Boughticus/Thoughticus for 10 August MMXI

[TheCorpulent1]

Fear Itself: Wow, I stand corrected. I went into this expecting to see Thor receive his usual beatdown from the Hulk, but Thor actually wound up kicking the Hulk and the Thing's asses up and down this whole issue. Overall, the issue was a bit of a mixed bag. Thor beating the Hulk and the Thing 2-on-1 was a Thor fan's dream come true, but Fraction's dialogue makes Thor (not to mention Tony Stark, Captain America, and Odin) virtually unrecognizable. There's one exchange between Cap and Spider-Man that I swear he must've cribbed straight from one of Bendis' scripts. The way the Thing is returned to normal is great and, frankly, after Franklin's powers started returning, something like this was just itching to happen eventually. Cap's defiance in the face of Sin's totally overwhelming power was great, but again, Cap's dialogue is pretty rough around the edges. All in all, a fairly light issue in that its main points seemed to be to have a big brawl between Thor, the Hulk, and the Thing and to convey how hopeless the fight is for the heroes. It does both of those competently, I guess, but I wasn't super-impressed with the execution of either. That's kind of par for the course with this event so far, though.

 

[runawayboulder]

I'm starting to wonder if Bendis is ghost writing this thing. I haven't a leg to stand on but if it ended up being true it wouldn't shock me.

 

[runawayboulder]

WOW! I made that comment without reading Fear Itself #5 yet but it seems I may be onto something. This is one of the worst books I've read in a while....definitely the worst of 2011. My quick thoughts below and there will be NO SPOILER TAGS because you can't spoil a turd because it's already a turd! I'm doing people a favor if anything......

-I love Immonen. I think he's one of the top artists Marvel has. He's right up there with Marcos Martin, Paolo River, Guiseppe Camuncoli and Steve Epting. But GOD-FORBID they don't work in the Captain America movie helmet some-how, some-frigging-way! In the 25 years I've been reading Cap, he's worn a helmet on a few occasions and it was a motorcycle one with stars and stripes motif. Captain America is Captain America, he shouldn't even need a motorcycle helmet. Does James Bond wear a seat-belt in the Aston Martin? "Safety first Americans!"

-Sin/Skadii/Milli Vanilli/Skritti Politti or whatever you want to call her does a 4 panel speech about how the heroes are going to lose, blah blah blah. Cap's response....? "Your dad couldn't. RECKON you can't either." Excuse me, when did they retcon Steve's origin so he was born in Mississippi? He's just a kid from Brooklyn - he SAYS it in the frigging movie! The helmet you make sure get's in but the big line in the trailer you ignore?!?!? He should have said VA FUNGOOL if anything!

-Spider-Man's big line to The Serpent, "Hey beardo - SUCK IT.

-A few pages later....Cap - "Y'know what I loved playing as a kid? CATCH! (As his shield rips through the air)

-The Serpent catches said shield and breaks it into a million pieces. Steve acts surprised even though in his life he's witnessed the following:

1. The Molecule Man disintegrates it in an old issue of the Avengers.
2. Doctor Doom shatters it in Secret Wars while wielding the Beyonder's powers.
3. Thanos shattered it during Infinity Gauntlet.
4. It shattered in a billion pieces after it was lost in the Atlantic Ocean
5. Thor dented it with his hammer in the "Standoff" crossover.

But yet, he's shocked an Asgardian GOD who has power rivaling Odin's was able to destroy it. BTW, when Thor dented the shield he was in possession of the Odinforce.....yet he was only able to dent it.

-Spider-Man convinces Cap to quit. Spider-Man who's EPIC scene of REFUSAL to quit in ASM #33, that has been re-created over 1000 times, convinced STEVE F***ING ROGERS to call it a day and go home to see his Aunt and ex-wife he was never really married to. If anything, it should be the other way around and Cap should be telling him to stand down.....IF ANYTHING. Remember this was the same guy that took 8 issues in Civil War to convince himself to stand down because he realized they were just fighting.

And I'm not even getting into the fact that the Avengers fight the Serpent and Sin OFF-PANEL, don't get killed and just LEAVE. Spider-Man barely has a scratch on him yet at the end of his Fear Itself mini, the last panel shows him near death after fighting Ben Grimm with the caption explaining Norah Winters saved his life by performing CPR.

I'm done with Fear Itself - Marvel got 5 issues out of me that I hated but no more. I'm committed to reading the tie-ins for the books I normally get and the Uncanny X-Force mini but that's it. Fraction isn't writing this.....hell Bendis isn't writing this. You know who is???? ROB LIEFELD. Yes, this is on his level of putrid CRAP!!!!


......and the landing on the moon was filmed in a studio, the world is flat and there was a gunman on the grassy knoll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COMMADEYEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Hush]

Emperor Aquaman #3 was awesome, thats all.

 

[runawayboulder]

So is Uncanny X-Force's Fear mini. Rob Williams is my new hero. Put him in line to carry on when Remender decides to leave UXF, he should have no problem whatsoever carrying on what that title has accomplished so far.

PunisherMAX #16 was another slice of awesome. Great ending to the Frank arc. I didn't see that development coming with Big Jesus.

Spoiler

He ended up being the brother of the guy that raped the Kingpin during the Kingpin arc. Too bad Frank killed him after he broke him out of prison. Too bad it was off panel as well. Great ending scene as Frank returns to his boarded up home which is the one safehouse in the city that no one will find him in. He's no doubt going to be haunted by the ghosts of his family while he rebuilds the Punisher armory one bullet at a time.

 

[Red]

Fear Itself was downright terrible. Spideys turns and runs from a fight!?

 

[roach]

Once again my suspicions thats the other members of the FF hate Johnny continue in this issue...Ben dies and the group storms heaven to get him back, Johnny dies and everyone gets sad,

Spoiler

Ben dies again and Franklin raises him

im throwing the BS flag

 

[WolfCypher]

Heh. Fear Itself and Flashpoint both suck. But Flashpoint is winning in that its shorter, its final issue is coming out within the same month a prior part already came out, & the tie-ins are worth reading.

Anyway, this months ASM and IHs (really, the only Marvel titles I read regularly...) were good. Could have been better, but with ASM's Spider-Island just beginning and IHs's final arc reaching its conclusion, I'll let ASM pass.

 

[Drz]

Emperor Aquaman #3 was awesome, thats all.

Yes!

Fear Itself was downright terrible. Spideys turns and runs from a fight!?

Yeah and this is the same guy who sold his marriage to protect his Aunt from Death, guess he's not willing to fight to the death, eh? Our hero.

Heh. Fear Itself and Flashpoint both suck. But Flashpoint is winning in that its shorter, its final issue is coming out within the same month a prior part already came out, & the tie-ins are worth reading.

Whats been bad about Flashpoint? It's very new reader friendly, it has an exciting event, gives a cool new look on heroes and villains alike and has had a pretty good pacing and story telling, #4 might seem to rush abit but so far it's been more great than bad for Geoff Jons events.

 

[WolfCypher]

Flashpoint has this inconsisntant pacing. Part 1 was "modestly slow". Understandable since its the very first issue. Things will get more up-to-speed in the following issues. By issue 2, things still haven't come to a head. Again, its still only the beginning...except this is only five issues long, so maybe dragging your feet with the main plot of part 2 isn't a good thing.

So then we get to part 3. Still feels like the key story is taking its sweet little time. Then all of a sudden part 4 comes and gears us up for the climax...for me, I felt that this climax came too soon. There wasn't enough proper build up. Flash and Batman didn't do enough in the time they had.

Then there's another personal gripe I have with the sub-plots being rolled into the main story, like freeing Superman and cutting away to Deathstroke. All these little nuances of everything else going on in this Professor Zoom-altered world, yet most of them play no direct role in the Flash/Batman/Zoom scheme of things. Yeah, it is interesting to know who else and what else is going on in this world...Thats why we have all these spin-offs. Instead of clogging the main plot with the optional (and sometimes filler) stories, lets leave that out. Again, only FIVE ISSUES.

Last personal gripe, and I warn you this is a Batfan complaint, so you've been warned, is that DC promised a Flash/Batman buddy-cop story. I was made to realize that it has been a while since Bruce has played a major role in a major DC event (I don't mean the minor major events like Battle for the Cowl or Return of Bruce Wayne, I mean stuff like Blackest Night, Final Crisis...) so I was excited to see Bruce and Barry in action. But it isn't Bruce we get, so once again we go another event without much adu (did I use that right ) from Batman. Now, I told you this one was a picky peeve from a Batfan. I did warn you.

 

[Drz]

But #2 builds up the main climax villains which are Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Professor Zoom. Wonder Woman vs. Aquaman has been shown/mentioned since the very first issue so i don't see how this comes all the sudden that the heroes are "we need to stop this ASAP!"

The Deathstroke and Steve Trevor scenes in #2 are to show how far Aquaman and Wonder Woman have fallen, but if i don't see Superman coming around then it pretty much felt like a forced cameo and an excuse to get him escape so he can fight Subject Zero. Your complaiment on Five issues is too soon, lets wait and see how that pays off really.

And hey Geoff Johns didn't lie, we did get Batman as the Detective in the story, if you don't like whos beneath the cowl thats your personal gripe. Everyones been loving Bat-dad.

 

[Roose Bolton]

^ I second the Bat-dad appreciation.

 

[roach]

I wish we were getting more Batdad

 

[IFryKids]

Given that the solicits for Fear Itself #6 indicates that Spider-Man "makes the choice of a lifetime", I have a feeling he'll probably redeem himself somehow and his quitting at the end of this issue is somewhat of a red herring.

 

[chamber-music]

They need to just get on and make Cloak and Dagger a couple this whole will they won't stuffs been going on for ages.

 

[runawayboulder]

"Choice of a lifetime"?

please.......

Not even undoing the horrible idea of killing Bucky would get me to come back.

What, I'm supposed to oooh and ahhh at the prospect of Spider-Man being convinced by Aunt May or MJ or Carlie to do the right thing? He's been doing this for 40+ years now, he doesn't need to be coached into doing this stuff. Here we go again, Marvel writers treating Spidey like a rookie or sophomore hero.

Besides, Aunt May left NYC for Boston in ASM, she's out of harms way. Last I seen, Boston wasn't a target zone of the Worthy.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Spider-Man retreating to be with his "people" didn't bother me that much. He is kind of selfish in that he's relatively short-sighted and will put his own family before the greater good, even though saving the world would be a much more effective way of helping his family. But his convincing Cap to throw in the towel just pissed me off. Steve f***ing Rogers never gives up. The man started throwing punches at Thanos after Thanos acquired the power of God in The Infinity Gauntlet. Doesn't matter if things seem hopeless, Cap is never going to turn tail and run or start telling others things are hopeless. Fraction's grasp of these characters is awkward at best. I mean, this is basically Thor resurrecting Loki for no apparent reason all over again.

 

[runawayboulder]

The Spider-Man thing bothered the hell out of me because once again Marvel refuses to allow the character to go forward in anyway possible. He will forever be the 30 year old rookie.

Slott is one of the few writers that gets him and he still has to fight an uphill battle with the numerous editorial mandates set forth for the character in recent years.

 

[El Bastardo]

I'm going to break the rules of this thread because I'm going to tell you all how X-Men 15.1 sucked, which I flipped through at the store to decide if I wanted to buy it and subsequently said NAY.

Oh, the art is good. Will Conrad is running some Mike Deodato (the current one) vibes through his artwork. But the writing? Oh lordie. You'd figure a guy like Victor Gischler, who writes crime fiction, would have an ear for dialogue. That's generally something successful novelists must have. But no, oh no, if this issue is any evidence, I can conclude that the man has no ear for dialogue.

In short: if you cannot write dialogue for established characters in a way they would speak it, your comic sucks.

 

[runawayboulder]

X-Men has been terrible. I had high hopes for this book along with Gillen taking over Uncanny X-Men. I'm probably going to drop this and Legacy. Then again I dunno, I've got every issue of Legacy, it will be tough to stop at this point. I'm def done with X-Men, maybe I will get lucky and they will relaunch it so I'm off the hook. :/

 

[chamber-music]

X-Men has been terrible. I had high hopes for this book along with Gillen taking over Uncanny X-Men. I'm probably going to drop this and Legacy. Then again I dunno, I've got every issue of Legacy, it will be tough to stop at this point. I'm def done with X-Men, maybe I will get lucky and they will relaunch it so I'm off the hook. :/

Have you not been reading Schism its the best written X-Men comic in years

 

[runawayboulder]

Have you not been reading Schism its the best written X-Men comic in years

No, I've been reading Uncanny X-Force, the best written X-Men comic in years.

 

[THANOSRULES]

I still think Fear itself isn't that horrible.

At this point, i dont know if it can be argued that many marvel characters can be exactly "out of character" when so many shlubs have had a crack at them.

Aside from Bucky's death, which was asinine, albeit obviously temporary, I havnt had much problem.

I like the character designs for the Worthy, Kirby-esque.

It's the kinda event I tend to like and IMO more of what I'd prefer to see as opposed to a Civil War type event.

 

[runawayboulder]

I still don't get why people think Bucky's coming back so soon.....?

 

[JewishHobbit]

The heck... I honestly think X-Men Legacy has been the best it's been in years... possibly the best X-Men book as well. Uncanny X-Force is the only one really giving it a run for it's money.

Anyhow, on to my reviews:

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #2 (of 3) - It was alright. The new leader of the Purifiers is a cultist who is trying to convince people to commit suicide (or kill them) to save them in these end times. The Uncanny X-Force respond. There really isn't much else to it but Williams does a good job with the team. I wasn't going to buy this mini but I caved and I'm not really disappointed that I did cave. The story is good and next issue will likely be fantastic.

New Mutants #29 - So Nate Grey is apparently a New Mutant now, though there was no joining team or mention... he was just there. I'd like that save that he's just another average telepath now since DnA depowered him. Honestly, I was excited whenI heard DnA were coming onto this title and that they were tackling forgotten plots. I've been a little disappointed so far.

In this issue they tackle Fear Itself and somehow Hel has been invaded and Hela needs help. Dani gets drafted (but that's as far as that plot goes). The New Mutants go to Illyana to help them find her and she refuses, obeying the rules of her imprisonment, but teaches Doug to do the spell (since his abilities can cope with the language of the dead). Doug screws up and instead of going to Hel, they go to Hell (two L's) and are face to face with Mephisto.

It was an okay issue but nothing fantastic. This is probably my least favorite X-Book (since I dropped X-Factor and Daken) but it's not on the cutting block yet.

X-Men 15.1 - This was an alright issue, mediocre. As a .1 issue it reminded me a little of ASM's .1 in that it felt like it was promoting the new Ghost Rider more so than the X-Men. They were just kinda there. Honestly, Gischler hasn't impressed me with this title. His Vampire arc started good but got mediocre about halfway through. His Lizard/Dark Beast arc was just mediocre (only improved by my love of Dark Beast). The great arc after that with the Evolutionaries was written by Yost I think, not Gischler, and then this issue. I'm sticking with next arc because I like the idea of Doom and Magneto together on the side of the angels but I'm not holding my breath for greatness.

X-Men Legacy #253 - Finally! A good X-Men book this week! This book's been hot for four issues now and the amazing thing is that it's been such a good ride it feels a lot longer. Mike Carey hit a very long rut but suddenly he's really broken out of it. Age of X was odd but in hindsight I really liked it and it's been running ever since, and now I'm REALLY excited for the next plot with Havok, Polaris, and Rachel.

This was probably my favorite Legion story since Legion Quest. I love him on the team and I'm sad he's sitting the next mission out, but Frenzy still being there is awesome. And that leads me to another thing that I think Carey gets that other writers don't. He's keeping the number of characters he can utilize. He's picking up 3 new characters so he let go of two and actually reflected a good reason for it in the story. They didn't just disappear, or get selected for another mission. The team going wasn't a new team selected by Cyclops... it's evolving one to the next organically. That's something the X-Men books have lacked for years now.

So yeah, great issue, great arc. I think I can now say officially that X-Men Legacy is my favorite X-Men book right now and maybe even favorite book period. I can't really think of another that I enjoy as much. Maybe New Avengers but that's iffy.


Part II in a moment...