Thu 1, thee ohnli, Bot/Thot four/four/twelve

[JewishHobbit]

I hope that thread title gives everyone as much of a headache as it gives me. I torcher you wit stoopiditee!

I passed on Invincible this week, having decided to drop the title. I may reneg on that at some point but for now I'm done with it. Taking it's place I decided to get caught back up on Grifter. I read the first four issues and really liked it but I needed to drop things and it was a loner book that could be dropped without any connections so I dropped it. I regretted it ever since and decided to just go ahead and get caught back up. My shop was missing 1 and 2, which was okay since I've already read them, but also 5 (with Green Arrow) so I don't know what happened there. As for the rest of what I read, I liked them and I'm glad I'm back on board. I don't expect this book to last long so I'm going to enjoy it for as long as I can.

I thought about getting caught up on OMAC as well since I regret dropping that one but I knew it was ending as of this week and didn't have the extra cash to buy 6 more comics. I might still do it though and then continue his adventures into JLI. We'll see.

On to some reviews...

Secret Avengers 24 - My shop got this a week late as it turned out so that's why I missed it last Wednesday. It was a good read and I really enjoy seeing Beast and Captain Britain on a team together. Adding that to John Hammond, Eric O'Grady, and Venom and I'm sold. I don't care so much about Hawkeye, Black Widow, or Valkyrie but at least I don't DISlike them. The plot was good and I'm glad to see that Eric might have survived (if that is Eric and if he truly has survived and not been robotified or something). I don't know how long I'll stay on this book (as I'm re-evaulating my Avengers buying post-AvsX) but it has a chance to stay on the buy list.

Avengers Academy 28 - The concluding issue of War with the Runaways and I liked it. I debated on picking up this arc but caved and am glad I did. It doesn't necessarilly make me want to continue the series but for my Runaways love it did what I hoped it would do. I'm stick with the book through the AvsX tie-ins for the Generation Hope cast but when that's done so will my time on this title. it's a good book but something about it just doesn't make me want to make it a regular buy, which is wierd because I love teen books. Oh well.

Wolverine & the X-Men 8 - A fairly Beast-Centric issue and it was very good. It's sad seeing Bachalo back after loving the feel of Bradshaw on the title but he does an alright job. Beast takes on Sabretooth in space for the life of Abigail Brand, set up by the new Hellfire Club to strike the heart of the Jean Grey School, and it's a satisfying showing and done-in-one story in that regard. Basically, Wolverine gets back from space after getting his legs severely broken last issue and Beast goes to S.W.O.R.D. about getting the tool he needs to fix broken adamantium. Sabretooth is sent up there to kill him but Beast gets the upper hand, though nearly loses his life in the process. All the while, several students go to the place that hurt Wolverine and take them on in order to get their copy of the tool needed to fix Wolverine. In this we see Angel and Evan (Genesis, aka Kid Apocalypse) take center stage (though Kid Gladiator gets some good lines as always) and we see some of the powerful Apocalypse abilities coming to light. The Hellfire Club realizes that they missed the mark on finding the heart of the school and targets the children.

Very good issue, as is expected from this title, and it remains my favorite book month in and month out. I'm just hoping that event tie-ins don't hinder it's progression and quality as they sometimes do.

Avengers vs. X-Men 1 - I'll start by saying I'm already annoyed at those stupid AR's all over the comic. I'm not into this whole technological crap with comics. I just want to hold the comic in my hand and read it and now I'm constantly distracted by the ARs everywhere. It honestly did take away from my enjoyment of the book and I wish Marvel would just leave well enough alone. And for the record, the 2-page spred with Phoenix approaching... that one doesn't seem to work for the app... for me anyway. And those that DO work did nothing for me. The Bendis one and the Wolverine School staff was alright, the rest was just sketches and stupid. Not a fan.

As for the issue itself, it was alright, better than the zero issue. We get the obligated first issue that sets things in motion and there's no lagging here. The phoenix is coming and Cyclops is convinced it could be the thing that rebirths the mutant race. Captain America is very worried about the Phoenix knowing that it is a force of destruction and doesn't want to take any chances. When confronted both of these men are set in their ways and it esculates quickly leading to Cyclops being the *****e that he's always written as and blasts Cap through the air. Cap shows he was ready for Cyclops' *****iness and had the Avengers waiting in the wings for just such a showdown. Round one of the inevitable battle is set to take place on the shores of Utopia between the Avengers (a mixture of all teams) and Cyclops' side of the mutant population.

I don't like hero versus hero these days as it's WAAAAAAAYYY overdone, but at least the cause of this fight and the reasoning for the sides is believable here. Unlike Civil War, I can see the mutant population being biased on the idea of Hope and the Phoenix saving their race and them being willing to fight for it. Non-mutants would obviously not be so keen on the Phoenix coming, mutant population's rebirth regardless. This would also definately put Beast, Wolverine, and Storm right in the middle of it in a very believable way. I like this set up, I just hope that the rest of the series delivers on the potential.

My one real gribe is how little Nova is involved here. Yes, I know that there's supposed to be some stupid online comic covering his side of the story or something but I'm not interesting in digital comics and it annoys me that I'm missing a part of the story because I don't want to bother with all that. I'm hoping they release the story in comic form soon so I can read it. Otherwise it doesn't exist to me.

It's a decent start though entirely ruined by the promotional stuff but I've managed to dodge everything after this point so I have no idea what's coming beyond issue one. Yay!


Best and Worst of the Week

Best: Wolverine & the X-Men 8 - This was just a great issue. Anytime we can get a Beast-centric issue I'll like it, especially if he gets the best of an A-list villain like Sabretooth (granted, with a little help from Brand). If this would have contained Bradshaw art I would have been happier but I'll take Bachelo. He's not been that bad lately, at least not on this title.

Worst: Avengers Academy 28 - Not that it was bad in any way but that of the comics I read this week it was the least of them. The characters were fine and I realy liked that Karolina and Julie Powers set up a date. I like the overall story, so if this was the worst of the batch then it was a good week. Granted, I only read 3 new comics this week but still... they were all good.

 

[Harlekin]

I noted it in the AvX thread as well, but what bugged me about the first issue especially is the amount of pages devoted to Nova's crash to Earth. That could've been done in one, maybe two pages if you really wanted to sell it. No, instead we first had five pages devoted to the Phoenix (1 regular, two splash pages), a page of arguing (okay, cool), then EIGHT pages of Nova's crash, finishing on another splash. That's lazy, pure and simple, as the action (a plane going down) is nowhere near Avengers level. There's no threat, no urgency, just panels that are too big and panels that are unnecessary.

AvX lacks all kind of subtlety, in its action and its dialogue.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, but Thor bringing that plane down gently with a big-ass whirlwind was kind of awesome, though.

 

[JewishHobbit]

He was trying too hard. The X-Men have about 5 people who could have brought it down with less effort and looked better while doing it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Thor himself could've just caught it since he no longer needs to actually have his hammer pull him along when he flies anymore. But it still looked cool. Don't hate, man.

 

[Dread]

Very big week to begin April. I didn't attend an AVX #1 release party because I wanted to sleep before work, and I didn't feel like the commute. At any rate, spoilers ahoy.

DREAD'S BOUGHT/THOUGHT FOR 4/4/12: Part 1

FANBOYS VS. ZOMBIES #1: A new launch from BOOM! Studios which was offered this week for the amazingly low and refreshing price of one dollar; thus, impulse buy territory. It truly is amazing that major companies such as Marvel and DC Comics act as if they would go bankrupt if they sold a 20 page debut issue for a price of $2.99, much less giving new readers a deal to promote the book - yet a company like BOOM! which consists of under 5% of the industry can survive giving out a full color 22 page comic at a price no comic book has seen since the start of the 1990's. At any rate, this series is written by Sam Humphries and drawn by Jerry Gaylord, with inks by Penelope Gaylord (relation unknown) with colors by Nolan Woodward. Zombies have very much been all over pop culture for many years now, but especially within the last couple, and this comic capitalizes on that with a comedy/adventure premise. As the title suggests, comic book fans battle zombies - the gimmick is "ground zero" for a zombie outbreak isn't a random town in middle America, but Comic Con International at San Diego. In rapid succession readers are introduced to a troupe of fans called "Wrecking Crew 4 Lyfe", who were best chums in the past but have since split up over one of the girls in their midst. The lead for the series is Rob, a video store clerk (cue Kevin Smith reference), with supporting characters including the overweight Burger, the arrogant Kyle, hardcore "otaku" (anime fan) Amanda, J-Mac the jock and Jenna the snarky "everygirl". As this is a series starring geeks set at a major convention, the references and comments about other works run rampant. The source of the zombie plague is quite absurd, but matches the comedic tone. Things get violent once the undead actually rise, but since these are geeks, the cast are genre savvy - as opposed to more serious fare like WALKING DEAD. The violence is over the top to match the tone of the series, and it is easy to see this being adapted to film easily. Jerry Gaylord's art matches the tone of this premise quite well, and may remind readers of the style of Cory Walker. What was an impulse buy actually proved to be an amusing and charming comic, and a better read than many comics which are triple or quadruple the price. This is a series that knows what it wants to be, and runs with that wacky premise well.

ACTION COMICS #8: After a 2 issue detour revolving around a time travel adventure with the Legion of Super-Heroes, Grant Morrison finally wraps up his six issue opening arc on this relaunch of DC's most iconic titles. For $3.99, readers get 31 pages of story drawn by Rags Morales and Brad Walker, and colored by Brad Anderson & David Curiel. The young Superman, now wearing his fresh Kryptonian costume, has a final battle against the alien collector Brainiac as well as his cybernetic pawn, John Corben, to save a chunk of Metropolis from being shrunken forever. Superman naturally wins and seems to take on Brainiac's ship for himself, which we are led to believe will eventually become his new Fortress Of Solitude. The angle of Superman adding Brainiac's files from his collections to his Fortress was also an innovation originally done by Bruce Timm's "SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES" in the late 90's. The experience of being shrunken has turned corrupt tycoon Glen Glenmorgan into a shell of himself and made Superman into a local hero for saving everyone. Clark Kent ends up hired by the Daily Planet and his secret seems to be known by his land-landy, who may or may not be Mr. Mxy in disguise. and it turns out Kent's best scoop source is Luthor himself. I think that plays into an angle Morrison introduced in ALL-STAR SUPERMAN that Luthor actually has some fondness for Kent because he represents humanity - warts and all. The irony of course is that Kent is Superman, and Luthor is likely doing more of his standard manipulation. The battle is well drawn, although some of Brad Walker's pages have some disturbingly creepy grins - one close up of Superman grinning while flying is outright disturbing. Overall this is a success, although Morrison still seems to bury his narrative in some bits of techno-babble. I will likely continue with this for the next arc, even if I am not immediately excited to see alternate reality Supermen already.

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #8: Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti's increasingly grim take on the JLI continues as Bat-Wing joins the cast on Batman's orders (as a part of his McBatman empire) to help replace the team members who were hospitalized and nearly killed by terrorist strikes against the team. Bat-Wing and Vixen both met in Africa as aid workers before becoming superheroes, which I am not sure is logical or convenient - "having all the black folk know each other" and all that. At any rate, the villains of the piece are introduced: three metahumans called Lightweaver, Breakdown, and Intersek who seek anarchy across the world. To this end they are targeting the United Nations in general and the JLI in particular; Booster Gold and Bat-Wing defend the hospital from Lightweaver, only to be told along with their few able members to vacate for the means of safety. Then in the end, everyone fights OMAC, whose title was just canceled. Lopresti's art is solid as usual, and while I want to enjoy this series, it seems to be a mix of both mediocrity and bleakness. The characters have barely been introduced and now most of their female cast is in the ER and the team is consistently seen as a failure. It is as if Jurgens is taking the old comedy premise of the team not always being seen as effective and making it literal and serious. Given that Fire, Ice, and Vixen have been on TV, it seems odd to sideline them; but then again, only Cyborg and Batman are allowed to be consistently portrayed from small screen to comic panel. I am not a fan of Jurgen's new villains since many of them are rather mundane, and a part of me is modestly disturbed that this series has decided to cast characters who claim that the system is turned against the common person as irredeemably evil considering Warner Brothers (alongside Disney and Marvel) were gung-ho about censoring the Internet. At any rate, I want to like this book more than I do, and I always like parts of every issue, but there seem to always be missing elements that keep this good book from becoming great.

INVINCIBLE #90: Things are really busy with Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley's long running Image superhero franchise. Thanks to Allen's misguided quest, Mark Grayson has been nearly killed by "the scourge virus" which was intended to kill all Viltrumites. He has been taken in by his enemy Thragg to recover, which is a process which goes fine until Thragg learns that Mark is apparently the long lost "son of Argall" and is the person Thragg was supposed to save the throne of Viltrum for as regent. Now Thragg toys with killing Mark again so he can remain ruler of what is left of their people, which causes a fight with Mark's strange terrorist buddy, Dinosaurus. Meanwhile, minor Guardians Of The Globe member Bulletproof has decided to fill in for Invincible on earth, at least for one disaster happening at one of Atom Eve's "Invincible, Inc" clients. John Rauch's colors have helped Ottley's artwork pop more than usual, which is a feat since Ottley is an often underrated talent in terms of long term and consistently great superhero comic artists. The angle of Zandale being a fill-in Invincible dealing with the street crime elements Mark has abandoned isn't a bad idea, although I did roll my eyes when he made a pass at Eve. Eve herself seems to have become an emotional wreck shifting from sobbing to shouting at any given scene. Thragg himself is proving to be an inconsistent character; starting as a straight up villain, he resists killing Mark and Nolan when he has the chance for mysterious reasons and has waxed and waned between being Mark's savior and enemy again within the span of three issues. Oliver's lack of humanity continues to appall even Allen, which is interesting since they still remain friends. At any rate, INVINCIBLE has evolved into a book where the morality of the situation isn't usually clear and in which it is hard to predict which direction a story will turn - for better or worse. While I don't always agree with the direction, like any long term soap opera addict, I care enough about the cast to follow them through their lives despite that. Plus, the art is always great and the action is usually solid.

AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1: Last week, AVX #0 hit the shelves, but this issue has a big number one on the cover so Marvel considers this the official start of 2012's crossover mega-event. Much like FANBOYS VS. ZOMBIES, what is in the title is what one gets in the story. This carries on from POINT ONE #1 in which the new Nova has crash landed in the middle of Manhattan and caused quite a lot of damage for the Avengers to contain. He warns them of the incoming Phoenix Force, which Capt. America and Iron Man consider to be an incredible threat - despite the Avengers never having anything to do with any previous Phoenix stories ever. Perhaps Beast clued them in? The subplot cycling through the X-Men books for years is that Cable's adopted daughter Hope will be the next host to the Phoenix Force, a fact Wolverine swiftly tells Cap when asked. The problem is Cyclops sees her as the messiah for the almost extinct mutant race, and has a grudge against the Avengers in general for often either ignoring the plight of mutants or directly (or indirectly) undermining it - which is a fair point. This series will be divided amongst Marvel's top five writers, and this issue is written by Brian M. Bendis and drawn by John Romita Jr., with Scott Hanna on inks and Laura Hanna on colors. All five writers are credited with the story (Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, and Matt Fraction), so this like many events is very much a committee editorial project and not a story. A fight is in the title so a fight is what one will get. Cyclops is written like a near sociopathic drill instructor for a large chunk of the story, which is a bit inconsistent with Aaron's portrayal in AVX #0. The major highlight is Romita's art, since the script caters to his strengths with a disaster in Manhattan and optic blasts against shields. The story itself is as simplistic and banal as a wrestling storyline, but that apparently is the aim of the series - to showcase Marvel's cast of heroes bashing their brains in for 12 issues (in addition to another fight series called AVX: VERSUS which brings fans that Capt. America vs. Gambit battle they never knew they wanted). Compared to FEAR ITSELF or even most of AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE, this is merely average; neither great or terrible, just there. Thus, the definition of obligatory.

AVENGERS ACADEMY #28: The second part of a two issue team up with the RUNAWAYS, which were Marvel's last major team book featuring original teenage characters which lasted for over 25 issues by regular writer Christos Gage and THE LONERS' artist Karl Moline. Since the YOUNG AVENGERS got to team up with the RUNAWAYS twice, it was a matter of time before the Academy did so - even if it does hint of filling pages before the start of next month's AVENGERS VS. X-MEN crossover. In the last issue, the RUNAWAYS came to the Academy for aid in reclaiming their pet dinosaur; Giant-Man and Tigra oblige but also seek to have the wayward teams join their school (especially Molly and Klara, who are both under 14). The often suspicious Nico expects alterior motives from adult heroes, and in this issue her accusations lead to a brief battle between the teams like the covers have depicted. Gage has a challenge to solve here; how to justify Pym and Tigra letting the Runaways continue on their nomadic ways without them seeming incompetent (by being defeated in a fight) or callous (by not caring at all for homeless teenagers). The solution is a spell which literally allows the characters to see each other's memories and gain an understanding with each other; the result is a bit preachy but is superior to other absurd comic book plots. Moline's artwork alongside Jim Fern's inks and Chris Sotomayor's colors is quite good, and the highlight remains the interaction between the characters. Gage finds a voice for the counter-culture Runaways well; Nico in particular comes off very strongly. The trip to a land before time with Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur foreshadows a purpose for Reptil's mystical powers, although beyond that this was a brief team-up arc between two teen teams. This isn't the peak of quality for this series, but still entertaining for fans of Marvel's new blood.

 

[Dread]

Part 2 of 2:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #683: Most of the buzz around Marvel this week is around AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1, although fans of genuinely great and exciting "Hollywood blockbuster event style" stories would be better served to pay attention to this arc of Dan Slott's seminal run. Years worth of subplots involving the reformed Sinister Six is now coming to the fore in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and playing out with the biggest stories in terms of scale this series has seen since SPIDER-ISLAND last year - which was also excellent. The gist is that Dr. Octopus is dying, and he has arranged for one last great scheme to take over the world with his best roster of the Six yet; a roster that appears to all get along instead of fight amongst themselves (or against him). The roster mixes the classic Six members such as Ock, Mysterio, Sandman, and Electro with members from the "Insidious Six" from the 90's "SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES" such as Rhino and Chameleon. In the previous issue, Ock implimented a device which accelerated the rate of global warming across half the planet, and immediately after offered a solution to the inevitable environmental disaster. While many in the scientific community as well as some in the superhero community believe that either Ock seeks to reform before he dies or that his science is sound, Spider-Man is having none of it and is prepped for battle. He has designed an "Anti-Sinister Six" armor via his position at Horizon Labs and has even seemed to take point with his Avengers teammates on this.

This issue features Spidey and the Avengers storming into a United Nations assembly meeting which debated Ock's terms, and exposes that Ock had one of his tentacles involved in the meeting. Spider-Man attempts to utilize his experience with Dr. Octopus to attempt to think one step ahead of him, although it appears Ock is several steps ahead of that. While Spider-Man has a full squad of Avengers alongside him and is at the top of his game in terms of arsenal, the Sinister Six appear with similar preparedness. The result is a spectacular battle between the Six and the Avengers as drawn by Stefano Caselli and colored by Frank Martin Jr. which matches if not surpasses anything seen by Erik Larson back in REVENGE OF THE SINISTER SIX during the 90's. This is the second chapter of a longer arc so obviously things can't go entirely swimmingly for our heroes here; will Silver Sable prove to be a wild card lurking in the background? Meanwhile, mayor J. Jonah Jameson makes good on his threat to shut down Horzion Labs at the worst possible time; it is great to see him continue to be a thorn in Spidey's side in a way which isn't screaming behind a bullpen desk.

Caselli's artwork is up to the high standard that fans of his work on ASM and other places (AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE, SECRET WARRIORS) have come to expect. Slott paces a great battle amongst two teams, but the best bit is how prepared and mature he is handling Spider-Man here. Many times even in his own series, Spider-Man often acts out of his depth or with a bit of inexperience despite prior stories; Slott has continued to play up that Spider-Man is a genuis who now has access to an actual professional budget for his inventions. The notion of Spidey as an "everyman" officially died with him joining the Avengers back in 2004, and one of the critical highlights of Slott's BIG TIME run is taking that to logical conclusions with the web-slinger himself. While that has come with many advantages compared to his old status quo, it has also come with appropriately larger challenges - and Peter's usual poor luck. This story also seeks to elevate Dr. Octopus as a threat to the level of other major enemies such as Baron Zemo or even Dr. Doom, and thus far has succeeded.

2012 celebrates Spider-Man's 50th anniversary, and is it appropriate that Dan Slott is writing the biggest story possible featuring all of Spidey's A-list villains from the 1960's. Big stories in major titles can be done well, and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN has been proving it for a second year running.

DAREDEVIL #10.1: Marvel’s relaunch of DAREDEVIL written by Mark Waid back in July 2011 hasn’t exactly been leading the line in terms of sales – which are flat on the franchise since 2010 – but it has become a critical darling. The reason is obvious; it’s terrific. Waid, who dazzled readers at the start of the 21st century with a franchise run on FANTASTIC FOUR is doing the same with DAREDEVIL, where he is often paired with some of the most innovative artists in Marvel’s stable such as Marcos Martin and Paolo Rivera; Chris Samnee is set to join the series in the near future. To this end, Marvel have attempted to promote this series via brief crossovers; one with AMAZING SPIDER-MAN at the start of the year spiked sales for January’s issue by 12%. April will see a three part crossover with AVENGING SPIDER-MAN and the (fading) PUNISHER title, as well as this “Point One Initiative” issue which will be the first of two issues of DD shipping this month. Marvel sole the “Point One Initiative” promotion as an attempt to provide a one-shot story between regular issues that pleases regular readers as well as attempts to hook in new ones. In practice, many of these “.1” issues read very much like annuals or additional issues with no attempt to clue in anyone new. Sales show these often sell slightly less than regular issues – which may be why Marvel is double-shipping many titles. This issue manages to straddle the line as to the true intention of the initiative; it is very much an extra issue of DAREDEVIL which is essential to the overall narrative, but Waid goes out of his way to summarize his running subplot via narration boxes. As an added bonus is not only a reprint of Martin’s one page recap of Daredevil’s origin, but his cover to the issue itself summarizes DD’s powers. The biggest question mark going into this issue was the art by Khoi Pham – who is a fine artist, but often not thought of in the same means as Martin, Samnee, or Rivera. Thankfully, Pham puts in a great effort, and colorist Javier Rodriguez gives his art a lot of flair. It isn’t as bad as some high-brow fans feared.

The main plot of the issue is Matt Murdock going into a high security prison to see his latest client – a superhuman with flame powers named Pyromania who had previously attacked him. The opening pages lay out Murdock’s status quo; his identity as Daredevil was revealed to the public (during Brian Bendis’ run), but deliberate misdirection followed by waning public interest have reduced it to a “rumor” which is highly suspected but cannot be proven. This has been an interesting angle to play with, which Waid often has to inject comedy into his series – after all, Wilson Fisk’s identity as the “Kingpin Of Crime” has existed in a similar state for over 25 years. While Pyromania had gotten Murdock to arrive by claiming he was being cruelly treated in prison – a point Murdock agrees with because his own hyper senses are strained by the cell’s anti-pryrokinetic energy – the villain proves to be another cog in the Omega Drive plot. In previous issues, Daredevil attained a disc of data which has extremely sensitive information on five major evil organizations (A.I.M., Black Spectre, HYDRA, Agence Byzantine and the Secret Empire) and they all wish to eliminate DD and get it back while also avoiding a gang war amongst themselves. Black Spectre hired the Black Cat to steal the disc from Murdock, but she ended up robbing her go-between and refusing. Seeking to end the slow trickle of attacks and threats, Daredevil winds up attempting to force the hands of his enemies directly. How can challenging five organizations of “megacrime” possibly work in his favor? Perhaps he really is “the man without fear”!

The story has a proper mix of mystery and action, of one-liners and solid dialogue, and of imaginative new ideas beside well executed older ones. While Pham isn’t as strong in depicting Murdock’s radar sense as Martin and Rivera are, Waid’s script wisely doesn’t require him to do so and caters to his strengths. While Pyromania seems like a new villain, he also bares strong resemblance to a very obscure character with the same name and basic design (as well as costume) as a character who last appeared in WEB OF SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #10, circa 1994. Daredevil has long been lacking in notable villains for his gallery besides Kingpin, Bullseye, Owl, and Gladiator; Purple Man has since expanded past this franchise. If Waid has decided to take an obscure villain and craft the character to his whims, more power to him. It both ties into the regular issues as well as sets up the OMEGA DRIVE very well, which Waid will write alongside former DC talent Greg Rucka. While fans have good reason to be wary of crossovers, if every issue is at least as solid as this one across all three chapters of it, then it would be superior to larger scale fare like AVENGERS VS. X-MEN.

THUNDERBOLTS #172: It is ironic that Marvel is celebrating the 15th anniversary of the T-Bolts franchise in the same year that the title will be changed to DARK AVENGERS as a desperate saving throw to starve off an inevitable cancellation for another six months. After the surprisingly great previous issue which focused on Songbird back in the present, we return to the time-flung travels of the escapees - who have now returned to the continuity of the late 90's when the original Thunderbolts organized by Zemo/Citizen V were still fresh and still planning a long term con. Heck, they hadn't even run into Jolt yet, and she joined the cast early on. The original T-Bolts discover the time-traveling tower appear in the city, and it's similar iconography as well as Fixer technology interests them enough to stage a mission against it. This proves a problem as the current Fixer and Moonstone don't wish to further alter history by running into their counterparts. Centurius is still skeptical about whether this is a separate time-line or not, but Jeff Parker gets in a clever time loop with Boomerang raiding one of his old storage units for gear. Declan Shalvey's artwork with two colorists in tow is up to it's usual high standards, and the fight goes off well. The twist comes at the end when Moonstone (as usual) decides to play by her own rules and risk a time paradox with herself. The battle is pretty good and I prefer this than some of Parker's other time plots such as the Victorian issues. With only 1-2 issues left to finish his run with this characters, I am curious what Parker will wind up doing with them. Will they just escape to the present and split up? Will some die? Remain lost in time? Who knows, and that adds some suspense.

VENOM #15: After the marathon that was the CIRCLE OF FOUR, Rick Remender wisely takes an issue to have Flash Thompson catch his breath and sort out where his life is now. On the plus side, he has just saved Las Vegas from a major threat and not only earned the respect of Red Hulk and Capt. America, but is now an official member of the Secret Avengers squad. Beast and Pym have even figured out a way to keep the symbiote from controlling him. On the down side, Flash has already bonded enough to the suit that he is addicted to it, and his relationship with both Betty Brant and his widowed mother is in shambles due to his life as an agent and a recent fugitive. Even worse, Eddie Brock has decided to stalk and kill all remaining symbiotes and their hosts, whether they be psychotics like Scream/Donna Diego or vigilantes like Hybrid. It was good to see these relics from past NEW WARRIORS and VENOM comics, respectively, turn up - although I do regret that Hybrid had to die. Flash gets an extended introduction to the Secret Avengers and even seems to flirt with Valkyrie. I do wonder if Remender will pair them up, and if so I imagine there is some appeal - the eternal patron of warriors dating a very wounded and haunted warrior in Flash. Ol' Brunnie dated worse during her DEFENDERS years. Thompson never becomes Venom in this issue, but none of that seems to matter as Remender continues on with his solid character work and storyline pacing. Lan Medina's artwork is great as usual, matched well with Andres Mossa's colors. With me having lost faith in Matt Fraction and Jason Aaron, it is good to experience Remender shifting from "that's the guy who did THAT to the Punisher!?" to a writer I now read on two books and enjoy greatly. While CIRCLE OF FOUR was deeply flawed and over long, it was an editorial stunt more than a story, which showed. Now that it is over, the series can continue in progress, and I can't wait to see where both it and SECRET AVENGERS lead. I wasn't initially keep on Flash Thompson as Venom, but in 15 issues (or 19 if you count all the .1 ones), I'm definitely a true believer. Brock has gone off the deep end in his salvation crusade, and a rematch between the two will be interesting.

 

[Themanofbat]

Man... I just read Morning Glories vol. 1 & 2.... wow... some awesome stuff there...

 

[CConn]

Yeah, it's keeps getting better and better.

Although, at the same time, each issue gets me more and more concerned that its just going to turn out like Lost and the ending to it all will suck balls.

 

[Themanofbat]

There's a quote that Spencer said the series is a cross between Runaways & Lost... but he says he has an ending... which Lost didn't and was made up along the way... hence, the suckage... in my opinion... but Spencer says that the end will have something to do with stuff seen in the first few issues just to prove that he has an ending...

I get what you;re saying though... but I'm going to enjoy this new ride for the time being...