Marvel Comics Solicitations For August 2007

[Darthphere]

http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/aug07/solicitations.html

 

[PhotoJones]

Thoughts:

1) The WWH #3 cover might be the best thing David Finch has ever done.
2) Staz Johnson should never again be allowed to draw the Hulk.
3) Ed McGuiness: Hulk + X-Men =
4) Whoa...who's wearing the Iron Spider suit?
5) Someone put the Falcon out. He's on fire.
6) Dammit...Yu's cover gets me excited to read New Avengers #33.
7) Deathlok!

Back to NA #33...Finally, something I want to read - the Hood rising to be a key player. Great character, and about time something was done with him. Also, who's the traitor to the team? The most obvious candidate would be Jessica. She's what? A quadruple agent at this point? Although, Tony did let Clint get away pretty easily....

 

[Darthphere]

Both Clint and Jessica are the obvious choices. I think we can eliminate Luke and Danny. That leaves Echo, Dr. Strange and Wolverine.

 

[PhotoJones]

Well, everyone but Echo was present for Strange's "Pure Intentions" spell. Jessica was the only one who showed even the slightest of adverse reactions, and I even thought that to be a Bendis/Yu gag. Now, who knows?

 

[Specter313]

X-titles, including that what that mystery McGuiness cover with Cap, Bucky, and Wolverine is to:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=10621

 

[PhotoJones]

X-titles, including that what that mystery McGuiness cover with Cap, Bucky, and Wolverine is to:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=10621

That Uncanny #489 cover actually looks pretty good. Larrocca's Storm is beautiful.

 

[Sebastos]

Spider-Man titles.

http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.1091

 

[PhotoJones]

A One More Day Sketchbook? It's a ****ing storyarc. My GOD.

 

[Darthphere]

Iron Man is a book I'm going to start paying attention to.

 

[PhotoJones]

Iron Man is a book I'm going to start paying attention to.

That book is very...average.

 

[Darthphere]

Average is good sometimes.

 

[PhotoJones]

The artwork is fantastic, though.

 

[Dread]

- Rather interesting that out of all franchises, TERROR, INC is getting a relaunch. I am sort of sad to see the trenchcoat go for some guns-blazin', 90's looking cover, but it looks pretty and I might give it a whurl.

- NEW AVENGERS #33 has The Hood being amped up like Purple Man, and it seems Madame Masque is working with him. It all sounded good until that little bit about "a traitor in the team's ranks". For god's sake, can Bendis go a year without shamelessly repeating himself? How many times has this team had a traitor? Or been split from within? How many times have you seen this story done with any other superhero team, a billion times? Cripes, man. What next, a love triangle? The only way this angle could be more stock would be if the story opened with a Western train robbery. But aside for that, hey, the MU needs more decent villians, and lord knows anything Bendis does with Hood will be retroactively inserted into every handbook and comic known to man like Purple Man was. Just a shame he couldn't amp Nefaria back to his roots. Oh, well.

- It seems Night-Thrasher, or someone in his suit is still hoppin' in NEW WARRIORS #5

- FANTASTIC FOUR looks good, like Wizard's resdesign. McDuffie's new line-up actually has been a godsend to the book, although it looks like Reed & Sue's honeymoon is over. Again.

- It appears that Slott & AVENGERS: INITIATIVE is one of the Marvel comics that takes the "198" number of active mutants seriously, while other books claim that "10%" of "a few hundred thousand, a million maybe" are left, which is more than 198. It's bad enough that Marvel can't figure out a comprehensive, consistant definition and explaination of the SHRA, but it gets even worse when they can't even keep DECIMATION straight after two god-damned years. The concept of returning the X-Men's mutant status quo to 60's levels is self-defeating, because the X-Men got CANCELLED in the 60's, merely spitting out reprints for years until Claremont, Cockrum, & Co. re-energized it. Still, though, it's more Slott so it'll be good, and I am wondering who is in Iron Spidey's costume. Especially since it looked torn to shreds in CIVIL WAR. Guess someone had some nano-bot needles and threads handy. I wonder if the gov't is trying to discredit Spider-Man by having a "gung-ho" imposter. Sure, Spidey's no Cap but he has to have some sort of underground appeal. Anyway, interesting, and a solid use of continuity by an expert of it.

- I might get the GAMMA FILES because I like Handbooks, but I still am not interested in WWH.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

That book is very...average.

Seriously, its been like what, three issues since the post-Civil War story started and we still have no idea what the Mandarin is planning or what's going on. Talk about decompression, Knauf could give Bendis lessons.

 

[BrianWilly]

What defense can he muster when Dr. Strange unleashes the full power of the Sorcerer Supreme?

Yeah, seriously.

The traitor thing is embarrassingly old hat, and it wouldn't have been a problem except that it was Bendis himself who oldhatted it. Still not gonna stop Teh Internet from theorizing about it endlessly, though! I'll start/continue:

Did anyone consider the possibility that Dr. Strange himself is the traitor and that the whole pure intentions magic show really was just a magic...show? It would make completely no sense to the characterizations of Strange that Bendis himself described to us in detail, but hey.

 

[Dread]

Yeah, seriously.

The traitor thing is embarrassingly old hat, and it wouldn't have been a problem except that it was Bendis himself who oldhatted it. Still not gonna stop Teh Internet from theorizing about it endlessly, though! I'll start/continue:

Did anyone consider the possibility that Dr. Strange himself is the traitor and that the whole pure intentions magic show really was just a magic...show? It would make completely no sense to the characterizations of Strange that Bendis himself described to us in detail, but hey.

Since when has Bendis allowed little things like "characterization" get in the way of what he wanted to do in a story? Like it made sense for Hawkeye to be so angry at Wanda, then just pork her, and dump the weapon he has expertise with in favor of the leftovers from an identity that is a fruad? Ronin is like Eric the Red. Not a real character, just a costume that gets passed around. So, yeah, Dr. Strange can be a suspect. Maybe Bendis will link his cloak with Hood's hood somehow.

I'd respect Bendis a lot more and give MIGHTY AVENGERS more of the "laugh at the action" sentiment it might be worthy of if he didn't just repeat himself over and over.

It's like Claremont doing a mind-control story for the 5 billionth time. He at least had a decade or two of quality before oldhatting himself.

 

[ang_hulk]

gamma files,I have to remember to add that.THat hulk cover looks great.wwh hulk is really shaping up.

 

[GNR]

I miss DiVitto's art.Might have to pick up WWH X-Men.

Brubaker's next Uncanny arc sounds enticing.

 

[Red]

Seriously, how many times can Bendis repeat himself.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Thoughts:

- John Watson's Frontline cover looks fantabulous. I almost want to read Frontline just because of that.
- I'm gonna get WWH: X-Men. I've been wanting some X-Men stuff lately, and I like that the team in WWH: X-Men is a mix of the best from the ongoing titles' respective teams. It'll be good to see Nightcrawler, Iceman, and Rogue back with Cyclops and some of the other big names.
- That Initiative cover is nice, but I find I don't really care about Mutant Zero or who's in the Iron Spidey costume now. I think I'm burned out.
- New Avengers sounds so-so. The Hood seems like a useless character, and he certainly didn't seem all that evil in Beyond, so the fact that he's now going to be the "Godfather of super-villains" seems a bit outlandish. Oh well, I've been enjoying the characters' interplay in NA far more than the mediocre-to-outright-lame plots, so as long as Bendis keeps that up, I'll see where he takes things.
- I really want to see what JMS is doing with Thor. I'm curious about how Asgard could possibly tie into (ugh) Oklahoma besides the fact that Asgard will soon be floating over Oklahoma, which we already knew. The fact that Blake is still going to be lame is--you guessed it--lame. I'm not sure what to make of the fact that the solicit keeps referring to all of Oklahoma as a "little town." That costume still blows (but a little less when Dell'Otto paints it).
- Terror, Inc.? Really? I'll probably give it a shot, but I hope it doesn't throw away Terror's whole backstory because it's MAX. I think that might be the case, though, since I see no spikes on his head. It seems like they might reduce him to just some zombie assassin guy who steals limbs instead of eating them.
- Does Siryn just exist to get her **** ruined now? She's been almost killed twice already and that cover seems to indicate a third time is coming up.
- Ugh, I want to read about Wolverine's history with Cap, but I don't want to have to deal with Way's writing. I'll probably get it. I don't like that "it wasn't a coincidence" bit, though.
- Jesus tap-dancing Christ, Peter's gonna find religion now? I guess I won't be continuing with SSM after the Venom arc.
- Looking forward to Spider-Girl's Carnage arc. Kaine and Darkdevil don't guest-star nearly enough anymore.
- Spidey/Agents of Atlas team-up? Thank heaven for Jeff Parker.

 

[PhotoJones]

- Ugh, I want to read about Wolverine's history with Cap, but I don't want to have to deal with Way's writing. I'll probably get it. I don't like that "it wasn't a coincidence" bit, though.

Don't pick up Origins, dude. It's just not worth it.

- Jesus tap-dancing Christ, Peter's gonna find religion now? I guess I won't be continuing with SSM after the Venom arc.

I...was at a lost for words myself. Then I remember Peter's line to Eddie in SM3:

"You want forgiveness? Get religion."

 

[Red]

Where's Might Avengers?

 

[Norman Osborn]

- Jesus tap-dancing Christ, Peter's gonna find religion now? I guess I won't be continuing with SSM after the Venom arc.

My first thought after reading this was that this may be a veiled reference to Loki....

 

[Darthphere]

I got a tip for Jason Pearson, don't draw Wolverine ever again. EVER.

 

[Darthphere]

Oh and this is hilarious:

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #9
Written by ED BRUBAKER & MATT FRACTION
Pencils and Cover by DAVID AJA
Daniel Rand is the Immortal Weapon of the mystical city of K'un-Lun…the legendary kung fu hero Iron Fist. And after the stunning conclusion of THE LAST IRON FIST STORY, Danny has found himself forced to take part in a reality-spanning kung fu championship that matches the seven -- Really! Seven! -- Immortal Weapons like himself against one another. The prize is glory, but for Danny, the penalty of losing will be death–this contest is rigged, and there's no hope of escaping alive. Who has the best kung fu? Find out the hard way in THE SEVEN CAPITAL CITIES OF HEAVEN part 2! By Ed "I Killed Captain America" Brubaker and Matt "I Know Ed Brubaker" Fraction and David "Who Shot J.R.?" Aja.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99