Bought/Thought: The 4/20 Edition!

[JewishHobbit]

So with the kids on spring break, us janitors go to first shift meaning I get my comics on the day they come out!!! Hoofta!

Big week this week, almost entire X-Men related in some way. Let's get the non-X stuff out of the way first:

Avengers 12 - As I predicted last issue, the Thanos at the end turned out to be Dr. Strange casting an illusion. Robbins doesn't fall for it and the Hood/Avengers throw down begins. It starts pretty good with Rulk knocking the crap out of him and breaking his face with the power gem and then Namor and Ms. Marvel stealing away two dropped gems. He still has the powerful Reality gem but Iron Man's gathered the rest and just "wills" it to him and then "wills" Hood back into his prison powerless.

Apparently through all this stuff going on, Iron Man makes everyone believe that he also then willed the whole Gauntlet out of existence when in actuality he didn't. He gathers with the other Illuminati (save Blackbolt, who's dead still) and gives them back their gems, and as a result of seeing everything play out, Blackbolt's spot on the roster is taken over by Steve Rogers, who receives the last gem. So that was interesting.

Also, Rulk is officially offered a spot on the Avengers after having fought and shown the best results in the battle with Hood. I thought it was done fairly well. All in all this was a pretty good issue, though I expected more from the final Hood fight, but still a good arc. Sadly, better than the New Avengers's second arc.

Green Lantern 65 & Green Lantern Corps 59 - Parts 4 an 5 of the War of the Green Lanterns. I knew the first 3 parts would be the obligatory Earth Men fighting each other and with those out of the way I was eager to move n to the next portion of the story. Sadly, I didn't care for these either. First, with them being released on the same week, the cover for GLC ruined the ending of GL, and I'm SICK of DC doing this!!!! Especially with the Green Lantern titles! But at least it didn't ruin the ending of the actual comic this time.

As for the plot, GL just saw the 4 Earthmen get together and each done a different corps ring (Hal - Yellow, Kyle - Blue, Guy - Red, John - Indigo). I'm not really that excited about this but I'm not sure why. It just seems... like bottom of the barrel types of ideas... you know?

GLC then saw the four practice with their rings (Kyle and John moreso than Hal and Guy, who have experience with Fear and Rage). They then search and find Ganthet, though Kilowog is finally corrupted. They fight to defend him while Ganthet curses them for using the rings and then they're all attacked by Mogo... which sucks for them... to be continued.

I mean, this is all okay, good stuff, but not really crossover worthy. It's nowhere near stories like Sinestro Corps War or Blackest Night, or even Rage of the Red Lanterns. I'm really hoping the story gets better, or at least appeals to me more, but its end. My continuing buying these titles depends on it.

Uncanny X-Men Annual 3 & Super Soldier Annual 1 - Escape from the Negative Zone parts 1 & 2. I bought these in back issue and enjoyed them tremendously. The art in UXM was kinda odd but the story was fun, and the art was WAY better in SS and the story better. And I love Blastaar so that's a big plus. This story concludes in the Namor Annual and I'm looking forward to reading it. Cyclops, Hope, Dr. Nemesis, and Steve Rogers versus a water deprived, crazy Namor!



More reviews momentarilly.

 

[Ikaris-Eternal]

I really enjoyed Avengers. There should be no sniping about Bendis's banter as that was extremely minimal, and the final scene with the Illuminati was strong. I agree it was a little easy to stop Robbins at the end, but that wasn't really the climax of the issue.

Avengers Academy had good characterization. I like the Reptil upgrade, and Mettle and Hazmat at the end was powerful.

 

[JewishHobbit]

X-Factor 218 - Pretty good issue here. Guido is shot but continues to save lives until Monet can get him to a hospital. I loved that we saw a real human side of Monet in this issue. And I'm even more interested to see what happens next. Guido full-on died and was resurrected by Layla Miller!! That sounds good save one problem... if she resurrects humans they return without a soul and pretty much evil (as shown with Trevor Fitzroy)... so what's going to happen to Guido?!!!

On a negative side... the villains do nothing for me and Black Cat's just kinda there for me.

Decent issue though, MUCH better story than the Asgard one that just finished... at least it's more to my tastes.

Wolverine & Jubilee 4 - This mini was great the first two issues, last issue took a nose dive and this one ended up being somewhere in the middle. There's still some odd stuff not explained real well but I thought it was tied up fine. We get an idea of where Jubilee stands as a Vampire and Rockslide even gets a date with her (and it's about time that boy got some attention from a girl!) though it looks like it'll just be a one time deal.

All in all, the mini was fairly week in plot but great in character. It was really good seeing Wolverine and Jubilee bouncing off one another again and adding Rockslide as the hopeful boyfriend, throwing Wolverine into the protective father role, was a nice touch. I liked the mini but wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't big X-Men fans or fans of the 90's Wolvie/Jubilee partnership.

Wolverine 8 - Man, let me tell you... I've only read three issues but Jason Aaron writes a dang good Wolverine book. Wolverine is out of Hell but his body has demons controlling him. In the physical world we have Cyclops, Dr. Nemesis, and Fantomex trying to stop him, willing to kill him in necessary (and Dr. Nemesis/Fantomex make great banter), and in his mind other X-Woman and Wolverine fight to get rid of the demons. They are aided by Nightcrawler, who I'm not sure if he's just Wolverine's impression of Kurt or the real Kurt lingering from the death thing since I've not read the first part of this story, and they're aided by Jean Grey, who IS a creation of Wolverine's mind.

In the end Wolverine's mind is cleansed and all is well but now Wolverine is on a mission of Revenge to find those responsible for sending his mind to Hell... and apparently the first suspect is Mystique.

This was a great 3 part story and I'm eager to get the pack issues of this title and figure out exactly what's happening.

Generation Hope 6 - This was an interesting title. The newest light goes on in Cerebro so the team, along with Kitty, who is replacing Rogue as team liason, goes to get it. Well, as it turns out (as given away in by the awesome cover) the new mutant is still a fetus in its mother's womb. It apparently takes over the minds of all those around it and are using a hospital full of people to attack the team. It's an interesting idea and I'm curious to see where it goes.

I'm more curious though, what the future of this book holds. It supposedly the book that a lot of Marvel people are saying to keep your eyes on. The team is supposed to get a push and Hope herself is supposed to be a major character in the next book Marvel Event following Fear Itself.... yet, issue 5 placed at number 95 on sales at $21,290. If this is the book to watch... no one seems to be watching it.

Uncanny X-Force 8 - Another great issue and definately a step up from the Deathlok arc. Deathlok himself is still around and looks to be the new guardian of the World so that's cool. The issue is a stand alone tale that seems to be setting the stage for what's coming. The team goes up against Shadow King and nearly all of them immediately fall, leaving only Betsy to find him mentally and Fantomex to fight the rest of his team, who are possessed by Shadow King. In the end we learned that the Archangel personality drew Shadow King to him to free him and he does so, and is repaild by Archangel killing the Shadow King (though mental deaths aren't very finale). He then wakes up and in the real world he slaughters a guard... showing that the evil Archangel personality is now in charge.

I don't care what critics say about blood thirsty X-Men... this is the best X-Men book out and quite possibly the best Marvel book out. I LOVE this title!



Best and Worst of the Week:

Best: Uncanny X-Force 8 - If the writer can take an overused plot of Shadow King in mental battle and make it good, that's a great sign! LOVE this book.

Worst: Green Lantern 65 - The extent of this issue is Hal and Guy get ship, recover Kyle and John, and they put on colorful rings... the end. There's next to no plot here. This should have been done in a couple pages, not in an entire issue. Maybe that's why they released GLC in the same week, so we feel like we read a whole issue.

 

[AgentEnforcer]

Wolverine 8 - Decent story comes to an end... with the next arc being: Get Mystique! Wait, we already did that one. I guess with Mystique being in X-Men First Class she gets the spotlight again. Will Wolverine kill her THIS time? Probably not, and we'll see the same plot again in another 3 or 4 years.

Avengers 12 - The Thanos thing was pretty obvious, but the throw down was cool. And we knew Iron Man wouldn't just wish the gauntlet and gems into non-existence. Still, doesn't Steve taking a gem make him sort of a hypocrite? I digress, he is unofficially or officially an Illuminati member now.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I really enjoyed Avengers. There should be no sniping about Bendis's banter as that was extremely minimal, and the final scene with the Illuminati was strong. I agree it was a little easy to stop Robbins at the end, but that wasn't really the climax of the issue.

I agree. At first I was thinking it was anti-climatic and was waiting to hear it from peple but then I gave it more thought. There were 3 plots going on, Hood being only one of them. He got a decent fight to finish so it was decent. The other plots were Steve learning about the Illuminati and that was wrapped up interestingly, and then the Red Hulk's fight for redemption, which was done well in this issue. All in all, I felt it was a solid issue.

The first arc sucked big time... this second one was WAY better. If only Romita would move on (but hey, even his pencils were decent in this issue).

Avengers Academy had good characterization. I like the Reptil upgrade, and Mettle and Hazmat at the end was powerful.

I dropped this book as of last issue but it did look pretty good from my skimmings. I had last issue and the new one in my stack to buy but decided to stick to my budget since I'm still way over my monthly allowances. I did really like the last scene with Hazmat and Mettle as well.

 

[iloveclones]

(save Blackbolt, who's dead still)

I love how comics have reduced "death" to a parentheses and a qualifier.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Wolverine 8 - Decent story comes to an end... with the next arc being: Get Mystique! Wait, we already did that one. I guess with Mystique being in X-Men First Class she gets the spotlight again. Will Wolverine kill her THIS time? Probably not, and we'll see the same plot again in another 3 or 4 years.

This will be one of those ongoing things... we all know this. Hopefully we can just get a variety of versions of the story.

Avengers 12 - The Thanos thing was pretty obvious, but the throw down was cool. And we knew Iron Man wouldn't just wish the gauntlet and gems into non-existence. Still, doesn't Steve taking a gem make him sort of a hypocrite? I digress, he is unofficially or officially an Illuminati member now.

I took it as officially.

 

[runawayboulder]

I thumbed through Avengers #12 and I'm still glad I dropped it. The Steve Rogers I read growing up wouldn't want anything to do with the Infinity Gems. And now he's OK with holding them and the idea of the Illuminati is OK because he was finally invited to play? It seems pretty hypocritical. I thing Bendis needs to go read Infinity Gauntlet ASAP. I just hope other writers ignore this junk.

And is Rulk still Thunderbolt Ross? I don't follow the Hulk line right now but I'll tell you, Rulk reads as a completely different person than his real identity. He's basically the Professor Hulk that's just not as smart and willing to fall in line and follow orders. Basically a more flexible carbon copy. Lame......

 

[bored]

You expect consistent characterization from Bendis?

 

[CrimsonMist]

So DC Presents: Nightforce got pushed back to next week, and my comic shop's order on The Death of Zorro #2 was delayed to next week, too. The original order came in damaged so they had to order me a new copy.

So today I bought:

Dark Horse Presents #1: This had some very good stuff in it and I haven't finished reading it yet. I bought it for Mr. Monster specifically, and wasn't disappointed. Michael T. Gilbert is just as good as ever. The Concrete story was awesome, too. Richard Corben never fails me, either. Frank Miller's "Xerxes" looks and reads great, however I think it'll work better when it's collected in the widescreen format like 300. The way it's presented here impairs the flow of the artwork. And it's in black & white, so I guess it isn't finished yet. Still, it looks good. The Neal Adams story in here is unreadable garbage, too. The man still can't write his way out of a wet paperbag, and was probably the worst thing in here. Howard Chaykin's artwork still sucks, but his story was still kinda cool. Good stuff.

I also managed to get a copy of the Dark Horse book they're giving out on Free Comic Book Day, the Baltimore/Criminal Macabre book. My shop got their stuff in early and to make sure I get a copy, they gave one to me today. I highly recommend grabbing this book on Free Comic Book Day. While I haven't read the Criminal Macabre half of the book yet, the Baltimore story by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden and Ben Stenbeck was really damn good. Vampires, giant spiders, and great gothic style artwork. Good stuff.

 

[The Morningstar]

I honestly don't understand how anyone can enjoy the drek Bendis serves up in Avegers. His Thanos dialogue, although it wasn't the real Thanos, was laughable. The Hood is a terrible character. Bendis seems to not understand how the IG works. And Steve Rogers joining the Illuminati?! We're expected to believe he was only angry about it because he wasn't part of it?!?!

 

[JewishHobbit]

I did think his Thanos Dialogue was off but it doesn't bother me because it wasn't Thanos. I also think Bendis didn't exactly explain the Rogers/Illuminati conversion well.

The Hood, however, I feel is a good character, just overused.

 

[runawayboulder]

Yeah but if his Thanos dialogue was on point the swerve of it not actually being Thanos would have had more of an impact. Steve joining the Illuminati is yet another head shaking moment by Bendis that's right up there with Bucky killing Hitler and Jessica Jones aka "coma-girl" knowing Peter Parker in high school.

The Hood is lame just like The Sentry before him. They need to end up on the same junk pile.......

 

[The Morningstar]

I thought Sentry had some potential as a character. Just not under Bendis' pen.

The Hood may have also had some potential as a high end street level villain. But forcing him, key word here FORCING him, into being a high end universe ending threat that the Avengers need deal with is just... mind bogglingly moronic.

I know opinions are opinions, different strokes for different folks and all that... but it genuinely confuses me how people think this is well written and enjoyable.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Avengers Academy was pretty solid. The fight with Korvac was done pretty well (yes, I did like that Carina specifically mentioned Korvac was weaker because he spent a lot of energy fighting Thor ) and the kids all learned something about themselves. Mettle and Hazmat's angst sucks separately, but together it actually works for me. Their scene at the end was kind of sweet. I'm thinking Veil may wind up turning into a villain after all. She finally quit being a victim, but she looked like maybe she liked the power that gave her a bit too much. That'd be quite a turn-around from where we were at the beginning of the series. Oh, and Tom Raney's art suits the series well. I hope he sticks around, although I know he'll need fill-ins now and then.

 

[kguillou]

Wait wait wait....there's STILL an Illuminati?? After EVERYTHING thats happened from Civil war to launching hulk in space to skrull blackbolt infiltrating them...they still have the gall to actually keep the Illuminati intact? With Steve Rogers now?

I coulda sworn not too long ago Ironman and the rest of them decided that they had no right to congregate and make decisions for the rest of the world anymore??

 

[runawayboulder]

It's called "The Tao of Bendis". Throw enough s**t to the wall and see what sticks.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Even better, Steve Rogers is apparently part of the Illuminati now. 'Cause a super-powerful oligarchy secretly calling the shots from behind the scenes makes perfect sense for ol' Steve-O to be a part of!

 

[kguillou]

Thats just plain ridiculous im sorry. Im usually a fan of Bendis' work but this is just stupid. Steve would never ever do this. Especially with all the s*** Tony has put him through these last few years, now he joins his secret club?

I mean i guess in theory you could argue that he's doing it to keep an eye on Tony, Reed and all them and give the Illuminati a more "wholesome" presence. But i would think Steve would most likely just shut the thing down.

 

[iloveclones]

I don't mind him being dragged into it, but for all that Bendy likes to hear himself talk, you think they would have talked about it a little. That's Bendis' problem in a nutshell. He has his characters talk and talk and talk about completely irrevelent nonsense. But then when an opportunity for some actual conversation comes along that might actually mean something, noooooo. It's just, Ok I'm convinced. Hand it over. I guess I'll hide it in the foot locker rolled up in a sock (don't laugh *****es...it's not like any of you did any better.)

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Maybe Steve'll be conflicted about it later on. Maybe we'll get an issue of Steve just thinking about the Illuminati, and it'll be heralded as the brilliant, long-awaited return of thought bubbles.

 

[kguillou]

Well...Bendis already brought back the thought bubbles in Mighty Avengers two years ago....then fans complained that he abused them and they disappeared again. lol

 

[iloveclones]

Could you imagine the damage that Bendis could do if he started wielding the awesome power of thought bubbles? That's destructive power on a Galactus level.

 

[iloveclones]

Well...Bendis already brought back the thought bubbles in Mighty Avengers two years ago....then fans complained that he abused them and they disappeared again. lol

...the hell you say...!

 

[kguillou]

you heard me.