Boughts! Thoughts!!! for Sept. 29 - SPOILERS

[Phaedrus45]

Curse Of The Mutants: X-Men Vs. Vampires #1

Basically the same format as we get with Age Of Heroes and I Am An Avenger. First story, "From Husk Til Dawn," was a nice read. It stars, naturally, Husk, as she goes in search of Jubilee and must face off against a small clan of vamps. The second, "I'm Gonna Stake You, Sucka," did just that...suck! Seriously, can a writer make Dazzler interesting again??!!?? The third, "Rue Blood," involved Rogue...but, it's actually Martha, the brain in the glass orb. It's a bit of a "Vampire's Diary" kind of premise; but, it did nothing for me. The final story, "Survivors," involves Magneto, as he comes across an old friend he thought long dead. I liked this one...but, I'd be curious to see what people thought become of Leo Zimm.

This issue ends with a first half reprint of the classic first meeting of the X-Men and Dracula from Uncanny X-Men #159. It's nice that Marvel added this to the comic, because normally they wouldn't have any problem leaving it out and still charging the same price. I was mixed on my review of this comic; but, that addition makes me up the review to a .

Showcase Presents Legion Of Superheroes Vol. 4

By this trade's end, we finally get into the 70's. Thank GOD! My problem with DC's Showcase series compared to Marvel's Essentials is that many of the comics reprinted are from the 50's and 60's, when the stories really weren't that good. Even these early 70's are nothing special, and I wish they would mix things up. (Maybe have Classic Legion and a regular Legion Showcase that would start with Superboy and the Legion Of Superheroes.) DC really needs to give fans what they want, which are more up-to-date cheap reprints of some of the classic stories from the late 70's and 80's. Still, beside downloading these issues illegally online, where else are you gonna find such cheap reprints?

Lady Death: Boundless Free Premiere

Although I own quite a few Lady Death comics, I've never read them. (Found them in 20 cent bins) This free preview doesn't do much to entice me into getting onboard for her new series beginning next year.

Star-Spangled War Stories featuring Mademoiselle Marie One-Shot

DC's war stories one-shots for the month of September continues with a character I've never heard of before: Mademoiselle Marie. Set during WWII in the year of 1944, Marie paracutes into occupied France and meets up with some comrades who are to help her blow up the railroads within France. The story is a bit choppy at times, as Tucci must cram a whole story within the limited pages of a single issue; but, I enjoyed this one more than the previous two one-shots. I wouldn't mind seeing more of this character's exploits in the future.

Detective Comics #869

I've really been enjoying this "Imposter Wars" storyline that has Guardian Bats fighting Jokerz, as Batman tries to discover the person responsible for the madness. Now, the Bartholomew Fair threatens to turn Gotham into a mad riot, and Bats and the police force can do nothing but watch and wait. Another good issue, and I can't wait for next issue's conclusion.

 

[Phaedrus45]

I hate those pop-up ads!

Anyway, what a cheap week to buy comics. I think this is the first time in a couple years where I've spent under $100.00...and, I even had a few varient covers in my box. (Ok, I actually spent $120.00. I had to throw in the new Wizard Magazine and that tpb of Showcase Presents.)

Captain America #610

The thrilling showdown between Bucky and Zemo!!!

Only...it ain't that thrilling. Boy, I wanted to enjoy this issue, but I came away highly disappointed. The whole point of Zemo's abuse of Bucky is all to teach him some lesson about whether he's earned the right to be Cap??!!?? LAME! Even the usually good back-up, featuring Nomad, was just dragged out sentimental garbage this issue.

I think Brubaker is going through a serious slump.

Amazing Spider-Man #644

Whereas I was thinking I'd enjoy Cap so much, I went into ASM not expecting much, since I haven't been enjoying Waid's "Origin Of The Species" first two issues. Buuut...I came away with a new appreciation for this story. First, this has been a true "gauntlet" tale, as Spidey is facing foe after foe, not getting a single chance to really breath and take a break. Second, I wasn't expecting that ending.

I still have a few problems with this story, though. Namely, the art is terrible...though, this issue, I've gotten a bit used to it by now. But, even more, I hate...HATE...the new look of some of Spidey's classic characters, like Vulture and Doc Ock. Still, the issue finally gets a positive review from me. Hey, at least we have gotten plenty of action with Waid's story.

Valkyrie One-Shot

Ok...

Good issue, telling the origin of Brunnhilde after a three year absence and after the return of Asgard to Midgard. But...it seems to me like we've seen that character in between the time Thor was killed and then returned. (I could be wrong though.)

The issue was told nicely and the art looks fantastic. I even enjoyed the tie-in with Straczynski's Thor issues. (I'm tired of looking up his name. It's probably spelled wrong, but I decided from now on, I'll just spell it to the best of my abilities, and you guys will know who I mean.)

Avengers Prime #3

Ya know, Alan Davis' art looks FANTASTIC in this issue. I'm really enjoying this Avengers title more than all the others, and I dare say it's because he has a way of elevating Bendis' writing. That first two-page spread just wowwed me! The writing is fun, Tony is funny (nice that he's not brooding or incessently talking, like in Fraction's Iron Man), and we get a good amount of action. Too bad it's only a five-issue mini. t:

Secret Warriors #20

After the last storyline took us away from the actual "Secret Warriors," this issue we get right back to them. The only problem is, with the exception of a few characters, I'm still clueless to who these guys are 20 issues into this book. That's probably due to the fact that Hickman usually jumps all over the place with this book (not done so much this issue), and the artist for this issue really doesn't make any of the characters look like themselves. (Phobos looks far too old, and the others aren't even recognizable from past issues.) Things might finally be picking up, though.

1 Month 2 Live #5

The concluding issue, and I have to say it's nice the writer didn't take the easy way out and find a way to save this character's life. Yep, he does actually die in the end, and as we saw at the end of the last issue, we get a bit of sentimentality thrown in finally. The problem is while it was a bit sad, it could have been so much more. I never really learned to like any of these new characters, which is odd. Being a father, I would have thought I would have felt more for the young girl who was going to lose another member of her family; but, she wasn't really a flushed out character, just a two-dimensional representation. And, that how they all came across to me, even the various superheroes that guest starred. That said, this is not a mini I would recommend for people to read, especially when you can compare it to much better books that deal with this kind of subject, like "I Kill Giants."

Franken-Castle #21

I have to say I'm a bit disappointed with Remender. He comes up with this idea to shake up Frank's world by turning him into a Frankenstein version of himself, and it starts out really good. THEN, the tie-in with Daken really can be summed up with Frank's thoughts this issue: it was "wasted time." It didn't fit in with the style that we had been seeing previously...and, now, we get this issue that's designed to wrap it all up, returning Frank to normal miraculously with help from the Bloodstone. To put it frankly (not pun intended), this issue might have some fabulous art, but Remender's writing felt like a cop-out. It seemed that he got bored with the book, wanted to finish it quickly, and this is the sum total of it all.

That said, the eight page conclusion that shows readers the new direction of The Punisher peeked my interest. It's Frank as we know and love him. It's just too bad that Remender made Franken-Castle come across in the last four months as a fail experiment.

Mixed review. The art was great, and the last eight pages were nice; but, as you can see, the Franken-Castle portion left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Avengers Prime continues to be good, although the luster is wearing off a bit for me. Bendis' penchant for having every character speak with the same voice is rearing its ugly head again, and Hela's dialogue at the beginning is just downright painful. Not a whole lot happens in this issue besides the dialogue--Thor gets owned, the big three reunite at elf chick's house, and Mjolnir somehow gets misplaced. That last bit is kind of ridiculous since it's supposed to return to Thor's hand when he summons it even if it's miles away, but I'll chalk it up to magic and deal with it. I hope we finally start seeing some real movement on the plot now that the big three are back together. As fun as these first three issues have been, they've basically all been setup.

Valkyrie's one-shot was weird. Apparently, she had a pretty non-standard resurrection, but I wasn't too clear on the details. Her human host died but was resuscitated by this Ziggy dude--who may or may not be some kind of reincarnation of her beloved Siegfried (even though Siegfried himself was actually yet another mortal vessel for Thor's soul)--at the exact same moment Thor was working his worldwide mojo to revive all the Asgardians? So rather than be pulled free of Valerie's mortal body, Brunnhilde's body just, like, overwrote hers? Or is she supposed to still be in Valerie's body but with Brunnhilde's mind? I don't know, the mechanics of the whole thing are very confusing. Either way, Brunnhilde comes back very confused and goes to... um... the Wasp... for help. Do they have some kind of deep relationship I didn't know about? 'Cause that seems very random otherwise. So she sets off to avenge her own death at the hands of Piledriver and then waxes philosophical about how she needs to find a new love or something? I don't know, this one-shot seemed all over the place to me thematically. Maybe I need to take another look at it, since I read it just before I fell asleep last night. Phil Winslade's art sure was pretty, though.

Captain America's Zemo arc is finally, mercifully over. This has been basically the worst use of Zemo I've seen since before Thunderbolts, but if I pull him out of it and imagine it with some other villain, it's a pretty solid arc overall. The question of whether Bucky's really earned his redemption is one I've thought about. Cap basically handed it to him with the Cosmic Cube but, on the other hand, he was brainwashed into becoming the Winter Soldier and had very little of who James Buchanan Barnes really is left in himself at the time. The ending sees Bucky make the fateful decision that, although he too has pondered the question of his own redemption, he's ultimately not the kind of guy who can just roll over and let his own self-pity (or, in this case, a duplicate drone plane) kill him. He proudly reclaims his Cap costume (actually just the shiny blue part, which apparently separates from the black bodysuit underneath--who knew?) and seems to decide that either he is redeemed and he's doing his best to use his second chance for good, or he hasn't been redeemed yet but he's damned sure going to keep working at it and living up to Steve's example. All in all, a solid conclusion to a solid arc marred only by Brubaker's choice to willfully ignore about a decade of excellent character progression with Zemo. Kind of a biggie in my book, but I've learned by now that apparently I'm the only one who cares. Guice's art is characteristically excellent--no surprise there.

The Nomad backup was even better than the main story to me this time. Steve and Rikki wrestle with this new status quo, with Rikki unwilling to partner up with Steve for fear of losing him again and Steve unwilling to see her go it alone for fear of losing her. Rikki chooses to go it alone and Natasha spells out the obvious for Steve: he clearly felt she was skilled enough to endorse her as his Bucky on the Heroes Reborn Earth, so he should just trust her enough to let go. I thought the story was gonna be a real downer after Rikki's choice became clear, but I was pleased to see it end on a really sweet moment with Rikki and Steve putting their mutual apprehension about their new status quo to the side and just embracing each other as dear friends--no costumes, no worries, just a light-hearted bowling match. I really liked that message.

 

[Dread]

This was a small week to wrap up September - only 3 books in total. I certainly don't mind, though, given the price of them. My wallet has really been feeling it this year. As always, spoilers/rants ahoy.

Dread's Bought/Thought for 9/29/10 - Part 1:

ATLAS #5: That cover was the saddest cover I've seen in a while. I saw that bright red "IT ALL ENDS HERE!" tagger from at least six yards away, and sighed before I even grabbed the issue. Notice that last week, FANTASTIC FOUR's "COUNTDOWN TO CASUALTY" ticker didn't elicit that reaction. Jeff Parker does quite a job to wrap up his arc as well as his work on the franchise in one normal sized issue, in which he even drew several pages himself (and, bluntly, is better at it than Keith Giffen's last pencils in BOOSTER GOLD). Gabe Hardman and Ramon Rosanas finish out the rest of the issue, with Bettie Breitweiser on colors. To say that the issue doesn't show a sign of trying to cram stuff to a finish is a bit of an understatement. There are three pages of text that are utilized to breeze past stuff that might have caused the arc to go another issue or so.

Action fiends will be disappointed. Despite having a bizarre line up with quite a few heavy hitters, the Agents of Atlas actually prove to be able to resolve conflicts with reason instead of endless punching here - if only more white-bread teams could do that. Jimmy, Ken, Bob, and Delroy were trying to travel to "The Echo Dimension" to confront their body-possessing invaders once and for all, but when Delroy becomes separated from their link, the other three end up in a parallel world, in counterparts of their 616 bodies. Last issue ended with that world's 3-D Man knowing they were impostors. Amazingly, though, things don't end in a brawl; the Agents explain their situation, the alternate Avengers understand, and all is well. In fact, the alternate Avengers even have a cute moment where they state that they had a "Civil War" too, only theirs was caused by several of the Echo-Invaders possessing heroes and stoking the conflict, such as Iron Man or Mr. Fantastic. Now, doesn't that make a lot more sense than what 616 got? Or Skrulls?

Via some quick exposition, the Agents are fully united and Delroy leads them into the Echo Dimension, as is his role as 3-D Man. These are the pages that Parker draws and they're introspective scene-changers, showing how every character has changed or who they are, or want to be. The Ken Hale page is only redundant if one has read his mini-series, but it still works. Better fare are the pages with the others. Despite getting his own 3 issue mini series, there seemed to be a bit of unfinished business with Bob Grayson, as that Uranian invasion never happened. "You guys are made of awesome," Venus gushes at one point, and it's hard for me to disagree.

Once they get to the Echo Dimension, the Agents actually find they have a major advantage in this dimension. But Woo isn't on a slaughter fest or revenge, he just wants to end the conflict between dimensions forever. Who knew the answer was pollution? Captain Planet would cry. Aside for one line, Parker writes Delroy Garret as far more level headed and not as quick to react as Slott & Gage did in AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE. Of course, it could simply be a progression of his character, which this arc has mostly served to do. The Echo-World threat is settled, and the team goes on to fight another day. One of those "this chapter ends, but there could always be more" type of fade to black endings.

In the final page, Parker credits senior editor Mark Paniccia for giving him the premise for ATLAS and for being "tenacious" enough to keep the title going as long as it has. After the initial six issue mini I would have been happy for another, and instead I got, basically, 22 issues of material (not counting two anthology stories, or the spin off material for Grayson, Ken Hale, and even a Namora one shot). It all adds up to over 30 issues of material, which is hardly bad by today's standards (or even yesteryear's - CHAMPIONS didn't make it that long). The creative team is moving onto HULK, which is literally the biggest series Parker has worked on; THUNDERBOLTS doesn't sell in the same league. I'm not interested enough in Rulk to follow him, though.

I'd rather Atlas simply fade off panel for a while where I can envision them doing wonky adventures rather than be mishandled by another writer or killed off for shock value, so at this point I can let go and bid them farewell for a while. At the very least, Venus will pop up again in CHAOS WAR as part of the God-Squad. Parker even left an "out" for some of the characters to appear in other team books by claiming that Jimmy Woo isn't opposed to "spreading the wealth" with them in some of his prior issues. While it is a shame this ongoing only lasted five issues, it seemed to be a decision that Parker made himself. He saw the sales and didn't want to wait until editorial pulled the plug - after all, YOUNG ALLIES sells worse and it will at least see a 7th issue. Part of me wonders if he, like Dan Slott, isn't comfortable writing more than 2-3 ongoing titles at once and decided that he may as well end ATLAS now while he focuses on HULK, which is, at worst, a Top 40 seller and his closest shot to the big leagues. This arc I think did wonders to redeem and flesh out Delroy Garret and add him to a team as quirky as he is.

Farewell, AGENTS OF ATLAS. It was a great ride. Now the deck is clearer for another DEADPOOL/THOR/CAPTAIN AMERICA/IRON MAN/SPIDER-MAN/WOLVERINE/BENDIS WRITTEN AVENGERS series that the comic book shops can't live without. At the very least Marvel really gave this one a decent try to find an audience. It's just a shame Marvel & DC have spent a decade training that audience to trade imagination for importance, then wonder why fewer books can last as modest hits. I've never seen anyone in any comic shop gush about how great a Bendis book is or try to sell someone an issue of NEW AVENGERS like they do for ATLAS, or WALKING DEAD, or so on. Oh, well.

 

[Dread]

Bought/Thought for 9/29/10 - Part 2:

CAPTAIN AMERICA #610: This is the conclusion of the arc with Baron Zemo and also a prologue for the next, which will be Cap On Trial. There's a final battle on an island of the past and some terrific artwork by Butch Guice (and three colorists). In a degree it ends as quite a few Barnes stories have. Barnes gets captured, storms off on his own, fights someone, doesn't win, and the villain escapes. At the very least Falcon is genre savvy when he claims he and Rogers think Barnes' battle plan is always to "rush in and get captured", but being aware of one's own writing quirk in story doesn't erase it. Zemo lays out his motivations for the arc, and for me (as someone who literally slept past his decade on the T-Bolts and never cared for the idea of him as a hero) it made sense in one respect but was still awkward in another.

Zemo's angle was that he felt that Barnes was simply "handed" the mantle of Capt. America, and it was a gift he hadn't earned properly nor understood how to properly utilize. He felt that at heart, Barnes was simply a soldier and never evolved past that, unlike Rogers. To a degree, Zemo isn't wrong. According to Brubaker's own retcons, Barnes was the one who did the black ops, nasty kill stealth type stuff that Capt. America couldn't be seen doing, and/or that Rogers as a person was less comfortable doing (such as being a sniper, or strangling a Nazi with a wire from behind). While Barnes' time as the brainwashed Winter Soldier was not entirely his fault, the brainwashing basically exploited skills and perhaps a "killer instinct" that was already there (much as when someone brainwashes Wolverine; he was hardly a saint before). While Zemo felt that was fine so long as Rogers was dead and Barnes was trying to live up to him (or avenge him), but now with Rogers back, he has to earn it. That means facing his sins and owning up to them regardless of the consequences, instead of making excuses or expecting a clean slate, whether from a Cosmic Cube or a handshake from Rogers.

That's all fair enough. Where it becomes awkward is that Zemo's actions in carrying out this motive show that, apparently, being a super-villain is a hard habit to crack. The "sins" that Barnes did as Winter Soldier being leaked to the media and thus forcing Barnes to confront them would have been a perfectly fine lure to that island or a confrontation itself. There was little need to endanger innocent people with freeing an old Nazi with a gauntlet to fight Barnes in a hospital, or drugging him so he attacked cops. If Zemo wanted to build doubt in the public before his Winter Soldier leak, he merely could have had someone emote about how "this Cap uses a gun and shoots people in the kneecaps", which Barnes has done. He could have even exploited the Grand Director ordeal, using that to, say, claim that just ANYONE could put on a Cap outfit, and who is this new guy? Instead he did things like blow up Falcon just to toy with Barnes a bit, and outfitted a new Beetle, and so on. There was a perfectly anti-hero or anti-villain way to go about this scheme, but at every point Zemo decides it's no fun doing anything if he can't be a villain while doing it, which means getting to endanger civilians or put Falcon in the hospital for a bit.

It read like Brubaker likes having things both ways. He likes villains that do nasty stuff and toy with his heroes, but who for some reason just seek to capture them and never want to off them. He did that for a very long time with the Red Skull scheme, and now it seems as if that is his only trick. He can still execute it flawlessly, like in STEVE ROGERS: SUPER SOLDIER, but when he isn't on completely, there are times it seems to go through the motions.

I mean, one of Winter Soldier's sins came back to hunt him with that whole Man Without a Face affair. Zemo could have simply tugged with that to the media, maybe hired Batroc to fight Cap in public and then make some accusations or whatnot. In fact Zemo could have been frustrated that he tried turning over a new leaf for a while and was never accepted or appreciated due to his sins, but Barnes had his sins ignored because he was Rogers' sidekick. While Zemo as a villain is something I am comfortable with, I don't mind a nuanced villain, and Zemo's transitions between Skeletor and Xanatos are usually so awkward he may as well be Two-Face. Maybe he's just crazy. If I had a face like that, I'd go nuts, too. The problem is this arc needed Zemo, needed someone with that long history to make it work. No other villain had the history as well as at least a sliver of an anti-hero streak to make the motive work. You couldn't just insert, say, Protocide and have it have the same effect. Overall, I thought this was a good finish, but Brubaker has let some of his rust show as he's gone further up the ladder at Marvel.

In the NOMAD strip, McKeever & Andrade conclude their meeting with Rogers. About 90% of it works very well. Andrade's artwork is still something to get used to, as his character models, especially for Rogers, shift around a bit. And the general gist of the story is that both Rogers and Rikki care about each other too much to act like the heroes both have become if they were always around each other. Rikki is afraid of losing Rogers again, while Rogers sees Rikki, or well, EVERY TEENAGE HERO HE HAS EVER MET, SINCE RICK JONES as a helpless infant who will die horribly the first time they fight a bad guy, despite the fact that his one reason for that, Bucky, IS ALIVE AGAIN. I am convinced Marvel heroes not only are clueless about teenagers, but refuse to learn. The only one of them who has any experience at that, Spider-Man, they dismiss as a joke and never listen to. Rogers wasn't the only one whose botched mixed messages screwed up the Young Avengers, but he hasn't helped at all (if anything, Barnes seemed to connect more to Eli than Rogers cared to). So, Rogers and Rikki decide to maintain their distance so both can operate as heroes; they also enjoy a bowling match together to simply enjoy each other's company without the angst. That's all fine and good. But can't Rogers just get Rikki out of living in an abandoned slum? If anything, Rikki has better odds of catching a disease living there (or being flattened by a collapsing ceiling while sleeping) than being wasted in a fight. Superheroes can be such odd creatures; they cry and moan about the danger of being killed by assault weapon carrying grunts or super villains in lavender spandex with skulls on their chests, but are perfectly oblivious to the perils and horror of things such as poverty or discrimination. Steve Rogers has angst about Rikki being possibly killed as Nomad, but doesn't care that her wardrobe consists of about 2 shirts and one set of jeans, and she barely sleeps with heat. Yes, Rikki hasn't asked for that sort of help, but c'mon, man. I can understand Rikki fretting about the Secret Empire (even though they're so low scale that Fred Van Lente treats them like mooks in TASKMASTER); she's a kid. But adult heroes should be better able to aid her financially without tipping off such earth-shattering threats as Professor Power and Mad-Dog. Rogers and Barnes always have safe-houses the size of expensive condo's and you don't see HYDRA invade them every four panels.

Overall, solid issue. Not flawless, though, as my expectations for this book are always high, because it usually meets them more often than not. I look forward to the trial of Barnes and seeing where it takes him. I just wish Brubaker would smooth out his story tics a little. His execution has, magically, started to not be as consistent since he went up the ladder at Marvel.

VALKYRIE #1: This was a surprise, as my expectations were low and I quite enjoyed it. Bryan J.L. Glass (of MOUSE GUARD) pens a tale that sums up how Valkyrie got from the Ragnarok of '04 to being an available heroine for the Lady Liberators (in HULK) and in the SECRET AVENGERS. In fact part of me is stunned this wasn't called SECRET AVENGERS: VALKYRIE to try to at least go through the motions of fooling retailers the same way many X-Books are promoted (X-MEN: XAVIER'S POCKET LINT). On hand for art is Phil Winslade, whose drawn some mythical heroines before, such as WONDER WOMAN.

The gist is that like all of the Asgardians, Valkyrie was reborn in a mortal shell as "Valerie". The only hiccup is while the Asgardians' spirits were locked into the souls of otherwise unassuming people (who could be separated from them), Valerie was basically Valkyrie with amnesia, not too dissimilar from the Eternals were reborn as mortals in Neil Gaiman's work. Valerie is almost killed by a brute in the hotel she works until an EMT happens to keep her alive long enough for Thor to hit his big "TO ME, MY GODS!" move from the start of JMS' run on THOR. At that point she sits up and is Valkyrie again, quickly remembering her past and whatnot. But she still has Valerie's memories and is aware of the many times she has been impersonated or manipulated or taken over by others. After a chat with Wasp (which I guess was five minutes before SECRET INVASION), Valkyrie decides to return to being a master of her own destiny, right in time to avenge herself against the hotel brute, who turned out to be Piledriver of the Wrecking Crew. While he may have been able to easily manhandle a normal woman (and appeared to be aware of who "Valerie" really was and was even more eager to rape her), Valkyrie takes him down rather swiftly.

In theory this could have simply been a boring continuity exercise. In practice, Glass attempted to make it a character piece as well as delivered a bit of action. The scene with Wasp was a tad wonky, and "Valerie" was similar to how the Norse gods were reborn in the 90's rather than in JMS' run, but one could argue Valkyrie may not be the same as other gods, having been usurped so many times. She can be a very one note character and Glass at least tried to have a story that did more than show how she was reborn and then ride a horse somewhere. The only downside is the price; $4 is a lot to ask for people to buy a one shot about a C-List character. Marvel realized that when they priced their SIEGE one shots at $3 to get people to buy them (and most of them sold well), yet now has returned to making them all $4. Guess "Women Of Marvel" aren't THAT important, eh?

This turned out to be better than I expected, even if that is half because expectations were not terribly high. All in all, a solid small week.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Did anyone read Action Comics #893? It's weird, this book has kinda sneaked up on me. I've been reading it and quite enjoying it, but it wasn't until this week that I realised just how much I'm really looking forward to getting the latest issue tomorrow. I think Paul Cornell's run has quickly become one of my favorite DC titles.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's in my pile but I haven't gotten to it yet. I barely managed to read two comics yesterday before drifting off to sleep, thanks to Dead Rising 2 eating up my whole night.

 

[Frankenmation]

Did anyone read Action Comics #893? It's weird, this book has kinda sneaked up on me. I've been reading it and quite enjoying it, but it wasn't until this week that I realised just how much I'm really looking forward to getting the latest issue tomorrow. I think Paul Cornell's run has quickly become one of my favorite DC titles.

I certainly have been, it's been fantastic. I love how it's basically one big arc and yet each issue can easily be a stand-alone adventure with different characters, villains etc. I'm hoping that the Knight & Squire series will be as good.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The only thing I didn't like about Action Comics was Grodd eating brains. I don't recall him ever doing that before, and it adds a whole gross-out factor to the character that I didn't think was necessary. The rest of the issue (including, surprisingly, the Jimmy Olsen backup) was great, though. And even the brain-eating gave us a great gag with Robo-Lois.

 

[Frankenmation]

Yeah, the whole brain-eating thing was a bit strange and I don't remember him eating brains before this but I still liked it. The image of Grodd charging at Luthor with a giant silver spoon will be burnt into my retinas for the rest of the week

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Haha, beheading him with the spoon actually made me sit up and go "bwuh?!" Far more of a reaction than most things in comics get from my jaded ass these days.

 

[Phaedrus45]

It's also in my pile...but, just haven't gotten to it yet. I'm switching from Cable to the Dish Network next month...and, the only reason I'm waiting, is because I now have to watch all the DVRed shows I have on the cable box. (Only thing I'll miss about cable is the On Demand. mmm. I just got peeved that they charge me more just because we have HD. In the end, I'm gonna be paying a lot less and getting a lot more with Dish.)

After yesterday's reviews, I didn't read a single comic. But, my daughter and I did finish reading Rainbow Magic: Katie The Kitten Fairy, if anyone is interested in a review??

 

[fifthfiend]

Although I own quite a few Lady Death comics, I've never read them.

Nobody who owns Lady Death comics has ever read them.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Nonsense, I hear it has very insightful articles.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Action Comics #893

"LEX LUTHOR!!! Kneel before GRODD! You have walked into an ambush! And I have brought my biggest combat spoon... to eat your tasty brains!!!"

I think that just about sums up why Action Comics has fast become one of the highlights of DC's monthly lineup since Paul Cornell jumped onboard. And while every instalment of Lex Luthor's quest for the black ring has certainly been strong, this is surely the best one yet, and quite possibly the best single comic by Paul Cornell I've read thus far. The whole story is just utterly bonkers, and there were several moments where I literally laughed out loud while reading the story, both in terms of Sean Chen's hilarious visuals - Grodd's mouth totally engulfing Lois' head, or Luthor being decapitated by a giant spoon - and some brilliant touches of dialogue by Cornell - "I'm sure you'll go down well."

But through it all, the book's premiere attraction remains the stellar characterisation of Lex Luthor himself. While unquestionably still a nasty villain, Cornell relishes the chance to present him as very much the protagonist of the story, one whose charm, wit and apparently endless resourcefulness makes it all but impossible NOT to root for him. It's funny, and it may be wrong, but thanks to Cornell, arguably my favorite superhero in the DC Universe currently is... Lex Luthor.

I wasn't expecting much from it, but surprisingly I also really enjoyed the Jimmy Olsen back-up. It had a quirkiness that made it a perfect companion to the main story.

It's good to hear Cornell will be staying on with Action Comics through Superman's return past issue #900. And if the quality keeps up, I'll keep on reading. Best of luck to J. Michael Straczynski on Superman, but though that may be the book getting all the hype, Paul Cornell's Action Comics will be where I happily get my Superman comics fix.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm really looking forward to how Cornell handles Superman. He tackled that archetype to some extent with Captain Britain and actually got me, an American, totally into the power of Captain Britain's symbolism, so I can only imagine what he'll do with Superman.

 

[iloveclones]

but I'll chalk it up to magic and deal with it.

JQ? Is that you?


I know what you mean by the dialogue. I had forgotten that the great Bendy was writing this, and about halfway through this issue, I thought, "Man, is some of this dialogue off." In fact there was a word (I think it was whammy or some such) that made me turn to the cover to see who was writing it. I shouldn't have been that surprised. In all fairness to the His Bendisness, the scenes with Tony were pretty funny.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Pretty light week so I went ahead and got caught up on some things I've been behind on. The week overall was pretty mediocre. I liked more of the back issues than the newer stuff.

I bought Batgirl 13-14, which were simple but good I'm loving Stephanie as Batgirl. I particularly liked 14 with Supergirl, a character I never really read much of. I got Curse of the Mutants: Blade and I enjoyed it. It wasn't the best issue of this storyline but it was a good way to introduce Blade into the story leading up to his just showing up in X-Men. I also picked up Batman/Superman 76, which I think came out last week, and I actually really enjoyed it. I liked the art and the color on the first two pages was fantastic... and that's something I typically don't care about. This would have been better if it came out a year ago when Batman had just died, but it's a good story for that period of comic.

Okay, now on to the new stuff!

Namor 2 - I skipped on the first issue for a couple weeks before realizing that it tied in with X-Men so I figured I'd try it out. I enjoyed it and being that this was a small week I thought I'd try out the second issue as well.

As it turned out I actually really enjoyed this issue. With X-Men, then the Blade oneshot, and now Namor in Atlantis apart from the X-Men, I'm really beginning to dig the larger scope of this Vampire storyline. And I'm not a huge fan of Olivetti's art but I feel it fits well here. The story is decent, though I'm not sure I'll stick with it once this Vampire arc is over... (and I have no idea what comes after that so we'll see). But I'm eager to see Namor and the Atlanteans kick major aquatic vampire butt next issue.

X-Men Legacy 240 - Still one of my least favorite books each month and this isssue did nothing for me. Seriously, if it weren't for the students I'd dread reading this each month. I think it's Carey. I just could'nt get into his X-Men run with Rogue's badguy team, then his Xavier run bored me for the most part, though it started well, and now this Rogue direction, though better, still kinda sucks. I'm eager for whatever transition comes next because I hate hating this book.

Secret Warriors 20 - This book felt very rushed. It's almost like the writer decided that they were going to end it soon so he had to rush to the end game. Add that to the bad art and I wasn't a fan of this issue. I mean, Yo Yo goes from long curls to bald, Quake goes from boy cut to shoulder length hair, and Phobos looks 5 years older. Just bad. The story is good, and the death caught me by surprise (though of all the Secret Warriors that's the person I'd prefer to have been killed, though I do like him) but all in all I was very let down. I'm not sure when this title ends but I hope this artist doesn't stick around for it.

Green Arrow 4 - Half of this felt pointless due to the fact that I already read the Martian Manhunter plot in Brightest Day. It wasn't even much from Oliver's point of view as it was almost exact, just with worse art. But the second half picked up a little. I'm more interested in the ending of the comic than the rest. Here's hoping next issue picks up a bit without the forced Brightest Day tie-in.

Picks of the Week

Best - Namor 2: Honestly, this wasn't even that great and on another week could have been worst of the week. But it's the only one I didn't close feeling cheated or wronged in some way. The art was good, story interesting, and the ending left me curious... so that's good.

Worst - X-Men Legacy 240: Easily the worst. I don't give a crap about this comic or 90% of the characters in it. Don't care about Rogue or the bad guys. Magneto and the students interest me some and that's the only thing keeping me from dropping the rest of this arc, and likely the only thing that kept me buying this one issue.

 

[MightyAvenge]

who died in Secret Warriors

 

[JewishHobbit]

[blackout]Eden the teleporter got shot in the back. They could easily just have him hurt but he looked pretty dead to me leading into the cliffhanger.[/blackout]

 

[TheCorpulent1]

JQ? Is that you?


I know what you mean by the dialogue. I had forgotten that the great Bendy was writing this, and about halfway through this issue, I thought, "Man, is some of this dialogue off." In fact there was a word (I think it was whammy or some such) that made me turn to the cover to see who was writing it. I shouldn't have been that surprised. In all fairness to the His Bendisness, the scenes with Tony were pretty funny.

Yeah, his Tony was all right, but his Cap felt wonky and Hela was just terrible.

And you kind of have to buy into the "magic makes anything possible" idea if you're a Thor fan just to cope with all of the friggin' inconsistencies over the years. It hurts my brain sometimes.

Oh, did anybody get the Heroic Age: Super Heroes book with the profiles ostensibly written by Steve Rogers? I actually picked it up by accident (I thought it was that other anthology mini-series with short stories that's starting soon), but I'm glad I got it. There's a new rating system in it that's thankfully much more vague about powers and more concerned with heroic qualities like conscience and wisdom. Interestingly, the Hulk is rated at a 9 out of 10 in power, which seemed odd to me. Even more interestingly, the only characters I saw with 10s in power were Thor and the Silver Surfer. Not really sure what that means, but I'm gonna guess it's due to the latter two's versatility more than anything else. They can do practically anything with their powers, whereas the Hulk is just really strong. The real meat of the files are Steve's perspectives on a lot of characters, though. He mentions how horrifying X-Force was to him and how he can't quite reconcile Cyclops' heroic nature with how he behaves now, he says he's glad Tony Stark is counted among his friends again, he says Reed is brilliant but lately prone to a slew of bad decisions, etc. Kind of cool to see what Steve might think of them (according to these particular writers). Definitely worth a read if you're at all into these bio comics.

 

[Phaedrus45]

Powers #6

Oh boy. This might be the single worst issue of Powers I've ever read...at least from the Bendis-dialogue point of view. Every conversation felt really drawn out, especially when one character will say something, like "This is really freaking you out," and the other has to respond saying pretty much the same thing, like "I am a little freaked out."

The other problem with this book...and others...is that the formula that worked so well in those first bunch of issues gets abandoned later on. The beauty of those were Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim's relationship, while they had to solve various powered crime scenes. It went quickly downhill when Christian regained his powers...Deena got some of her own...and, then she disappeared from this book for issues at a time. (Image's Proof has done the same thing, where the two characters are forced to work together at crime scenes...and, then the writer decides .. for whatever reason ... to go off on some other tangent.)

There is a beauty in simplicity. Powers has lost that. The cover brags "All New Story!!;" but, new readers would probably be darn confused about what the heck is going on and who these various characters are. Thankfully, by the end of this issue, Deena is back. (And, that's not much of a spoiler, since Bendis has been saying for a while she'd be returning. Nice way to spoil your own book, dude.)

Captain America: Patriot #2

Wow. Another great issue of the replacement Captain America of the late 40's. If Brubaker ever decides to leave Captain America, Kesel could take over that role nicely. (Hell, who knows. With the stories I've been reading lately, maybe Brubaker does need a change of scenery.) He's made Jeff Mace a well thought-out character, and where as I still feel nobody really fills in Cap's boots like Steve, Jeff Mace is a worthy replacement. (Bucky still doesn't do it for me.) Making the book even better is Breitweiser's art. This book blows Brubaker's recent Zemo storyline out of the water!

Time Masters: Vanishing Point #3

Is it just me, or does it feel like The Return Of Bruce Wayne has seriously slowed down in being released? I'm not sure, but it almost seems like we've had three issues of Time Masters to one issue of Return. Not that I'm complaining too much. Time Masters is a much better story than Morrison's Return, and I'm finally interested in the character of Rip Hunter. There are lots of different characters who are constantly being introduced in this title; but, Rip's the central one.

One complaint: It's getting very tiring to see the various superheroes ragging on Booster for supposedly only doing things for his own financial gains. It 1) makes those heroes look completely inept at seeing things for how they really are, and 2) they look like real *****es.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I remember when it first came out... my shop didn't order Stuff of Legends, though I requested it, and they typically order everything. I asked for them to get the trade and they didn't order that either.

I was just at Half Priced Books and found the trade for $7... score! Totally excited to read it. Almost bought the first volume of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but decided not to. I like Watchman and Captain Britain written by Moore, but I'm typically not much on more mature stuff. Watchman is something I'd typically not like but it's got a good feel about it. So I debated League and ultimately chose to put it back, as I had to eliminate a few things and that was one thing I was questioning. Maybe another day.

 

[Tron Bonne]

I remember when it first came out... my shop didn't order Stuff of Legends, though I requested it, and they typically order everything. I asked for them to get the trade and they didn't order that either.

I was just at Half Priced Books and found the trade for $7... score! Totally excited to read it. Almost bought the first volume of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but decided not to. I like Watchman and Captain Britain written by Moore, but I'm typically not much on more mature stuff. Watchman is something I'd typically not like but it's got a good feel about it. So I debated League and ultimately chose to put it back, as I had to eliminate a few things and that was one thing I was questioning. Maybe another day.

The first volume of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen doesn't have that much stuff that I assume you mean (like language, sex, violence, gore). The only thing I can remember is how they find the invisible man, which does have some mild nudity, but it's all so absurd, I couldn't see anyone getting all that offended by it

 

[Dread]

The first volume of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen doesn't have that much stuff that I assume you mean (like language, sex, violence, gore). The only thing I can remember is how they find the invisible man, which does have some mild nudity, but it's all so absurd, I couldn't see anyone getting all that offended by it

Never be surprised by the absurd things that people are offended by. After all, that's the whole premise of those GIECO Caveman commercials. Even jokes about Cavemen offend SOMEONE.