Boughtvengers vs. Thought-Men, May 16th, 2012 - Forsooth, there be SPOILERS within!

[TheCorpulent1]

Avengers vs. X-Men #4: This is starting to feel like basically more of the same. But the Phoenix returns to Earth this issue, so hopefully the next issues will actually progress the plot a bit. I'm not a fan of Hope's going to Wolverine for help at all. I'm actually kind of glad Wolverine betrayed her because that's way more in line with his characterization so far. (Although it would've been much more sensible for him to just murder her while she slept, since that's what he's wanted all along.) Also, there's a line about Wolverine's not being able to refuse a redhead who asks him to take her to the moon that had really, really gross implications. Whatever, onto act 2 and hopefully something more than just Avengers encountering X-Men and fists encountering faces.

Avengers #26: I'm reading this primarily for Walt Simonson, since it's been an incredibly long time since I've seen him apply his legendary pencils to actual interiors, but it's turning out to be a pretty nice companion to Secret Avengers as well. While the latter is more from the eggheads, Captain Britain, and Thor's perspective, this arc covers the same events from Noh-Varr's perspective. I can't say I care much about Noh-Varr, so the pages dealing with his saying goodbye to some girl he's apparently dating didn't interest me. But the ending certainly promises an interesting story to come. I'm looking forward to comparing and contrasting the next few issues with Secret Avengers'. Also, Thor totally rocked the Phoenix's ass. That was rather gratifying to see, even though we all know he'll ultimately get his own ass rocked in turn (again) from both AvX #4 and just common sense.

New Mutants #42: I'm reading this solely for the "Exiled" crossover with Journey into Mystery, which has been entertaining so far. It's a little irritating to see the Asgardians marginalized in favor of the New Mutants, but that's mitigated a bit by Loki's big role in this issue. Cypher, however, is getting on my nerves because of how stupid his powers are. "Food is a language" from last week's installment of the crossover made me want to bang my head against a wall, and the idea that he's somehow "hearing the language of reality" in this one wasn't much better. Sensing something's amiss with reality was already being handled ably by X-Man, so this wonky-ass attempt to make Cypher seem like his powers haven't literally always sucked ass wasn't even necessary. Any kind of spoken or written language, sure; I'll even throw in the idea that he could fight sort of like Taskmaster via body language. But there's a limit to how far you can stretch the concept of "language," and Cypher's current portrayal appears to have blown right past that ages ago. Anyway, other than that, it was a fairly entertaining issue. Di Giandomenico's art is lovely as well; between this and Checchetto's glorious art on the recent "The Omega Effect" crossover, I seem to be a big fan of Italian comic artists in general.

 

[Sockie]

I'm looking forward to comparing and contrasting the next few issues with Secret Avengers'.

Isn't it stated this story takes place after the SA one? Not much to compare and contrast.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It says to check Secret Avengers #26-28 for more in one of those editor's notes. Only #26 has come out so far. The rest will run concurrently with this Avengers arc's remaining issues.

 

[runawayboulder]

A part of me was hoping that crash at the end of Avengers vs X-Men #4 was going to be Jean but it was only Thor....

 

[TheCorpulent1]

So that essentially means that Thor gets his ass handed to him at least three times by the Phoenix. Once in their initial encounter, once after he's rested up and Protector learns that Mjolnir can absorb the Phoenix's energy, and once when he crash-lands to Earth afterward. Given that I already knew he had no hope of actually stopping the Phoenix, I'm kind of impressed that he just kept on going at it over and over, loss after loss. The entire rest of that space team is a bunch of *****es compared to Thor.

 

[JewishHobbit]

So I went to the store and walked out with 2 issues less than I intended. AvsX Vs I didn't get because I skimmed it, saw Cap beat Gambit, and I lost interest. I skimmed the whole issue and was disappointed. So out of 4 battles so far the X-Men win only one match and they didn't even win. Colossus didn't beat Spider-Man, Spider-Man just couldn't beat him and left... so Colossus won by default?! ******ed.

The other one I left behind was Avengers. I've not been a fan of that book for a year now and after seeing where the AvsX story is going I just can't bring myself to care about it. So I decided to just skip it. I might just dodge Secret Avengers for the same reason.

Batwoman 9 - I nearly left this one behind as well. I honestly have no idea what's happening in this story. It jumps around so much that I've lost track of who this Ozymandias wannabe is and what his deal is. I honestly don't care about what's going on but I thought I'd give it another shot and I was still not very impressed. I loved Rucka's run on Detective though and the first arc of this title was good so I figure I'll give it until the end of this arc and give it a solid read through to see if I'm just being forgetful, but this title is honestly toward the bottom of my list and in very real danger of being dropped.

Nightwing 9 - Whereas the other Night of the Owls tie-ins deal with faceless Talons, this one has Nightwing pitted against the Talon from Batman's first arc, who is also a distant relative of his. Due to this I found the issue to be a better read than the other tie-ins I've read (not many of them). The story is good but I'm eager for Night of the Owls to move on and Nightwing's own story continuing on. Also, I'm turning into a fan of this art. I really like Eddy Barrows apparently.

Justice League 9 - Another title that's close to dropping for me. I like the characters and art but I feel like being 9 issues in we should have had more. I feel like nothing's happened. We got a dragged out origin arc, then an issue focusing on WW's ex boyfriend, then a Green Arrow issue, and now this one. I feel like this is suddenly Colonal Trevor and hish Amazing Friends. Now granted, this issue was better than the previous two, but still, I'm not that interested. I figure I'll give it a couple more issues and if it doesn't pick up I might drop it.

Avengers Vs. X-Men 4 - I've not been happy with this event so far but this issue was a little better than the first 3. I enjoyed the Hope/Wolverine scenes, especially the opening sequence, and the ending makes for, hopefully, a shift in storytelling. I think Hickman handled the story better than the previous three and we'll see where it goes.

And I noticed how the next issue of this bi-weekly event is coming out in 3 weeks.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Darn it, hit enter before I meant to. On to the rest of the reviews...

Uncanny X-Men 12 - This issue was pretty mediocre. The only scene that I actually enjoyed was when Namor mockingly called Thing an "Avenger", which led to Thing mockingly calling Namor an "X-Man." I thought that was good. The Tabula Rasa guy, whose name I forget, was pretty good too. I liked him a few arcs ago.

Still, already bored of this event, or at least this phase of it, and I'm ready to move on.

Avengers Academy 30 - I'm really hoping Gage has something better in store than "Sebastian Shaw goes bad." I mean, that's such the obvious path to take the story and I'd like to think that Gage is more creative than that. Then again, here's the writer writing X-23 as if her ongoing that JUST ended never happend. She was making the kind of choices that she struggled with here in that ongoing just fine. And why are the teachers totally cool with Laura walking around in a bra all the time? The more I read of this title the less I like it.

I did like Ricochet siding with the X-Kids though. And I've been wondering if Gage was going to actually include Penance in this, being that she was a core member of Generation X. I'm glad he's been able to squeeze her into one panel over the first two issues of the event.

X-Factor 236 - I wasn't much on this arc but it was fun for a two issue read. I liked it more once you found out Scattershot was from Mojoworld, as it made a lot more sense and I grew to excuse his 90's look and name. I also liked the parallels between Mojoworld and our reality television/paparazzi.

So yeah, the issue was fine but it felt like an unnecessary detour from the building plot with the Isolationist. Eager to get back to that.


Best and Worst of the Week

Best: Avengers vs X-Men 4 - This is sad because this wasn't even that great of a book. The week was almost 100% mediocre and that's been 3 weeks in a row. It's starting to become frustrating and makes me want to just quit. If this is the best my weekly buy list can offer then why am I spending so much money being underwhelmed?

Worst: Batwoman 9 - I've finished it and can barely remember what I read. It stuck with me that little.

 

[THANOSRULES]

If you haven't, read morrison's marvel boy mini and you won't hate the Noh-varr much...loved that series, bike shorts and all.

 

[WalkingDeadMike]

The week was almost 100% mediocre and that's been 3 weeks in a row. It's starting to become frustrating and makes me want to just quit. If this is the best my weekly buy list can offer then why am I spending so much money being underwhelmed?

Do you only buy books from the big 2?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

If you haven't, read morrison's marvel boy mini and you won't hate the Noh-varr much...loved that series, bike shorts and all.

I figured I should read that someday. But does Bendis do a good job of following up on it? Is Avengers' Protector a worthy successor to Morrison's actual content? Somehow I doubt it.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Dear Marvel,

Polar bears don't live in Antarctica.

 

[Watchman]

I figured I should read that someday. But does Bendis do a good job of following up on it? Is Avengers' Protector a worthy successor to Morrison's actual content? Somehow I doubt it.

**** no. It's like a completely different character.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's what I figured.

Dear Marvel,

Polar bears don't live in Antarctica.

Well, certainly not after Wolverine gets at them, at any rate.

 

[WolfCypher]

Venom 18 Was nowhere near as great as Venom 17 was. Too much Betty-Peter girl chat, too little action, too little Toxin, and Toxin was handled too easily.

Incredible Hulk 7.1 They did NOT just bring Bruce Banner back that quickly, like that? I mean...not like that...

Blue Beetle 9 was actually tolerable.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Do you only buy books from the big 2?

Yeah, Indy books just can't keep my attention for some reason. I just dropped Invincible, which was my most recent attempt. Problem with Indy stuff is I'm a pretty PG kind of guy and too much language, gore, or violence will turn me off very quickly. That knocks out a lot of good Indy comics.

Previously read and liked: Sojourn, Planetary, Umbrella Academy, Project Superpowers, Black Terror, Echo, and more that I'm not thinking of at the moment.

 

[WalkingDeadMike]

Yeah, Indy books just can't keep my attention for some reason. I just dropped Invincible, which was my most recent attempt. Problem with Indy stuff is I'm a pretty PG kind of guy and too much language, gore, or violence will turn me off very quickly. That knocks out a lot of good Indy comics.

Previously read and liked: Sojourn, Planetary, Umbrella Academy, Project Superpowers, Black Terror, Echo, and more that I'm not thinking of at the moment.

Yeah, that definitely limits your options.

The only advice I can give then is to follow creative teams that you like, and not necessarily all of your favorite characters/teams. You'll probably be spending much less money and should have a much better ratio of books you like:dislike each week.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Try The Sixth Gun, JewHobs. It's kept about PG-13 (only reason for the 13 is that they show blood rather than keeping the violence totally cartoonish). It's a western/supernatural series.

 

[CConn]

Hm. I'm trying to think if The Activity has cursing. That's pretty awesome. It's like a Mission Impossible-kinda spy series.

 

[CConn]

Justice League #9: Finally 9 issues in Geoff Johns has gotten in rhythem on JL. Correcting the decompression and characterization issues that plagued his first arc with Jim Lee, Johns delivered a well-paced, entertaining and intriguing opening to his new story arc. While stil has some of the nagging obnoxious moments and characterization that has been prescient in all of Johns' New 52 books, the intangables of the issue were, at least, solid enough to keep me buying the book for a little while longer.

Wonder Woman #9: It's taken a few issues to really expose the inventive and high concept nature of Azzrello's Wonder Woman, but now his vision of the Greek Gods is finally beginning to take shape as a complex and philosophical reinterpretation of both Wonder Woman and Greek mythology as a whole, painting the Gods as horrific yet pathetic creatures of legend. The one, unfortunate problem of this whole concept however, is its slowly becoming abundantly clear that Azz is far more interested in the Gods than Wonder Woman herself, and as the intrigue and complexity behind the Gods' stories deeper, Wonder Woman has slowly become more and more of a supporting character in her own title. While I'll continue to enjoy it for what it's worth, a true Wonder Woman-centric title will definitely be missed.

Daredevil #13: My feelings for Mark Waid's Daredevil continues to be decidedly mixed. On one hand, Waid continues to weave dramatical and well characterized subplots that really highlight the quality of both Daredevil and his supporti cast beautifully. However, his handling of his main "Megacrime" storyline has continued to be a bit of a disappointment for me. He continuously seemed to be building to some epic finale to his high-tension gambit only to continuously delay or prolong the story with multiple falsestarts and fake endings. Finally, he seems to have concluded his Megacrime story in a somewhat satisfactory and clever way, but something tells me it's merely another delay in his never-ending Megacrime story.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Mark Waid stole Wonder Woman from DC?

 

[CConn]

Fixed.

It'd be awesome, though.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It really would. Waid's Wonder Woman was pretty good, from what I recall of his JLA run.

 

[chamber-music]

Wonder Woman 9: Got to agree with CConn Azzrello does seem more intrested in the Greek mythology than the character of Wonder Woman although I am enjoying this comic having never really read Wonder Woman that much before.

I wonder how long time readers and fans of the character of Wonder Woman feel about this comic.

Hellblazer 291: Still not completely sold on Peter Milligan's Hellblazer to be honest. I've read almost the entire Hellblazer run and the comic isn't really as intresting right now as it has been in the past under over writers.

John has a unintresting marriage to epiphany the daughter of a sterotypical cockney gangster. His settled down which given the character ages in real time is understandable but it means his not out travelling the world, or attempting to save it or sacrificing some poor friend or acquaintance of his to save his own neck.

Milligan has had some good single self contained stories like the Annual and the prison issue but mostly I just read Hellbalzer hoping his going to do something intresting or original with the characters and it doesn't happen.

Anyways John and Gemma get revenge on Johns demonic twin for raping Gemma at Constantines wedding. (I personally dislike the over played out rape as a plot device). To summon his evil twin he teams up with former girlfriend and sidekick mage Angie who is a fat and downtrodden women now.

John kills a wife beater in cold blood and sleeps with a prostitute that looks like his wife to create the dark magic that draws out his demon half.

I don't remember John ever straight up murdering anyone in cold blood before besides the Family Man serial killer and even then John struggled with killing him even though he murdered his dad as well as friend of Johns.

John tells Gemma about visiting her mum in hell and that she has a long lost brother out there somewhere which Gemma doesn't believe.

Saga 3: Has all the snappy dialogue you expect from a Brian K.Vaughn comic. Vaughn has managed to lay out a variety of plot, chracters and world building in 3 issues very accessible and easy to follow which is a mark or a talented writer in my opinion.

Alana attempts to save her husband Marko as well as work out if she can trust ghost Izabel. Prince Robot interrogating a prisoner was a pretty fun read too.

Invincible Iron Man 517: I'm enjoying Matt Fractions Iron Man although I know other aren't. I like the dichotomy between Tony Stark and Zeke Stane in the flashbacks to when they were children and how their fathers treated them.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't know if I qualify as a longtime fan of Wonder Woman, since I've only read one Perez arc, the Rucka run, half of Simone's run, and a few other issues here and there, but I dropped Azzarello's Wonder Woman comic months ago. It wasn't bad, it's just that nothing in it interested me, least of all Diana herself. Wonder Woman really is something of a cipher in her own comic under Azzarello.

 

[CConn]

She very much is.

Although the actual quality of the comic has improved dramatically. I was close to dropping it myself around issue 5 or 6...but since then it's gotten pretty awesome.