What You Should Have Read #3

Okay, let’s see what’s on tap for this week:

Absolution #4

Blackest Night: The Flash #1

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1

Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love #2

Dark Avengers Annual #1

Deadpool Team-Up #898

Fall of the Hulks Alpha

JSA All-Stars #1

Marvels Project #4

Nova #32

Siege: The Cabal #1

Supergod #2

Superman: World of New Krypton #10

Thor #604

Torch #4

Uncanny X-Men #518

X-Force Annual #1

Stuff I Loved: The X-Force Annual was half awesome, and half meh. Funny enough, it was the X-Force stuff that was meh. The Deadpool story, on the other hand, was crazy cool and fun. I thoroughly enjoyed the way he got around Cyclops no killing order.

Brian Michael Bendis is probably my comic book idol. I love the way he writes. I read (almost) everything he puts out. It’s not that he’s usually doing anything groundbreaking or anything, it’s his dialogue. It’s the same reason I liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 30 Rock and West Wing. The dialogue. I have loved Ultimate Spider-Man since issue #1. I remember where I bought it and where I read it for the first time. 140 and some odd issues later and I still love it. The only thing I DON’T like about this book is the art. It’s not bad, it’s just that Mark Bagley drew this book for more than 100 issues, so he left a mark. Then Stuart Immonen stepped in to finish off the first series, and he did a wonderful job. But then we’ve got somewhat of a different direction on this new series. It’s almost faux Manga. It’s like at any moment the eyes could get huge and exclamation marks could start popping out of characters’ heads. I’m just not a fan of Manga or any derivative of it. But lucky for me I read this book for the words and not the pictures.

Oh look, another BMB book. When Osborn’s Cabal showed up at the end of Secret Invasion, you knew that no matter how long Marvel drew this out, it wouldn’t last. Hell, the Illuminati didn’t last, and they were all heroes. It was understandable to see Emma and Namor go first, since they’ve played the good-guy game for a decent amount of time. Frankly, though, I’m surprised Doom even showed up in the first place. He is NOT a team player. But he’s always planning something, and it was nice to see that he didn’t send along JUST a Doombot to Norman’s little meeting. After Avengers: Disassembled, Civil War, The Initiative, Secret War, and Dark Reign, I’m really excited about this next chapter. But since it is Osborn, I hope Spider-Man has a very important role in his downfall.

“My name’s John Steele…I kill Nazis. Who the hell are you?” What a great line. I’m really enjoying the Marvels Project look at the beginning of Marvel/Timely’s Golden Age heroes. I’ve heard of most of the characters, but I’m only familiar with the big three: Captain America, Human Torch and Namor. And I guess Nick Fury, too. And nowhere on the cover does it mention a connection to Dynamite Entertainment.

Stuff I Liked: Uncanny X-Men was good. I’m glad there wasn’t any Greg Land art in it. Dude just doesn’t do it for me. I’m curious as to what’s up with the Void. That’s not a subplot I ever expected to see in an X book. And didn’t the last issue of this book come out last week? Schedule, people! Stick to a schedule!

Torch is fine. I wouldn’t consider it a must-read, but I’m enjoying it for more than just the Alex Ross covers. The thing that I don’t understand, though, is the Dynamite Entertainment connection. Do they own all of the non-DC Golden Age heroes now? They’re reviving tons of them over in Superpowers, and the Avengers/Invaders mini also carried a DE tag. Are they just letting Marvel use the characters? What gives? Can somebody please explain this to me?

Thor was a good read, but I’m still a little miffed at last week’s non-finale. I think Kieron Gillen is doing a very good job picking up where Straczynski left off, and Billy Tan’s art looks a lot more refined than when he was doing New Avengers. I’m hoping for a pretty big battle next issue, but battles with Doom usually end up in destroyed Doombots rather than a beaten Doom, so I guess we’ll see.

So Fall of the Hulks: Alpha introduced us to, what, the 3^rd secret group in the Marvel Universe? First the Illuminati, then the Cabal, and now these guys? I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, it just seems like a lot of secret groups. Anyways, this was a history lesson that showed us what this group of geniuses was doing during various points in time while the group tried to amass the lost library of Alexandria. I’m not sure yet what all that had to do with the Red Hulk at the end, but it was entertaining.

I enjoyed Blackest Night: Flash a lot more than Wonder Woman. Since we’re getting plenty of Flash in the main mini, this mini is also showcasing the Rogues. Since he took on Flash years ago, Geoff Johns has made the Rogues part of the Flash, not just villains he (Wally or Barry) fights every now and then.

I kind of liked that it looked like John was going to get away with it in Absolution, but I also liked it when his girlfriend realized what had been going on. It looks like Avatar can put out some quality straight-up superhero stuff rather than just the deconstructionist stuff that Warren Ellis loves to do.

Stuff That Was Just Meh: Superman: World of New Krypton (I’m enjoying the Earth-side tales from the epic rather than the Kryptonian ones), Nova (I hate when the beginning of a new storyline feels like I’ve been dumped in the middle of an ongoing storyline), JSA All-Stars (although it’s nice to see some actual combat training, I think it’s something that could have been addressed in the main book), Deadpool Team-Up (not funny at all, so what’s the point?), Cinderella (I love Fables, but this story isn’t holding my interest all that much), and Blackest Night: Wonder Woman.

Stuff That Was Weird: Supergod. Okay, despite what the narrator claims the Chinese “god” fashioned all the guards, officers and scientists into, that’s just a giant penis with some incredible disturbing sperm spewing from it. Ew.

Stuff That I’m Not Sure If I Liked or Not: Okay, I think the last page of Dark Avengers Annual needed to come out AFTER the conclusion of Captain America Reborn, so, y’know, SPOILER ALERT! And Noh-Varr gets a power upgrade? Wasn’t he pretty badass before? I definitely don’t like the new costume. This was probably one of the weakest BMB books I’ve read lately. I did like Chris Bachalo’s work, though.