurrection device now. I suppose the seriousness of the situation can be a drag considering how bloody often superheroes come back from seeming demise (even Reed himself was MIA and presumed dead for a while in the 90's), but to be fair Steve did stay gone longer than some characters did. The time travel element so far just serves as a vehicle to endlessly go over Steve's flashbacks as well as to drag out his revival a few issues, and while the narration is nice and Brubaker knows the character, it should amount to more than that. This isn't the year 1 A.D.; a resurrection in a story is about as old hat as a train robbery or a tumbleweed in a Western. Trying to do any sort of story where it is stretched out five issues and the drama has to remain high is very difficult. The fact that through execution alone Brubaker can keep it this good and readable is a testament to his ability. It's just a shame it wasn't thought out a little better and Marvel had less faith in Barnes as a lead for another year at least. It's very hard to take it seriously anymore, and the only other option is to do it ridiculous and over-the-top; Phyla making a deal with Oblivion himself in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY or Captain Britain somehow emerging from a bunch of British flags and magical devotion on CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13 #2. That's ridiculous but so is a resurrection story these days. This tale takes Steve's corpse tumbling around a Time Travel Flashback A Go-Go until PLOT CONVENIENT REVIVE PANEL perhaps in issue five as Shakespearan tragedy, and it's not. It's about 35 years too late. Sorry, guys. It's been done too many times and even someone who was just revived from a forty year coma could predict Steve would be resurrected.
The problem of "now what" when Steve is back is also a problem. What to do with him after he is back, after Skull is defeated and Osborn is tossed out of office by Doom & Loki? There'll be a "oh yeah!" moment when he teams up with Thor and Iron Man again, which you KNOW will happen almost immediately after he is back, but what then? The same cycle of stuff he has already done as usual? The woe of not moving foward in Western comics.
That's not a problem for REBORN, though. It's a solid B+ caliber story despite being a bit predictable and decompressed. Brubaker is executing it very well and making the best of what he has. It's simply Brubaker doing a more corporate style event story, and some of the quality suffers. At the very least, he didn't stretch it to six or even eight issues like Millar or Bendis may have for their event indulgences. It's still better than their output, or most other "event" mini's not written by Abnett & Lanning. After making CAPTAIN AMERICA a big franchise again through hard work, Brubaker is owed his story that finally sells over six figures of copies within the Top 5 sales like he deserves. This isn't as good as MARVELS PROJECT quality wise, but for a mega-hyped event, it's still better than we've usually gotten in years. It merely still suffers the flaws of mega hyped events.
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #18: The 11th of the 12 part "WORLD'S MOST WANTED" story ships and things are starting to gear up for the big climax. Matt Fraction has collaborated with Ed Brubaker a few times and in some ways I think he envisions this arc as akin to some of Brubaker's on CAPTAIN AMERICA, where a story runs for an entire year in suspense full monthly installments and shows little to no drag around the middle chapters. This isn't that kind of story, though. Brubaker could do a year long subplot and it shows drag maybe once or twice. WORLD'S MOST WANTED could probably have trimmed down about three issues and been little worse for ware. Still, it's no Joss Whedon AXM, at least.
That's not a problem for this issue, though. The climax is next so things have been moving smoothly for the last few issues. Tony Stark makes it to Afghanistan and finishes his "memory purge", resorting to using a mildly modified Iron Man Version 1 armor, as in the crap he first used in TALES OF SUSPENSE that all but needed a wall outlet and an extension cord. I've questioned the philosophy of stripping Stark's uber intelligence from him as it is something that readers are used to and is usually vital to the character; it would be akin to Bruce Wayne deciding to atone for mistakes by giving himself a lobotomy, which would hinder his detective reasoning. A cynic could claim this is still more attempt to launch off the film, which will have a sequel next year, with Stark going "back to the beginning". This could also be a barnacle chipping move; to wipe out some of the complicated years of Stark's history and go back to before he was Darth Vader in red and back to when he was a hero who had a few scruples. A moment of clarity as it were, to go back to basics and build up again, sort of like a ROCKY film, only with armor and math instead of chasing a chicken.
In the meantime, Brubaker has managed to include some strong female leads in the book's supporting cast. Pepper Potts shows some resources by impersonating Masque and getting her Rescue armor on Osborn's base as well as rescuing Widow and Maria Hill. Come to think of it, Black Widow seems to be popping in more books these days than Iron Man (REBORN, NOMAD, this, I am sure I missed a few). At any rate, Fraction is having serious fun with the HAMMER moments, showing what a complete mustache twiddling lunatic Osborn is (seriously, the Marvel public sided with HIM but has been lynching Spider-Man for years!? Not even Space Godzilla is as obviously evil) and about a minor peon who has been punching the clock and ending up selling out Stark, and regretting doing so. The issue ends with Iron Patriot zooming out for a showdown with Stark in his walking garbage can, which should be interesting. There's no way Stark should be able to survive, much less win, but that's what comics are all about, isn't it? It's as Stan Lee always said, unless the villain seems incredibly stronger than the hero, there's no suspense.
Sal Larroca continues his work on the title, not missing a beat in 18 issues and managing a monthly schedule very well. After toiling for years on atrociously bad Claremont stories, it is good to see him draw for good stories for a change.
The final showdown is next issue and I am looking forward to it.
MIGHTY AVENGERS #29: It is bizarre when the almost-quarterly THOR comic is ahead of continuity from many others; Loki losing her Sif female body caught a lot of mini's and ongoings off guard, and it has taken a while to cycle down. Despite that, MIGHTY AVENGERS is a book that usually bucks the decompression trade and is an excellently paced read in monthly format. Every issue has 22 pages packed to the gills with development; this issue alone addresses three subplots that have filtered down since issue #21. Slott & Gage may be the Giffen & DeMatteis of the 21st century, and Khoi Pham puts in some very strong pencil work here.
As the cover shows, this story has the climax of the Scarket Witch impersonation angle, with Ronin and the Young Avengers taking on Wanda/Loki in a climatic showdown. I dare say the Young Avengers get more to do in this title than in their DARK REIGN mini out right now. Stature of course gets the lion's share of it as she is on the MA roster, but Clint Barton gets the big moment here, managing to deduce that "Wanda" is clearly not the real deal, but an impostor. Pham uses some clever moments to sneak peaks at "Lady Loki", such as the reflection on Ronin's sword. I also liked that Kate Bishop knew when to defer and hand Clint the bow, with a reference to clearly the best and last of the YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS stories. Loki vows bloody revenge, and that is something any hero would take seriously. Well, except Thor. He's always the last to figure out whatever Loki is doing. Which is kind of like B'Wanna Beast figuring out Luthor is up to no good before Superman, but I digress.
There is a brief installment of Hank Pym's experiments, with Slott & Gage using some imaginative comic book style science. If the Microverse can be accessed via shrinking, than it makes sense that a "Macroverse" can be accessed by growing. Pym seems to successfully breach that dimensional barrier, all the while making Jocasta worry and grossing out Jarvis. At this point it is clear that Slott & Gage want to show Pym at peace with his bizarre quirks and character flaws and still going about his business rather than try to suppress or answer for them. Mister Fantastic is awfully chummy, as if they didn't curse at each other and try to strangle each other only a few issues ago. Ah, superheroes. They can threaten to destroy each other over the most minor of misunderstandings in one issue and then protect the universe together the next.
Half of the issue continues to cover the Unspoken and the adventures of Pietro and Walker in China. It seems Unspoken is kind of a vengeful pacifist; he ended up being dethroned from the Inhumans because he took this Maguffin machine, the Slave Engine, from them because he felt humanity would never prove so dangerous as to use such a weapon. The result was his now eternal exile from the Inhumans and watching humanity's sins and numbers rise over the centuries. This clearly has embittered him and now he wants to use it out of resentment and revenge. It isn't a bad angle considering Black Bolt was trying to T-Bomb the entire universe in WAR OF KINGS and resulted in blasting a hole through reality itself in the result. It turns out that he has the ability to transform humans into Alpha-Primatives, the brutish slave class of the Inhumans, including U.S. Agent himself. Which, I fathom, isn't far of a drop. Fortunately at least, with Loki dealt with, the Avengers cavalry should be coming to bail out Quicksilver and Ban-Luck at some point. At least Quicksilver is faring better than his YOUNG AVENGERS counterpart and possible nephew, Speed, who went down off panel.
Dan Slott promised this would be "a very Avengery" run and he's delivered so far, and I am enjoying every page of it. Things seem a little smoother with Gage aboard but they've worked well off each other's ideas in AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE for a while too. This is easily shaping up to be the Avengers title the world has been deprived of since 2004. And, hell yeah, Ronin should use his arrows again! It's like Batman giving up his Batarangs!
<- in my comics. I'm not bashing Brubaker's style- it's good- but for a story about time bullets it sure takes the concept super seriously, almost to the point of deadpan delivery. This probably has a lot more to do with the run as a whole than this issue itself, which was good, but it happened to provoke more thought on the style of the story so far than usual.
And it has Bullseye ya! <3 I loved the reaction Bullseye receives when Norman tells him he needs to kill Daredevil, so awesome. 
