Short week, let's get through it. As always, rants and spoilers are unlimited. Reviews are always up first at my Examiner link in the sig.
Dread's Bought/Thought for 5/5/10:
ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE #1: This is Marvel's latest launch featuring both characters together, for those who feel that both Spider-Man and Wolverine appear in too few books a month. The intention is to add another trade collection to the stands for readers, only one in which knowledge of continuity isn't needed to enjoy the adventure. On that point this delivers; you don't need to know anything about what Spider-Man or Wolverine have done within the last 2-3 years (or longer, if you left ASM in the early 80's) to appreciate the adventure. Even if you do, it doesn't matter. Jason Aaron, who writes WOLVERINE: WEAPON X and is fresh off GHOST RIDERS: HEAVEN'S ON FIRE is aboard for this 6 issue mini, with Adam Kubert on art; I always find it funny when artists & writers run, instead of walk, back to Marvel the NANOSECOND a DC exclusive contract expires. He didn't even wait for his brother.
For the record, the placement of the heroes' names on the title is no accident. Spider-Man at this point outsells Wolverine, and by quite a margin. While sales for ASM can bounce all over the place depending on promotion, or number anniversaries, or Barry Obama, or variant covers, they average at worst around 53k-54k per issue, thrice a month. The highest selling Wolverine book isn't really even his book, but Daken's: DARK WOLVERINE, which sold 49k in March. WOLVERINE: ORIGINS, which is gearing up to end with issue #50, sold at just four copies over 34k in March. WOLVERINE: WEAPON X, which Aaron also writes, now officially sells below 30,000 copies an issue; that's worse than CABLE, or THUNDERBOLTS, or some of Deadpool's books, or even FANTASTIC FOUR or NEW MUTANTS. While comic sales overall are a bit down from 2006, Wolverine's actually fared far worse than the web-slinger within the past 12-16 months. While his movie did quite a lot for Deadpool's popularity, it did little if anything for Logan's own. Some have theorized that Wolverine has become diluted from having two kids, X-23 (a clone) and Daken (not a clone, but more boring) running around the MU, as well as not only having his origin told in a 50 issue opus, but told in a poor manner (critical buzz on ORIGINS has rarely been positive). Others claim that Wolverine has finally fallen off his peak, as no character or franchise can climb forever without a lull, and this is it; while he outlasted Punisher, Ghost Rider, and even Lobo, this may be Logan's time to tumble. It could be that WOLVERINE: WEAPON X was marketed as a 3rd (and thus "not important") Logan book at $4 a pop when in reality it was really Logan's main book. But, for some perspective; Marvel actually shipped 5 issues of ASM in March, and two of them actually sold at or above 60k. The last time any Wolverine book sold at 60k, it was October '09. Ouch, bub.
The irony, then, is that Wolverine is the one who now benefits more from team positions on NEW AVENGERS or X-MEN titles than Spider-Man does. That didn't used to be true even a short while ago. Either the Joe Q tenure is a victim of a downward trend, or on Joe's watch, he essentially derailed the Logan Express. Sadly, the Joe Q tenure is sadly a tenure in which the concept of looking backwards at a failure and going. "why did it fail" is seen as "backward thinking that there is no time for" and ignored. Much like a speeding driver who is not only lost, but who has smashed through some posts and now is driving on unpaved road, too paniced to even slow down or read a map. But, what do us customers know, right?
At any rate, this series seems to be something like a 6 issue arc of MARVEL TEAM UP, only starring the same two heroes. Some people compared this to Jeph Loeb's initial run on SUPERMAN/BATMAN, back when he didn't suck, and aside for narration, I don't really see the parallels. Loeb went for popcorn joygasms by having Batman and Superman fight practically their entire rogue's gallery; here, Jason Aaron merely dusts off the Orb, a D-List Ghost Rider villain. One could argue for a series intended for the more casual reader, some higher name villains may have been wiser. Personally, I'd love to see Wolverine try to take on Dr. Octopus.
Still, Aaron's known for quality and despite only buying this because it was a slow week, I ended up enjoying it for what it is. Both Spidey and Logan have been transported to the end of the Age Of Dinosaurs. While Peter has been obsessed with carving a woman's face into rocks and studying ancient insects, Logan's thrown the whole space/time continuum thing to the wind by leading a tripe of ape-men. Now, I suppose one could say that it really isn't accurate that there were ape-people who walked upright at the same time that any dinosaurs lived. To them I say this is the same world where Norse gods still walk the streets of Manhattan on occasion, so you have to suspend some belief. It seems both were sent there after being zapped by some "magic diamonds" that one of the Orb's goons rattled around too much during a bank robbery that both heroes happened to stumble into. Instead of an instant demise when an asteroid hits the earth, though, the asteroid seems to be the source of the "magic diamonds", so a bearded Spidey and a tribal Logan are instead thrown into a weird future with a robotic Devil Dinosaur trashing buildings.
Aaron clearly has a strong sense of Marvel lore, and he shows it by using characters like Orb or Devil Dinosaur. He trucked out a lot of rogues in his GHOST RIDER run, even dusting off Highwayman from old U.S. ONE issues from the 80's. While I think that defeats the whole purpose of appealing to "casual" fans, I certainly am entertained. Kubert's art is good, and the inks & colors are lovely. Best of all, Aaron doesn't make the mistake that too many writers make with this pair; he doesn't write the two as best friends. In fact, he writes them as barely tolerating each other, with Spider-Man believing Logan could fight him at any moment, and is probably right. There was a hint that sending this pair through time was no accident, that some figure off panel planned it (as a goon was hired to lure Wolverine to the Orb bank robbery). The face carvings that Peter obsesses over came from a bus ad he saw in the "present". Aaron writes great banter between the two, and seems to have a good voice for both.
(Although there is still a part of me that groans every time Peter is about to die and all he can think about are Gwen and Uncle Ben. Not even George Stacy? Ben Reilly, who was like an "adopted brother"? You won't even miss MJ too? I mean, even if they were merely "engaged" for years, MJ should at least be missed as much as Gwen. But, I digress. That's mostly editorial. I was a kid of the 90's, when I grew up Peter and MJ were in, and I didn't suddenly not relate to Spidey because he was married. I know, that makes me weird.)
My only major caveat is the price; $3.99 is a bit much considering this is really "just another Spidey or Wolverine" book. DC is smart enough to not sell SUPERMAN/BATMAN for that price (and lord knows Superman is struggling these days). If one isn't reading any Spidey or Wolverine book, this may be okay. If one is, though, I am not sure just is worth an extra $4 out of wallet, even if it is entertaining. I do wonder if Aaron intends to have Spidey and Logan bounce across alternate time lines for 6 issues, and if so that is a mistake, because that bit will get old VERY quickly. Johnathan Hickman had a similar bit in DARK REIGN: FANTASTIC FOUR and even at 5 issues, that bit got old very soon. I feel sorry for Aaron, as he is a solid Marvel writer, but they insist on making most of his current works $4, that frugle fans won't try (1 out of 10 of them are probably unemployed, according to statistics). This was fun, but not the best thing ever. If you like the titular heroes and you're in the mood for a wonky adventure with obscure characters thrown in, it's a blast. I don't read either of their titles, but I like Aaron and I liked this issue to read the next (assuming June's schedule that week isn't intense), so it did it's job as a debut issue. It was probably better than I expected.
VENGEANCE OF THE MOON KNIGHT #8: This was the lone Marvel book I expected to buy, as it was on my list. This is the second part of a two issue story which guest-stars Deadpool. The next arc will guest star Spider-Man, and I suppose I could criticize that a book which seems to now require guest stars is a book on it's last legs. Sales for it are at 19k an issue, which was where MOON KNIGHT was last year when Marvel decided it needed a relaunch. While this volume will see an issue #10, I doubt it will last beyond issue #12, unless Marvel seriously expects SECRET AVENGERS to boost Moon Knight's recognition and popularity enough. I would much rather see Greg Hurwitz use whatever issues he has left to address Moon Knight's character and problems more directly; the first of all is his absolute lack of a rogue's gallery. Bushman is hardly the best villain, but he literally had to be resurrected because Specter has no one else who qualifies as an arch nemesis, or could step into the role. That is a problem. You also haven't seen many of Specter's supporting cast beyond his butler Samuels in these last two issues, which won't counter those "he's a rip of Batman" criticisms. I wouldn't be surprised if Hurwitz's editor told him he could do whatever he wanted, so long as his next/last few issues had guest characters in them.
To be fair, though, Hurwitz does a solid job of trying to tell a story that tests Moon Knight's new found sense of morality while obliging the mandate to have Deadpool in yet another book. Tan Haut, who did a bit of the art on GHOST RIDER, is aboard for these issues, and while I wasn't always thrilled with his stuff on GHOST RIDER, he's actually pretty good here. I also like how Hurwitz manages to keep Deadpool as funny as you would expect, without forgetting the fact that he is supposed to also be a dangerous mercenary for hire, as too many writers do (at times Deadpool is written like The Tick, only with guns). Moon Knight is trying to prevent an old man dying of cancer from being killed by Deadpool; the twist is the cancer patient is a violent mobster who's always escaped justice, and whose goons are holding a child hostage. Deadpool has been hired by a victim of the mobster's "house-clearing" tendancies, out to avenge her family. Moon Knight is trying to be more "heroic", deny his violent impulses and his urges to kill every crook he meets, like the Punisher does. In this sense Specter walks that tight rope between Spider-Man (who never kills) and Punisher (who always kills). Apparently, killing people is like Durrio's Chips; you can't stop with just one, so best not to even try.
Moon Knight saves the kid this issue, and while he doesn't kill the goons, he is more violent than he has to be (smashing one through a table, face first, even after he has surrendered). He has another rematch against Deadpool at an amusement part (specifically a house of mirrors, ENTER THE DRAGON style), only this time Deadpool is seemingly prepared for him. When Moonie finds out that Deadpool regenerates and "can't die", though, it becomes a hilarious moment of dark humor. And that is why the Hurwitz run here has been better than the last. While he can still tell a dark or mature story, he doesn't let the tone get too stifling, and will always have some sort of laugh or comedy in there somewhere to relieve pressure. In the end, Deadpool's client takes the job into her own hands, and either Moon Knight arrived at the hospital too late to stop her, or chose to allow her to succeed, or hesitated, and then it was too late. That all said, I must say Moon Knight has preached more about the virtues of not killing criminals than Spider-Man has while fighting alongside Wolverine in FOUR YEARS.
I enjoyed this two issue tale, but part of me feels that Moon Knight has always had the dilemma of often having many 1-2 issue stories that are good surrounded by longer arcs that don't address some of his main problems. His supporting cast needs to be maintained and more essential & interactive, and he needs more villains. New and distinct ones. Whether that means trying to dust off some of his surviving corny ones (like "Conqueror Lord") or making up new ones (a tough feat, as new villains are given a worse welcome than new heroes by fans and retailers), I don't know, but it needs to happen, otherwise Moon Knight will continue to always been this quirky pulp hero who fights other heroes' enemies or stumbles onto their adventures. Despite all that, Hurwitz has done a bit to salvage Moon Knight from the last volume, making him nutty enough to be unique while sane enough to be an Avenger, and that's a step in the right direction. I just tire of baby steps when adult steps are possible for addressing a franchise's ills.
(FYI, if no one at Marvel seriously can see how quickly they seem to be waring out Deadpool's fame, that there is literally no long term alternative to their current strategy besides a crash, then heads need to roll and Marvel needs to replace them with someone, anyone, from outside the office who has seen daylight and knows what reality is, and has some sense of not repeating history. Watching a beloved comic book company repeat the same mistakes again and again and again and again and again without variation or different results is a lot like watching a relative run full speed, head first, into a brick wall, and then repeat it upon recovering. It is funny for a while, but then it gets both infuriating and painful to watch.)
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Was this directed at me? If so.. I don't gits it. 
t:
I hope the whole series is like that.
