Comic Book Reviews for the Week of May 16, 2012
Big
week this week. Almost too big. So big that I decided not to get the Fantastic
Four Point One issue that I had planned on getting.
Also,
spoilers, because it’s hard to have a spoiler-free discussion.
I
thought the Ends of the Earth one-shot was pointless. I kind of wish I would
have flipped through it before just buying it sight unseen. Spidey recruits
some international heroes to thwart Doc Ock’s plans in their respective
countries, but personally, I would have been fine with this all happening
between the panels of the regular ASM comic. If you read the most recent issue
of Amazing Spider-Man, you know that ONE of these international heroes died.
This comic was a smidge vague. I assume both Kangroo and Sabra were killed by Lady
Deathstrike and Crossbones, but there’s no confirmation. Sure, Lady D slashes
Kangaroo in the midsection and we see some decent blood spatter, but that’s it.
And it sure looks like Crossbones hit
Sabra with a headshot, but all we see is her face-down in a bit of blood. Out
of the two ambiguous deaths, I’d say hers is the least ambiguous.
I
hated Walt Simonson’s artwork in the previous issue, and his work in Avengers
#26 is only marginally better. The stuff with Noh-Varr was pointless. He was
character that Bendis did nothing with other than give him a new identity and a
girlfriend. He wasn’t fleshed out at all, and he’s on my deadpool as the guy to
get whacked in this crossover. He was great in Grant Morrison’s Marvel Boy mini-series, and he was
decent in the Secret Invasion crossover. Since then, though, he’s been pretty
useless. I also don’t understand why he’s so loyal to the Kree. These aren’t
his Kree. He’s from an alternate dimension/universe. I really think Bendis is
dropping the ball with the crossover issues in both this title and New Avengers.
So
far this was my favorite issue of the mini-series. From the opening with
Wolverine wearing a polar bear (not a polar bear pelt, but the whole damn
animal), to the end with Thor crashing to the moon and the Phoenix showing up,
it was all pretty solid. I like that they didn’t draw out the Phoenix’s
arrival. With such a big thing happening so early in the series, I’m really
interested in seeing how this is going to play out. The Thor stuff doesn’t
quite line up with what happened in Avengers
#26 this week, so it looks like we’ve got to wait another week to see how that
ended. He WAS the only one to return to Earth (the Moon) though. I was okay
with Wolverine duping Hope, but I’m wondering why he didn’t just try and end
her right there. Scared? I don’t need to read Versus to know how the fights turn out. I don’t really care. I
thought the first issue was poorly thought out, and I’m okay with just seeing a
couple panels for the fights. I’m enjoying John Romita, Jr.’s artwork, but I
think Colossunaut looks stupid. I don’t have a problem with the Peter
possessing the power or anything like that, I just think is a cumbersome look,
and that isn’t JRJr.’s fault.
Did
anyone really believe Tony was going to quit being Iron Man? Nope, didn’t think
so. Although solicits for this issue touted a new man in the armor, I don’t
think the identity was much of a surprise, especially if you’ve seen the cover
for the next issue. Flip to the back of this issue and you get the cover for
the next issue. The suit is black and silver/gray. The suit has a ghost mode.
The suit…well, other than it looking very Tron-ish, there’s nothing else that
might betray the wearer’s identity, but c’mon, it HAD to be Rhodey. Fraction is
doing his part to rehash (in a good way, I’m truly loving the series) old
storylines. Tony loses his company. Tony gets drunk. Tony isn’t Iron Man
anymore. It’s his greatest hits. So who subbed for Tony before, had a suit of
his own that was black and silver/gray, and who’s latest suit had a ghost mode
that was heavily used? James Rhodes, War Machine, of course. The same James
Rhodes who was fake killed…last issue? So the last page shouldn’t have been a
surprise to anybody. Rehashing or not, like I said, I’m still loving the book.
I loved Tony’s scenes with the extraction of his current armor and the
revelation of his latest armor. I loved Stane’s determination and the
flashbacks of both men. I loved the Spymaster stuff and how Cabe was such a
badass. The only thing that threw me for a loop were the Detroit Steel pages.
It looked like some sexual roleplay gone wrong. I guess we’ll learn more about
that later.
The
end for the series of Locke and Key
series is quickly coming to an end. I have yet to read a bad issue. Hell, one
of them made me cry. In the last issue of the Clockworks mini, we get the resolution to Rendell and Dodge’s (and
their best buds’) adventures with the keys. It satisfying, and it does a good
job of setting up the final mini-series. Man, I HATE that the pilot didn’t get
picked up by FX. If anybody reading this has run across a copy of it (or, if
maybe Joe Hill is reading this and wants to drop a brother a tweet?), I’d love
to see it.
I
won’t lie, this is not a normal book for me. I got it only because of the
crossover with Journey into Mystery.
I probably won’t continue to get the book after the crossover ends, but I was
not unhappy with having to purchase this issue. As crossovers go, it’s working
well for me. It’s pulling on threads exposed earlier in Journey into Mystery, and the tie-in with New Mutants is logical what with them having a Valkyrie and some
sort of Hel dog in their group. I also like that the writers of both series are
noted in the credits. Just because Gillen writes JiM and not NM doesn’t
mean he doesn’t have a bunch of input on what’s going on in this title, and
vice versa. Also, even though Thor is in this, this could KIND OF be an
unofficial AVX crossover. Kind of.
Also also, the ending caught me by surprise. I like it when that happens.
I
guess I’m okay with the way Thunderbolts ended. I haven’t been reading the
title for the last 174 issues, only since Warren Ellis took over the writing
chores. I think it’s because of that that I didn’t really have any feelings for
the Fixer’s fate one way or the other. I mean, it sucks what happened, but dude
brought it on himself. At least he had the wherewithal to man up and take one
for the team. I’m more interested in seeing how this is going to transition
into Dark Avengers. I like the idea
of a dark Avengers team, and while I liked Osborn’s original team more than the
most recent iteration, I’m interested in seeing where Jeff Parker is going to
take the team and how quickly he’ll be able to get rid of Clor. Seriously, get
rid of that shit.
One
of the highlights of James Robinson’s Starman
was the Times Past issues. The fact that he’s bringing the concept over to The Shade is a treat. This series is
slightly odd. We’re learning so much about the Shade’s history, but as of yet
we still haven’t learned how he got his powers, and I don’t think we will.
Despite the murder and demonic possession, this was actually a sweet comic. The
Shade meets his grandson and sees his wife one last time. There wasn’t much
action, but I find that Robinson doesn’t really excel at that. His forte is
history and storytelling. The thing I’m wondering most about this series is how
it fits in to DC’s New 52. Although the Knight family hasn’t been mentioned, it
seems like everything that we know about the Shade from that series is still in
continuity. But there is absolutely no way the Knight legacy can still exist. If
I understand the new continuity correctly (and the only two series I’m reading
are Batman and The Shade, so I could be totally wrong with this), but Superman was
the first superhero to show up, right? So there were no mystery men during
World War II? So Ted Knight wasn’t Starman, and there is no Starman legacy. I
don’t know, I’m just confused. In my mind, it’s all good though because I can
enjoy all of those stories regardless of current continuity. But, if there’s a
chance Mr. Robinson is reading this (‘cause imma tag you on Twitter, yo),
please please PLEASE explain how the Shade and the Knights fit into The New 52.
Wow.
X-Factor was kind of depressing, and Shatterstar and Madrox were almost useless.
I mean, sure, Shatterstar saved the day and killed the bad guy, but how many
innocents were killed first, some of them while Shatterstar was RIGHT THERE? I’m
not 100% familiar with X-Factor’s recent history. I originally started reading
the title when Peter David first came on board in the ‘90s, and I was pleased.
I stopped reading it when I stopped reading all X-books, right in the middle of
the Phalanx Covenant. I got back in when the current series was renumbered
starting with issue #200. I need to go back and get the David issues that I
missed. Anyways, all that to say…is that Mr. Tryp manipulating Far Sight? I’ve
only seen him when Jamie was bouncing around the alternate timelines, and I
have no idea who he is or what he can do. Like I said, I’ve got some back
issues to find.
My
two back issues for this week were, Ultimate
Spider-Man #s 158 and 159, and I picked up a small packet of Justice League Adventures comics, issues
4, 6 and 8, for my son. He was happy.
Here’s my list for next week:
Fables
#117
Amazing
Spider-Man #686
Journey
into Mystery #638
Oh
thank God this is a small week. The past two were horrible. Hmm, that’s going
to make for a small blog entry. At least I should be able to get it posted at a
reasonable time. Grr.
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