Debates about the notable flaws in Bendis' technique are why I never regret dumping his comics nor avoiding trying many of his new ones. I don't need that noise.
As always, full spoilers ahoy.
DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT FOR 4/20/11:
INVINCIBLE #79: This is another "dust settling" issue after eight issues of the titular character in space, in which the status quo of normal life is established for our main characters. It also is an issue where the lateness of GUARDING THE GLOBE becomes an eyesore, as this issue is likely set after it concludes. Robert Kirkman is launching a new Image/Skybound title this week (see below), but this doesn't mean he is out of gas on his long running superhero title. Ryan Ottley and Cliff Rathburn continue on art and inks, with fill in colorist Nikos Koutsis (SAVAGE DRAGON) taking over for FCO Plascencia for a spell. Invincible tweaks his costume yet again to make it look more like his original suit, stomps some bad guys and tries to get used to life on earth after ten months in space (during which time he turned 20). He and Eve (who has gained weight as well as some emotional problems since Mark left) spend most of the issue visiting the Immortal and Dupli-Kate, who are happily retired from super-heroics and raising twins in a mansion. This issue establishes once and for all that the Immortal was Abe Lincoln in this universe, and the terrible secret that Eve has kept from Mark, and the readers, for two issues has come to the fore. Meanwhile, Nolan tries to find a way to live on earth now that he has reformed, especially since when he last left he went on a very public rampage that killed thousands (and spawned the creation of at least one villain, PowerPlex). This was a quiet issue, but the sort of quiet issues that INVINCIBLE has always done well and continues to do so. The change in colorist is detectable, but Koutsis does a solid job.
SUPER DINOSAUR #1: "This is where it begins", as the cover boldly says. Robert Kirkman reunites with ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN artist Jason Howard to launch what he sees as a more "family friendly" comic book title, after claiming there are too few of them on the racks (while writing titles like INVINCIBLE, WALKING DEAD and DESTROYER that have loads of swears and gore). This is, in fact, the title that Kirkman and Howard were so eager to launch that they chose to walk away from WOLF-MAN after 25 issues to do so promptly. This is a true "extra sized" debut issue - 28 pages of story with zero ads and no extra price hike for the luxury. If Image can afford to do this without going bankrupt, and they remain roughly 3-4% of the industry on a good month, why can't Marvel, who represent at least 35% of the industry on an average month? There is an "origin special" issue being offered for FREE COMIC BOOK DAY on May 7th, which leaves this issue to cover a lot of said origin for paying customers with a lot of narration boxes - it borders onto "info-dump" exposition territory. On the other hand, this is a debut issue that literally leaps right into some action; no waiting six issues for the title character to appear here!
The premise is that Derek Dynamo is the son of aging scientist Dr. Dexter Dynamo, who discovered that the earth is supposedly hollow at the center and that at said center are dinosaurs as well as a valuable new mineral, Dynore. Dr. Dynamo's partner, Dr. Max Maximus, "turned out to be totally evil" and has been creating genetically modified dinosaur warriors to steal Dynore and get revenge on Doc Dynamo. Derek, alongside his custom made robot Wheels and Maximus' prototype dino-warrior, Super Dinosaur, stop said evil plans on a regular basis. There also is another of Maximus' creations who has rebelled and has her own path. Super Dinosaur (SD) is a typical 9 foot tall T-Rex, only he talks and makes up for such tiny arms by wearing armor that has larger ones; he is Derek's best friend and a video game fanatic. The oddity is that while SD is the titular character, he is practically Derek's larger sidekick. The fact that Derek is more of a genius than his aging father comes into play when a family of technicians moves into their lab to help out with SD's armor in a way that brings things down to earth a bit. This reads, to be honest, like a pitch for an above average CARTOON NETWORK or NICKTOONS show, which may be it's inevitable fate. The first half of the issue, with so much exposition being thrown at the reader that ones used to decompression may get whip-lash, is the most tedious; the second half of the issue improves greatly once things are established. To a degree, Kirkman almost seems to be pandering to younger readers, with a lot of alliteration inspired names to remember and focus on dinosaurs, which supposedly every child loves (much like gorillas and ninjas). On the other hand, Kirkman is effective at capturing the voice of a genius ten year old and simply because the premise involved dinosaurs doesn't prevent it from being accessible to adults, too. Kirkman comics typically become vastly different by issue six or twelve than in the first.
While this issue may not make some fans get over missing WOLF-MAN, it is a solid launch for those who like talking T-Rexs and a lot of boundless energy in their comics. Despite the last name, this comic also has nothing to do with Jay Faerber's DYNAMO 5 series (even though they have appeared in INVINCIBLE, and vice versa). It would, however, fit in perfectly with the world of another Kirkman creation seemingly destined for a cable network cartoon series, SCIENCE DOG. This isn't Robert Kirkman's best debut issue, but it still is fairly good for those who like some original energy to their comics, and given Kirkman's current popularity, might sell well. It will be curious to chart this book's sales alongside HAUNT.
AVENGERS ACADEMY #12: Let us take a moment to appreciate the fact that this title has survived cancelation at Marvel Comics for a full year and actually has every intention of being published until issue 20 (since a FEAR ITSELF crossover tie in begins in issue #15, and it would be embarrassing for Marvel to cut it short prematurely). That is a mark that even relaunches of characters such as Moon Knight and Namor The Sub-Mariner have failed to meet lately; even a secondary Iron Man title hasn't lasted this long recently. While sales for this series on a monthly basis have fallen below 24k, they have become more stable in recent months, and there is a chance it may hang in there with the sort of small but devoted audience that NOVA, RUNAWAYS, and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY had for years. The fact that it has accomplished this with a cast of new characters as well as B and C-List Avengers who have rarely sold before (as well as some spare New Warriors for good measure) is quite an accomplishment for writer Christos Gage. With AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, he had the benefit of a title launched by the more well known Dan Slott in the midst of a successful crossover period and co-writing alongside him for other a year; this launch was all on his own (albeit as part of the HEROIC AGE launch). Of the art team, only colorist Jeromy Cox has remained from the launch team; Tom Raney is the new regular penciler with Scott Hanna on inks, but Sean Chen is in rotation for the occasional fill in issue. This issue sees the Academy class take on one of the most powerful villains in Avengers history, right after he has laid out two teams of Avengers with no sign of slowing down. Such an intense trial by fire is an ideal way to cap off an initial year on a title such as this.
Picking up from the previous issue, after Korvac has laid out the cast from both AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS, his estranged wife Carina has given the cadets their best shot at taking the villain down. She has allowed them access to their "future" bodies, so that they can employ their powers at their peak against the demigod. The point of view via narration panels is still on Veil, whose gaseous powers are slowly causing her to break apart until she may one day fade away. However, all of the characters manage to get notable development in this issue, especially Hazmat, Reptil, and Mettle. Having the teenage cast of a superhero comic gain knowledge, or even use, of their theoretical "adult selves", or at least revealing such data to the audience, is nothing new - both TEEN TITANS and recently YOUNG AVENGERS have done so before. However, Gage has utilized this trope to explore his characters further, and it leads to quite a few lasting ramifications for his cast after the threat has been dealt with. While long time Avengers fans will likely be impressed with the kids' performance against Korvac, as he is not terribly well known, casual readers may not care. The subplot with Pym wishing to revive the Wasp is even capped off, and in many ways this feels like the proper ending to the first year of this title (as well as its second trade collection).
For the most part, Raney's artwork is very good, and alongside Hanna's inks and Cox's colors it pops and has both flow and a sense of action. Where Raney struggles is where he is asked to draw the teenage cast as being in bodies that are ten years younger, and then to return most of them to normal teenage form. It is difficult to sometimes draw the difference between older teenagers and young adults, and this line can blue for many artists. Raney succeeds with Striker but fails for most of the female characters (although with Finesse, longer hair is a close substitute). Fortunately, Mettle's skull head remains, so that is not an issue. He does handle the final two pages of the issue brilliantly, which is a powerful scene.
Plus, Reptil is able to turn into a talking T-Rex. Everyone likes those, right? It does look like my theory about Veil being "the one to go bad" is also proving accurate. She has a scene where the power of Korvac clearly went to her head, and like the best villains, her road is paved with good intentions. Dr. Doom just wants to save his mom and bring order to the world; Magneto just wants what's best for mutants; Norman Osborn just wants to ensure his own success and family's prosperity, and so on.
This was another great issue of the best Avengers book Marvel publishes, and a great way to cap off a year of its existence with more to come. Marvel is finally investing more into this title, with an appearance in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (written by Gage) coming up soon as well as a GIANT SIZE one shot and a reprint of the debut issue being featured in UNCANNY X-MEN. Hopefully, more fans choose to do the same, or at least the ones that remain continue to do so.
THUNDERBOLTS #156: As the cover indicates, Marvels version of the Mod Squad (or the Dirty Dozen) are recruiting additional members, and one of the villains on the cover is actually considered. Jeff Parker continues on a great run for this franchise, flanked by regular artist Kev Walker, and at least two people on inks and colors. Given upcoming announcements and solicitations from Marvel concerning material attached to their latest crossover, FEAR ITSELF, it is easy to feel sorry for Parker here. At least two of his regular cast members, Juggernaut and Man-Thing, will essentially be yanked from this title to serve in other mini series. That is at least 20% of his regular cast. Thus, Parker has to find ways to replace them, which this issue is going through the motions of doing. Fortunately, Parker has managed to tell such a story in a manner that it does not seem like a functional exercise, but an organic part of his overall arc.
The recent Thunderbolts program, which has been altered since it served as Norman Osborns hit squad, has performed better than expected. Luke Cage has managed to keep his rag tag team of cons on the straight and narrow, for the most part, as well as alive. However, there are some reservations about the program Rafts warden, John Walker, who has decided to establish a beta team in case Cages alpha team goes rogue or dies in a mission. Cage has recently recruited Satana the She-Witch to provide a magical member besides Man-Thing (especially since Man-Thing may soon go on a break from the team). So, while the long term Thunderbolts take on a magical castle in Germany to stamp out some demonic Nazis, Walker and the rest of the staff cull the cream from the crop for the next team in waiting.
One thing continues to plague Parker, and that is the lack of an overall antagonist. This eventually became a concern with AGENTS OF ATLAS and continues to be a concern here. His routine is that he has a cast of characters fight random oddness. While Parker makes it work with his imagination for odd threats as well as his solid dialogue among characters, after a while it would be nice to have some sort of arch nemesis or so on for his characters to battle more than once. It is ironic that the SECRET AVENGERS, a team who should be fighting world class threats, instead are fighting yet another secret villain society nobody has ever heard of, while the THUNDERBOLTS, who could use a vague, reoccurring threat like the Shadow Council, instead fight monsters of the week.
The part of the issue that will likely get the most attention are the new Thunderbolts recruits. One is Gunna the Troll-Girl (or "Troll" as she calls herself), an Asgardian refugee who was created for this series. Two of them are villains best known for fighting Spider-Man (even if one began his career fighting the Hulk, Iron Fist and the Defenders), and one of them was mysteriously resurrected without explanation way back in NEW AVENGERS #2, the issue in 2005 that infamously got characters powers wrong and had no end of errors, which its writer (Brian Bendis) either crassly denied or blamed on artist David Finch. What a hero. At any rate, the selections are sound choices and should provide some interesting dynamics when Parker has to relinquish a chunk of his cast to more important writers. Yet rather than whine about it on Twitter as some might, he is instead clugging forward and managing to make the book all the more interesting for it.
The choices I mean are Shocker, Boomerang, Centurius, and Mr. Hyde. Yes, believe it or not, Boomerang did start out fighting Hulk, Iron Fist and the Defenders before ever running into the web-slinger. The Shocker has mostly fought Spider-Man (and come very close to beating him a few times), but has also gotten his ass kicked by Gravity and the Young Avengers, and was briefly a member of the Masters of Evil. Centurius is the version who was an African American and mostly battled SHIELD and the Hulk before being incinerated to death and then being revived by Bendis in act in which, a theory insists, Bendis picked some names out of the MARVEL HANDBOOK MASTER EDITION and told Finch to insert them, regardless if they were alive or dead, like Cutthroat. Mr. Hyde seems to be a choice that seems destined to backfire, like Crossbones, but it seems that an easy out is that nanobot controllers were mixed into his serum, and he seems to be set up to replace Juggernaut as the "muscle". Out of the lot of them, I am most interested in the Shocker's portrayal here. He's often been considered a "professional" sort of villain - more after cash than murder or revenge, who has had moments of modest success. Given that he was able to invent his first "vibro-shock units" from prison scraps, he is someone who is perhaps a lesser version of Techno/Fixer, as a "MacGuyver" type guy who can make gadgets out of common items. Given that Parker seems to literally be selecting characters to fill in for ones being yanked from him, I am curious to the future.
What about Bendis' upcoming Brilliant?
