The "I Bought and I Thought" thread for Nov.1st

[GNR]

Great week.

'Tec Comics #825-Don't let the absence of Dini draw you away this month.Once again,we get another done-in-one Bats tale.Bats basically has to stop the new Dr.Phosphorus from getting revenge.Dini's Rupert Thorne is in this one,but doesn't get a whole lot of face time.Hopefully we'll see more of him down the line.The story was just like #822 (the Ivy issue) in the sci-fi sense.I remember Dini's off-beat stories from the cartoon where Bats would have to stop some weird creature created by a mad scientist or something.But this is McGraw's story and it fits what Dini has been doing for the past 4 issues.The art was nice looking as well,really similar to Olivetti's style.Also,the art really made Phosphorus jump off the page.Good stuff.

JLA #3-This issue was make or break for me.We got a whole lot of buildup in the past 2 issues and I was really counting on Meltzer to pick up the pace.And that's exactly what he did.The issue is 75% beautifully drawn action by Benes.I think his inker has finally found the right touch after alot of the unnecessary heavy inking from past issues.Arsenal,GL and Canary all get their time to shine when taking on the Tornadoes.Heck,even Canary's ass gets its own page!The Phantom Stranger pops up again,for those of us reading Justice,and gives Reddie advice to seek out Ivo.BL and Hawkgirl come to the Batcave to see out Bats,turns out Trident had a Starro in the back of his neck.Great issue all around,a big step up from the last 2,Meltzer can do no wrong right now

Hulk #100-this thing weighs a ton.Anyways,the one thing that pissed me off was the lack of #300 reprinted in this like the solicits said.I was so looking forward to finally reading this story,and it's not there!But anyways,Hulk and crew on the run seek out the help of the Shadow Elders,but first they need to be convinced that Hulk is truly the Sakaarson.The backup story by Gary Frank was just awesome.We meet some kid named Amadeus Cho(supposedly popped up back in AF #15)who gives Reed Richards a run for his money.Oh yea,and he shuts down an entire SHIELD helicopter on his own,the kid has balls.Reed and the kid go back on forth on how Hulk has saved the world and his friends time and time again.Reed and Tony then realize that Hulk may not be where they sent him.Reed then says how Hulk has alot of friends and hopefully he and Tony find Hulk before his friends dn this page it shows Hulk in the background with a dozen silhouette figures standing by his side.OH hell yes.WWH cannot come soon enough.

 

[GNR]

Darth,you're going to be pleased with how much JLA picks up.

 

[Darthphere]

Your mom *****. And also Rupert Thorne is a Steve Englehart and Walter Simonson creation.

EDIT: So GNR, who finds out the Hulk is missing, was it that dumbass guy you mentioned?

 

[CaptainCanada]

What If? Avengers Disassembled #1: What If The Scarlet Witch Hadn't Acted Alone?

In which it's all somebody else's fault. The most obvious way this "What If?" could have been done was to have "Disassembled" not happen at all, but Parker takes a very different approach. The whole thing is structured like a mystery novel, with the big reveal, followed by a massive brawl. Great art; Aaron Lopresti draws a fantastic Scarlet Witch (Ms. Marvel doesn't look too bad either). Parker also goes out of his way to rectify some of the continuity revisions Bendis made in "Disassembled", such as the claim that chaos magic doesn't exist. "What If?"s are kind of difficult to grade, but I enjoyed this one, and it's very pretty to look at.

Uncanny X-Men #480: The Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire: Chapter Six: Vulcan's Progress (Redux)

In the second of our three Vulcan-centric installments, there is considerable improvement over the rather bland Uncanny #477, both in terms of art and story. Henry, Clay Henry's art in #477 suffered from the rather dull backdrops given to him, which mostly consisted of the void of space and the dull interiors of a Shi'Ar warship; this issue, he's got some varied locations, and, crucially, the entire Shi'Ar Imperial Guard to draw, each of whom has a colourful, distinctive design, which livens things up considerably. I have to say I'm a fan of his stuff; it's clean, with some energetic fights, but not overly complicated. We've now arrived at the real meat of the story in this arc, and Brubaker happily throws in a couple of good twists in the story; one, in particular, redefines a lot of what happened in #477, and makes what was initially a plot contrivance now appear a lot less problematic. A lot of people were worried that Brubaker would have Vulcan plow through the entire Imperial Guard, including Gladiator, guys who in the past have been nie on invincible. This isn't the case, as, although the Guard takes heavy casualties (Impulse, Cosmo, Neutrino, Titan, Smasher...), when Gladiator cuts loose, Vulcan can't withstand him (he loses an eye, in fact , which means that he now looks like Cable with his single glowing eye). Vulcan is looking less and less like the real villain of the piece, and more of a pawn in the hands of K'Tor and his Secret Order. Great stuff.

 

[Brainiac 8]

Glad to hear Uncanny is good.

I want my comics, I haven't had the money or time to pick up my order for three weeks. Hopefully this weekend I can go get it all.

 

[GNR]

Your mom *****. And also Rupert Thorne is a Steve Englehart and Walter Simonson creation.

EDIT: So GNR, who finds out the Hulk is missing, was it that dumbass guy you mentioned?

Amadeus Cho was one of the new characters introduced in the recent Amazing Fantasy #15.Cho was an original creation of Pak.

The kid's like this boy genius,we don't know how he got his powers or if he's just a natural.The kid is the one who finds out and the story ends with him riding off to god knows where.Behind him is a picture of Hulk in pissed mode with a group of characters at his side blacked out.One of them had long hair,so I'm guessing Sentry or Samson.

 

[Darthphere]

Amadeus Cho was one of the new characters introduced in the recent Amazing Fantasy #15.Cho was an original creation of Pak.

The kid's like this boy genius,we don't know how he got his powers or if he's just a natural.The kid is the one who finds out and the story ends with him riding off to god knows where.Behind him is a picture of Hulk in pissed mode with a group of characters at his side blacked out.One of them had long hair,so I'm guessing Sentry or Samson.

What a ****ing cop out.

 

[GNR]

Not really.The kid has some connection to the Hulk,some past experience,I can't remember what.He's a great character though,it was just awesome seeing this kid school Richards with all this tech talk.

If a major hero did find out though,nothing would probably happen for another couple months or so because of CW.Fanboys would be whining like "Sentry knows about the Hulk now!Why doesn't he kick Reed's ass?!" well into next year.

 

[Darthphere]

Yeah, but hes a character hardly anyone knows. Pathetic. Rick Jones *****!

 

[The Punisher]

GNR, can you give any JLA spoilers please?

 

[GNR]

Read the first post,that's pretty much everything important that happens.

 

[The Punisher]

Good for BL, and thanks GNR for the rundown.

 

[Specter313]

Not really.The kid has some connection to the Hulk,some past experience,I can't remember what.He's a great character though,it was just awesome seeing this kid school Richards with all this tech talk.

If a major hero did find out though,nothing would probably happen for another couple months or so because of CW.Fanboys would be whining like "Sentry knows about the Hulk now!Why doesn't he kick Reed's ass?!" well into next year.

He went by the name Mastermind Excello in his Amazing Fantasy debut. He was on the run from someone, probably SHIELD or some high level company that he hacked into or something(I don't have the issue handy), and while on the run, he ran into Banner, and when whoever was after him attacked, Banner hulked out and helped him, and they sort of became friends.

I disagree with Darth, saying that someone more like Rick Jones should have done it. For one, Rick is all grown up now, and the way that story worked, is to have someone who's still young and show the view of how this all worked through a kid's eyes. And while I only skimmed it in the shop, I thought it worked perfectly.

I would also like to mention that he was the one to get the most votes from the Amazing Fantasy contest, by a pretty wide margin if I remember correctly, so it's not like no one knows who this kid is.

 

[Doc Destruction]

JLA was VERY awesome. Canary never looked so good, and Hal kicks some serious bootay.

Digging it so far. Can't wait for Amazo!!!

 

[The Punisher]

God, I need to go to my shop.

 

[Ultimate_Superman]

Superman Confidential is the best book out this week

 

[SouLeSS]

Bought:

52 26
Beyond 5
Blue Beetle 8
Detective 825
JLA 3
Nightwing 126
Outsiders 42

52 was kind of a slow week, more Black Marvel family stuff, a little bit of Charlie and Reynee (after what like, 5 weeks of them not being in it?) (and by little I do mean little), more of the doctors on Oolong Island, and of Dr Ivies family. I started off loving this series, now it's kinda feeling dragged out a bit. I mean, not much has really happened in the past couple issues, and it's starting to show.

Beyond is pretty much over. Venom thought he killed everyone, but they were just stuck in Limbo until Space Phantom came and bailed them out (against his will) and it looks like "Henry Pym" (though they call him Hank like 4 times in this issue) wins, what with the shooting everyone in the game with his little gun and telling the Beyonder "game over". Good twist, for the most part. It's over next week, so who knows whats going to happen.

Blue Beetle's cover made it look like there was going to be something that actually happened in it, but all it was was him fighting that big raging ****** for a page or two, and Mr. Black comming to the rescue. I'm done with this book. It's been 8 months of, for the most part, crap.

Detective comics was good, though I can say that I'm getting tired of these one-and-dones. I mean yeah, it's good that you don't have the arcing storys and what not, but it just seems like they are all resolved in the last like three pages. Pretty much how the older TV shows (60-80) were. It's like they didn't really know what was going on until the very few minutes and then all the sudden it was over.

JLA finally picked up. BC tears up one of the 'yellow tornado' bots. Roy is cocky, then gets it thrown right back at him. Which was kinda funny. GL ended up finishing all of it, like he should have pretty much immediatlly. I mean, the guy has a power ring for christ sakes. The whole "is Batman in or out" from last issue is played off as a joke on this one which is kind of lame. So on and so forth, pretty good issue. The parasite thing is back, which is cool I guess.

Nightwing. Oh, Nightwing, how I used to love thee. People are going to bite my head of (or just ignore this whole post) when I say that I'm not feeling the Wolfman issues. I mean, they arn't that much better than the previous OYL stuff. There were three things wrong with the first couple issues of OYL pre-wolfman. 1) Jason Todd , when eaten by that one octopus dude became Toddopuss. 2) Cheyenne or however the hell you spell it making the "Nightwing outfit" some kind of fashion trend, and 3) Well, I can't think of a three. People get so defensive over Wolfman just becuase he was on the original TT when he came into existence and he "Knows Dick Very Well". Oh, and if you want to say "WELL WOLFMANS ARC IS AWESOME SO FAR!" I'll kindly point you to the mysterious killer thats killing everyone with a Laser Pointer. Yeah, I said it. A Laser Pointer. How lame is that? I kind of wanted to drop the book around the Todd arc, but I played it out to see where it was going. Now I'm really thinking of just dropping this book MID ARC (which for me is soemthing that I don't like to do, at all) because of how bad it really is. Don't be blinded by Wolfman being on it, it's really not that good people. Oh, and by the way, Nightwing magically has some helper guy thats designing his **** for him, calling him "Wing", making up names for his grappling hook, holding the last surviving guy from 'The Raptor massacre' and is afraid to leave his house for no apparnt reason. Now, maybe I missed out on issue 125 (which I'm 100% sure I didnt) but where the HELL did this guy come from? Yeah...real good story guys! Wolfman sure has saved Nightwing!

Outsiders was eh. I'm feeling under the weather and I read it when I woke up from passing out on my couch. Nightwing gets owned at the end though, which is kind of funny. And apparntally Sivana and the Outsiders are on the same side? Coulda fooled me, what with his 50foot tall killer robot he threw at them on the last couple pages, and the (probably) lethal toxin he got Nightwing with...

 

[The Punisher]

Superman Confidential is the best book out this week

I so can't wait to pick that up.

 

[SouLeSS]

I skimmed through it at my shop, but I was running short on cash (I left my wallet at home and only had like 23$ on me). If it gets pretty good reviews from some of the people here that I trust on their reviews I might go pick it up next week.

 

[GNR]

He went by the name Mastermind Excello in his Amazing Fantasy debut. He was on the run from someone, probably SHIELD or some high level company that he hacked into or something(I don't have the issue handy), and while on the run, he ran into Banner, and when whoever was after him attacked, Banner hulked out and helped him, and they sort of became friends.

I disagree with Darth, saying that someone more like Rick Jones should have done it. For one, Rick is all grown up now, and the way that story worked, is to have someone who's still young and show the view of how this all worked through a kid's eyes. And while I only skimmed it in the shop, I thought it worked perfectly.

I would also like to mention that he was the one to get the most votes from the Amazing Fantasy contest, by a pretty wide margin if I remember correctly, so it's not like no one knows who this kid is.

I found his story pretty interesting.I hope to see more of the kid.lots of potential there.Shutting down a SHIELD copter and all,very cool.

Frig,my bag for this book ripped in half when I was trying to fit this bad boy in.Can't wait to read the reprints tonight.

 

[GNR]

JLA finally picked up. BC tears up one of the 'yellow tornado' bots. Roy is cocky, then gets it thrown right back at him. Which was kinda funny. GL ended up finishing all of it, like he should have pretty much immediatlly. I mean, the guy has a power ring for christ sakes. The whole "is Batman in or out" from last issue is played off as a joke on this one which is kind of lame. So on and so forth, pretty good issue. The parasite thing is back, which is cool I guess.

I kept thinking that when I was reading this.I was like where the hell is GL for fack's sakes?In the corner making a shield?Then I came upon the 2 page spread of GL goodness.

 

[Marcdachamp]

The Irredeemable Ant-Man- PICK OF THE WEEK! Well, I missed issue 1 because it sold out too fast, but I got my hands on issue 2, and I was quite impressed. First of all, Kirkman's continuity is solid as ever. I really like seeing how the story fits into SHIELD's crazy last couple years (6 months comics time). Plus, it ties into Enemy of the State, and that's good, too. Oh, and some big shocks... plus, as the tagline says, the world's most unlikable superhero! 9/10

Family Guy- I think more fans would buy these if they weren't so damn expensive. $7 isn't bad for a trade style issue with no ads, but I highly doubt casual fans are willing to spend that. Anyway, these stories really do capture the heart of the show, and that's impressive. The fact that Matt Fleckenstein is one of the show's writers doesn't hurt, I'm sure. A bit more political than the show usually is, but I liked the story a lot. 9/10

Uncanny X-Men- Things take an interesting turn. Henry isn't as good as Tan, but I like that he does the Vulcan solo stories. It gives Tan a nice breather so we can keep him on the team issues. Plus, he does a great job with the Imperial Guard. I expected Brubaker to have Vulcan take down Gladiator. Show us how "badass" he is, but the story ended much differently. Interested to see where it all goes. 8/10

Avengers Next- OH NOES! They're JLAing the A-NEXT!!!!! Heh. Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Besides, after challenging Joe Quesada to give my (Spider) girl the chance she deserves, it's quite nice to see a double dose of her in one month. And with Quesada pushing this thing by putting excellent artists like McGuiness and Wieringo on covers, I'm pretty damn ecstatic. I was hoping that these were the actual Marvel Zombies, but they were still kinda cool. Fun issue. 8/10

She-Hulk- They copped out of last month's ending, but that's ok. I knew it wouldn't be true. After all, it would be TOO massive a change. Still, Eros does go through a pretty big change, and it isn't too surprising considering just how un-P.C. his character was to begin with. Hey Slott, If we get a "My Name is Eros" one-shot out of this, I'll grin ear-to-ear in delight (you'll have to read the issue to get the joke). 8/10

 

[SouLeSS]

I kept thinking that when I was reading this.I was like where the hell is GL for fack's sakes?In the corner making a shield?Then I came upon the 2 page spread of GL goodness.

Oh, it was a glorious 2page spread. But it's the little things like that that really bother me about comics.

I mean, GL's have always gone up against galactic threats or at least planitary threats. Hell, Hal has done some pretty awesome stuff in his day, but when faced with 36 or so 'tornado' bots, he turns into a wuss?

Maybe he was just kinda stuck in a state of shock that there was more than the real 'red tornado'?

 

[Not Jake]

I am super-poor so I put off 52 and Detective til next week.


Incredible Hulk #100

This was pretty good, and I thought the backup story was pretty great. The kid shook Reed's belief about sending Hulk away.


Justice League #3

Another solid ish of this book...still moving a little slowly.


Superman Confidential #1

The best book I bought this week, though that introduction was a puzzling choice, to me. Does this kryptonite have a brain? Or was that some prose suggesting itself from the kryptonite's point of view. I don't know. Hopefully the kryptonite can't think. Because that would be lame. Otherwise, Cooke and Sale put that great little retro feel into this book, which is why everyone is buying this book anyway. Superman's beginning, when basked in the warm rays of the thematic past (cell phones aside), is far and away the most interesting period of the character, from a storytelling perspective. It's why people watch the movies and buy Man of Steel/Birthright trades, and it's why this book is selling also. Writing's good, art's gorgeous--the only thing Sale does better than drawing Superman saving Metropolis (or Kansas) daytime is letting his Batman stalk the shadows of Gotham. You guys should totally buy this. Really, drop either main Superman book if you have to, 'cause this is the best one.

 

[bored]

Hulk #100 is out?! Damn, I need to get to the shop.