What You Should Have Read #45

Last Week’s Comic Book Awesomeness

Action Comics #2 – This is my Superman. I don’t care if it takes place “five years ago,” this is a Superman I can like. Cocky, smart, not God-like in power. He can be taken down and bound, at least for a bit. He can’t fly yet, but he can leap tall buildings in a single bound. I think I’m really going to enjoy watching him grow in this series. We’ve also got Steel and Metallo and a Lex Luthor who doesn’t quite know everything yet. This is also the Grant Morrison that I like. His writing is smart, but it’s not weird like all his other stuff lately. This is just a good book.

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #3 – Wade’s little rant to Jonathan Standish was the basic plot of a joke: “A religious man is on top of a roof during a great flood. A man comes by in a boat and says ‘Get in, get in!’ The religious man replies, ‘No I have faith in God, he will grant me a miracle.’ Later the water is up to his waist and another boat comes by and the guy tells him to get in again. He responds that he has faith in god and god will give him a miracle. With the water at about chest high, another boat comes to rescue him, but he turns down the offer again because God will grant him a miracle. With the water at chin high, a helicopter throws down a ladder and they tell him to get in, mumbling with the water in his mouth, he again turns down the request for help for the faith of God. He arrives at the gates of heaven with broken faith and says to Peter, ‘I thought God would grand me a miracle and I have been let down.’ St. Peter chuckles and responds, ‘I don't know what you're complaining about, we sent you three boats and a helicopter.’” I’m viewing Standish as a stand-in for a certain conservative religious zealot whose name I don’t even like saying.  It’s not that he’s got a Voldemorty, ominous name, it’s just that it makes me nauseous. This book ended up being tangential to Fear Itself, not necessary at all to the main mini, but it was a good story with some beautiful (if not a little dark) art.

Swamp Thing #2 – Scott Snyder has really become a writer to watch. Between this, Batman and American Vampire (I’ve got Severed but haven’t read it yet), the guy has some great stories under his belt. But while I enjoyed the explanation of Alec Holland’s place in this new DCU, it’s not what I liked most about this issue. Wrightson Diner. Bissette Motors. Totleben’s Motel. Three artists who are almost synonymous with Swamp Thing, immortalized and honored in this issue for their past contributions. I like it artists do things like that. Makes me smile.

X-Men: Schism #5 – Well, this is the start of a new era for the X-Men. We’re finally getting the Wolverine vs. Cyclops battle we never really wanted, with each character heading up a new team of X-Men on opposite sides of the country. I tend to like shake-ups like this in the beginning, as with Spider-Man’s “Brand New Day” event. I hope, as with BND, I end up enjoying these new mutant stories once the shine has worn off. I enjoyed this mini for the most part. I liked watching the divide between Logan and Scott grow, especially after Idie’s actions. My biggest problem had to do with the action. Those bratty, super-smart kids are just random, interchangeable villains…and I hate them. It’s not that they’re not good villains, I just don’t like bratty, super-smart kids as uber baddies. It just doesn’t click for me. The briefcase Sentinel was never really portrayed as a scary threat. It was talk up a lot, but almost all of the action against it was off panel. I thought the most effective use of action in this mini was Quentin Quire’s scheme in the first issue.

Probably for the rest of the month I’m going to whore myself out with an impassioned plea: click on the ads. PLEASE click on the ads. I don’t care if you exit it out of it immediately or actually look around. This isn’t some professional blog where I believe in the products I’m shilling. These are automatic ads placed by Google. But my experiment this weekend proved to me that I actually AM making a spot of cash whenever the ads are clicked. So I’m going to put this little disclaimer on the bottom of all my posts for the next month or so, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. Thanks so much!

What You Should Have Read #42

Last Week’s Comic Book Awesomeness

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9 #1 – Oh, I miss the show. The comic is great, but I really miss the show. I liked how Season 8 started, but I didn’t really care for how it ended. I hope I don’t feel the same way about Season 9, because I enjoyed the first issue.

Journey Into Mystery #627 – Loki’s not in this one, it’s all about Mephisto…and his showing here is just as good as his showing in the last issue of New Mutants. It’s a smart and cunning Mephisto. I like that. From the beginning, the opening text/recap page, it’s all about Mephisto and his involvement in Fear Itself. On one hand, I like to think that the inevitable confrontation between Mephisto and Loki will be epic, but it might be epic on a small scale…two powerful entities out-snarking one another.

New Avengers #16 – Hmm. Daredevil in the Avengers. Is he a full member now or an associate, one they call when his special talents are needed? He’s not on the cover for the next issue, so the question is valid. I like him. I like Bendis writing him. But is he really one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes? Let’s see where this goes.

Ultimate Spider-Man #1 – I like Miles Morales. I like him and I like his family. He’s not Peter Parker and they aren’t Aunt May and Uncle Ben, but they’re good people and I like them. This is how you raise a Spider-Man. I hate that people are in an uproar about this. I hate that people are upset that this is a boy of color who becomes the new Spider-Man. I hate that there were ignorant people upset and didn’t understand a quote by artist Sara Pichelli and assumed the new Spider-Man was gay, and they had a problem with that. I understand that you’re introduced to a character and fall in love with him, but sometimes people die, and in this case, it was a fictional character named Peter Parker. This new kid isn’t Peter Parker, and he shouldn’t be Peter Parker. Peter Parker is dead. Deal with it. This kid has different powers and a different background. The origin, in general, is the same, but the results are different. That’s how it SHOULD be. If Brian Michael Bendis wanted to write more Peter Parker Spider-Man stories, he wouldn’t have killed Peter Parker. Now we get to read Miles Morales Spider-Man stories, and I’m perfectly fine with that. I trust Bendis to provide me with an entertaining and engaging story, and I so far haven’t been disappointed with this first issue. Also, Spider-Man’s uncle looks to be Deadpool.

Uncanny X-Force #15 – This is, by far, the best of the X-books at the moment. The action is there, the wit is there, and the art is there. It’s a good-looking book that is good to read. When this eventually ends, I would totally read a buddy team-up book featuring Deadpool and Phantomex.

DC’s New 52 Week 2

Deathstroke #1 – This must be the week of villainous books for me. I’ve never been a great fan of Deathstroke, but I’ve appreciated what he’s done and how he’s done it. There’s nothing here about the character that would keep me coming back to the book, but I’m curious as to what’s in the briefcase. I want to know if the eventual revelation will be a satisfying payoff.

Green Lantern #1 – Fuck DC and their reboot. Between this issue and Red Lanterns, what exactly was rebooted with the various Lanterns? I mean, I’ve been reading GL for quite a while now and I know what’s going on, but this was a not a new user friendly book. There’s SO much backstory that needs to be known. And from what I’ve seen and read, the Batman line is doing similar shenanigans. If you’re going to reboot, reboot. Push the button and start everything over. Now, that being said, I enjoyed this book and how it continued the story from before the “reboot.”

Red Lanterns #1 – I’m not totally sure this is a necessary title. This seems like mini-series material to me. It was good, but I don’t know if it presented enough…foresight?...to warrant a full series. I like the stuff with Atrocitus and the rest of his Red Lanterns, but the Earthbound stuff seems shoehorned in.

Resurrection Man #1 – I didn’t read this book the first time around. I ended up picking up the entire series on Ebay for cheap about 7 years or so ago. I remember thoroughly enjoying it, so I was interested to see what would happen here. I’m glad Mitch is back, and I’m really interested in seeing all the stories Abnett and Lanning came come up with using this wonderful premise.

Suicide Squad #1 – Great first issue. We meet the team, we see a bit of action, and we’re left looking forward to these six secret villains tasked to killing 60,000 people. I really miss Gail Simone’s Secret Six, especially after Batgirl #1, which I did not like, but judging from the first issue, I think I’m going to like this new Suicide Squad. And I’m really happy they kept on King Shark.

Superboy #1 – Well, this was a surprise. At it’s most basic level, the premise of Superboy is exactly the same as the original premise for Connor Kent. Replace Cadmus (who is apparently pretty active in the New 52) with N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and you’ve got a different character made up of the same building blocks. I like where this is going. I’m going to read more of this book. 

Probably for the rest of the month I’m going to whore myself out with an impassioned plea: click on the ads. PLEASE click on the ads. I don’t care if you exit it out of it immediately or actually look around. This isn’t some professional blog where I believe in the products I’m shilling. These are automatic ads placed by Google. But my experiment this weekend proved to me that I actually AM making a spot of cash whenever the ads are clicked. So I’m going to put this little disclaimer on the bottom of all my posts for the next month or so, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. Thanks so much!

What You Should Have Read #40

Last Week’s Comic Book Awesomeness

It was a light week last week. That can probably be attributed to DC only releasing two titles and it being the fifth week of the month.

Justice League #1 – With this being such a HUGE milestone, I feel like I should say something about the first issue of Justice League. But really, next to the pretty art, the story was pretty underwhelming…as is this little blurb.

Secret Avengers #16 – Warren Ellis should be the only person to put words in the Beast’s mouth. Of course, I think that Warren Ellis should be the only person to put words in a LOT of comic characters’ mouths. I’m very much looking forward to Ellis’ run on this title. I’ve heard that his run will consist of single-issue stories, and I like that. Not every issue of every title has to make up a larger story arc.

Uncanny X-Force #14 – I know it’s the writers that put the words in the characters’ mouths, but man, Deadpool can really turn a phrase. “Diarrhea made of sadness and anger” sounds like one of the most awful thing in the history of awful things.

What You Should Have Read #37

Last Week’s Comic Book Awesomeness

One of the attractions to Spider-Man has been that despite all his powers, things just NEVER seem to go his way. And now, even though he’s got a great girlfriend, a great job, and is a well-respected hero and member of the Future Foundation and Avengers, things STILL aren’t going his way. I think I’m going to like this event. Carly with powers? Awesome. And the beginning of this issue, when Pete thinks he may have transmitted his powers to her via a little nudge nudge wink wink? That’s awesome.

She can’t get rid of the boxes! It wouldn’t be Deadpool if Deadpool didn’t talk to himself and break the fourth wall. I do like that the boxes are being addressed while he’s in the loony bin, though.

THIS is why I like Brian Michael Bendis. I’m reading a story focusing on Squirrel Girl, and I’m really enjoying it. Never has a super-powered nanny been so important to a story then, well, I guess Agatha Harkness. I like what Bendis is doing with this (formerly) joke character. She successfully proved her worth as a nanny for a couple of Avengers. Now, let’s see what she can really do next issue while the mansion is under Siege (whoops, wrong event).

I’ve really been enjoying the new New Mutants title. When it first started, I was a little disappointed that The Powers That Be were shoehorning the original New Mutants back together under this title. These aren’t new mutants. They’re old mutants. They’re veterans. But for the most part it’s been a very well-written series, and the characters are written with their continuity complete. The writers didn’t go back to just making these the same characters from 25 years ago. As far as this issue goes, I thought it was funny that the X-Men’s super-duper airplane has a warning for a bird strike. Had these birds not been Hela, Norse goddess of death, would they have still destroyed the Blackbird? And is it irony that a bunch of black birds destroyed the Blackbird?

What You Should Have Read #35

Last (two) Week’s Comic Book Awesomeness

This is sad. TWO weeks worth of comics and these are the only bits of awesomeness that I found. Sigh.

I started reading Deadpool when the current series started during Secret Invasion. It was awesome. Now he’s being pulled (or putting himself into) the current event, Fear Itself. The difference, though, is that while Deadpool was pretty integral in the fight against the invading Skrulls, this time he is using this current crisis to attempt to gain a more heroic reputation…and he (so far) has absolutely nothing to do with the crisis. Oh, and apparently there are werewolves.

Wolverine just asked Deadpool who he was talking to. Ask a silly question…

Wanna know how big of a geek I am? I’m such a geek (and a child of the ‘80s) that I got what I’m assuming is a pretty obscure reference from this panel. I won’t ruin it for you unless you ask me to. Also, this is a great series. I’ve loved the IDW reboot of G.I. Joe, but the gem has always been the Cobra series. This is no exception during the Cobra Civil War.

I hate that Tony had to break his sobriety, but damn if that doesn’t come with some awesome hilarity when foul-mouthed dwarves are brought into the equation.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it as long as the book is being published, but Locke & Key is an incredible book. It’s by far the best non-superhero book I’m reading, and it’s always on the top of my stack when it comes out. The ending of this issue was great because it was so unexpected. You’ve got this thing going on for the whole issue, then you get to the last panel and BAM!...you find out that this isn’t just a flashback issue but in fact plot-advancing issue. Awesome.