Bought/Thought: The Wednesday After Last

[TheCorpulent1]

Because he's the shiz-nit and I hope he becomes one of Marvel's top talents.

I agree, but I don't think a breakdowns credit with some serviceable but unimpressive finishes by the inker is necessarily a good way to get there. I would've loved to see Camuncoli do the full pencils on the issue. Hell, I'd love to see him be in regular rotation with Coipel on The Mighty Thor. But I don't really want to see him half-ass it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

To be fair, look at who the male Avengers were in that scene: Vision, Thor, Wolverine, Beast, and Iron Man. Thor appeared sympathetic to Wanda and Iron Man flat out said that he thought that the Vision was too hard on Wanda.

And then you have Wolverine and Beast who are also X-Men, and remember that the X-Men wanted to kill Wanda back in Avengers: The Children's Crusade. Wolverine in particular. And of course, Vision was killed by Wanda's problems.

I can't believe Beast wants to kill anyone, but I think he'd probably at least want to study Wanda's powers to make sure nothing like M-Day could ever happen again. He'd probably be wary of putting her back out in the field until that's been done, too.

And honestly, as a huge Vision fan and a huge supporter of him and Wanda getting back together, I really thought that scene in AvX #0 was well done. The opening volley of Wanda's attack on the Avengers was using the Vision as a delivery system for an Ultron attack. Think about the depth of that betrayal. She lost her s*** and one of her first thoughts was to use her ex-husband to lash out at their dearest friends? And then that led to said ex-husband's death at the hands of another friend she manipulated, yet Wanda made no move to actually restore the Vision after she regained control or even seek him out and apologize. Iron Man had to sit there and reconstruct his corpse into a working body the hard way over months and months. The Vision and Wanda are essentially Hank Pym and the Wasp back in the '80s after Hank's psychotic break. There's hope that they'll mend fences, but Wanda's got a lot of work to do to get to that point.

 

[Mad Ones]

Avengers vs X-men 0: It was pretty decent; something I probably would have really appreciated if I didn't have knowledge of these characters but wanted to read the event. But I thought Wanda's situation was weird... the last time we saw Wanda she was threatened to be brought to justice, and now she's just doing her thing while being shunned by a of couple people. Hopefully more of this is developed in the story.

Hope's story was fine. I generally like her, and this was just a recap of who she is. I liked that last two pages quite a bit. Best artwork of the issue.

X-men Legacy #264: I was pretty engaged with this issue, but does Rogue have to make everything about herself? Every time someone has a problem she brings up a little anecdote about how she felt the same way at one point and got over it. She's getting so boring, and I despise it when she tells others how to use their powers better. She's able to fly slower than Sam, and told Rachel how to calm Omega's mind down. Sheesh!

But I love the cast and setting (aside from Rachel and her awful costume), and was glad to see Sam, Jono, and Icemen get some lines, and I'm interested in seeing what happens next. So I'm hooked for now, but I wouldn't be surprised if I drop it later, despite my favourites being in it.

 

[CConn]

Aquaman #7: Another month, another underwhelming issue of Aquaman. There's nothing wrong with this issue, really. Just like there's nothing wrong with any of Johns' other issues. I just keep reading the comics and feeling like this isn't Aquaman, though. Not my Aquaman, anyway. Not the Aquaman whose adventures I enjoyed under David, Veitch, Arcudi, Pfeiffer, et al. I don't care about this Shin guy or his obsession with Atlantis or his problems with Aquaman. I don't care about whoever "the Others" are. I don't even care about Mera, who's so obnoxiously rage-fueled all the time that she irritates me. The only undiluted enjoyment I got out of this issue was Black Manta's introduction, and I think that might be because he seems to be completely unchanged since the relaunch. Aquaman sort of appears unchanged, but there are lots of little things that add up to a different character. It leaves me feeling vaguely uneasy whenever I read these new comics, even though, as I said, there's really nothing overtly wrong with them. I just can't seem to get into them. I'm considering dropping the series altogether, but I'll probably give it at least a few more months.

I'm dropping it, myself.

I'm only up to issue #6, but I'd argue that there's nothing wrong with the series. I mean, you are right, they haven't anything outwardly offensive with Arthur or Mera, but the best comparison I can draw is with the live action Fantastic Four movies. In those, most of the FF was characterized fairly well, they dotted the Is and crossed the Ts for characterization in those movies...but, ultimately, were they at all any good? Absolutely not. Because throughout it all, there was just a tone of corny unoriginality and lack of true quality and production values.

I get that same feeling every time I read Aquaman. Yeah, Reis's art is fine, but characterization, plotting, etc. has all seem the work of an amateur; a talentless writer who's merely copying the plot devices from other, better works without truly understanding the intangiables that make a great comic great.

While, inexplicably, GL's has risen in quality since its first issue, Johns really seems to be approaching the Frank Miller territory of self parody.

 

[THANOSRULES]

I can't believe Beast wants to kill anyone, but I think he'd probably at least want to study Wanda's powers to make sure nothing like M-Day could ever happen again. He'd probably be wary of putting her back out in the field until that's been done, too.

And honestly, as a huge Vision fan and a huge supporter of him and Wanda getting back together, I really thought that scene in AvX #0 was well done. The opening volley of Wanda's attack on the Avengers was using the Vision as a delivery system for an Ultron attack. Think about the depth of that betrayal. She lost her s*** and one of her first thoughts was to use her ex-husband to lash out at their dearest friends? And then that led to said ex-husband's death at the hands of another friend she manipulated, yet Wanda made no move to actually restore the Vision after she regained control or even seek him out and apologize. Iron Man had to sit there and reconstruct his corpse into a working body the hard way over months and months. The Vision and Wanda are essentially Hank Pym and the Wasp back in the '80s after Hank's psychotic break. There's hope that they'll mend fences, but Wanda's got a lot of work to do to get to that point.

Wanda's just a ruined character, Vision is not. And that certainly isn't fair, as Vision has had some legendary villainy and mood swings almost on par with Wanda...

Yet, I wouldn't want Wanda to get back together with Vision. Vision is too good for her.

I don't see it as really comparable to Pym/Janet...some mistakes in that relationship to be sure, but not the clear choice to do bad like Wanda made, Pym made a big mistake, but it was more or less a impulse, and he did not kill several of his friends.

Bendis just Ruined Wanda, even with her silly portrayal in the aftermath..i didnt read Children's Crusade, nor do I really want to.

The Pym stuff got overblown by many fans due to the ultimates portrayal, and i think many people cannot separate the characters. Not to make excuses for spousal abuse, but 616 Pym had 1 breakdown, 1 mistake, he wasn't the chronic wife beater and attempted murderer ultimate Pym is. Even the way he was written with yellowjacket didnt bring 616 Pym to the level of no return like Wanda is now.

 

[runawayboulder]

Wanda and Vision are both ruined, as is Wonder Man. Wanda has been ruined the most, I'll give you that.

As far as Pym goes, he backhanded Jan one time in the 80's which is the same thing Peter did to MJ during the Clone Saga. Yeah, it's fun to call him a wife-beater but I agree with THANOSRULES that it's honestly overblown. The only reason it's still carried on to this day is because it was a bold development for the character that worked.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The scale is different, but at their respective cores, Vision/Wanda and Hank/Jan were both torn apart by significant betrayals.

How is the Vision ruined, by the way? He hasn't even done anything since he's been back aside from b**** at a couple people, which I would say is kind of understandable given the s***storm surrounding his death.

 

[runawayboulder]

Well maybe ruined was too strong a word for the Vision. Tarnished is a little better.

 

[THANOSRULES]

No more than when he tried to take over the world , and he had some great stuff after that.

Because vision is an android it almost makes it impossible to fully ruin him...programming and all.

 

[Will Nolte]

Wow 2 pages and still no review on this book:

Avenging Spider-Man #5: The story reveals that Steve Rogers was an aspiring comic book creator before becoming a super soldier. The team finds out, and starts joking about his over use of "Liberty Bonds" in his comic and the fact that his main character, Sir Spangled, The Human Tank's alter ego is named Roger Stevens. Then they go into action fighting Copperhead and crew. Hawkeye is wearing his old costume and claims it is laundry day. Spidey jumps at the chance to team with Cap when the team pairs up. Spidey then becomes all fanboyish, gushing all over Cap cause they were both geeks. By the end Spidey convinces Cap to take up the artists pen again.

The story was more stupidness in the vein of Bendis' immature Avengers Spidey. Unless they move this book more towards Slott's style of intelligent Spidey, I don't see this book lasting much longer. The art was blah and Steve Rogers constanlty looked like he was on the verge of crying with how the artist over draws eyes. Everyone gushed about the art on this book when it started (I did like the art in the first few issues myself) but it now seems the art is moving towards the same mediocre level that the writing has always been at. It is no surprise to me that this book did not get reviewed yet, as I am willing to bet most people have already dropped the book. I'm glad the other two ASM spinoffs aren't this bad. Even Venom's over-saturate the market with a book every week for a month event wasn't this bad.

 

[runawayboulder]

Wow 2 pages and still no review on this book:

Avenging Spider-Man #5: The story reveals that Steve Rogers was an aspiring comic book creator before becoming a super soldier.

You didn't know that? He was an artist for a loooooong time, dating back to the 70's. For a while, he was just Steve Rogers/freelance artist by day and Captain America whenever needed. Since the 80's running the Avengers occupied much of his time.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Oh yeah, I liked Avenging Spider-Man. Cap and Spidey bonding over their shared geekhood was nice. Especially when Peter stood up to Cap and said he does still break out the old chemistry set now and then. That was a nice little moment for Peter. "I'm not sure why I lied just then." And then Cap gets all introspective.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Didn't they have a SIMILAR geek bonding experience in another issue within the last two years? I think it was in a Spidey annual.

 

[Will Nolte]

You didn't know that? He was an artist for a loooooong time, dating back to the 70's. For a while, he was just Steve Rogers/freelance artist by day and Captain America whenever needed. Since the 80's running the Avengers occupied much of his time.

I meant more that it was revealed to the team. A bunch of them were pretty surprised by it.

 

[runawayboulder]

I meant more that it was revealed to the team. A bunch of them were pretty surprised by it.

Yeah, they wouldn't know. Hawkeye maybe would know that about Cap since he's been round forever but Wolverine, Spider-Woman and Pete wouldn't know that.