What You Should Have Read #10

Is 2010 over yet? I think I’m ready for a fresh start. Let’s see if comics can yet again bring my spirits up.

Amazing Spider-Man #618

Avengers vs. Agents of Atlas #1

Blackest Night: The Flash #2

Brave and the Bold #31

Captain America #602

Dark Avengers #13

Green Lantern Corps #44

Hulk #19

Incorruptible #2

Incredible Hercules #140

Incredible Hulk #606

Mighty Avengers #33

Nova #33

Spider-Woman #5

Starman #81

Supernatural: Beginnings End #1

Thunderbolts #140

Web of Spider-Man #4

This actually looks like a wonderful week. We’ve got some heavy hitters in some major crossovers (Dark Avengers for Siege, Hulk for Fall of the Hulks, and Green Lantern Corps for Blackest Night), some consistently entertaining books (Amazing Spider-Man, Incredible Hercules/Hulk, Mighty Avengers, Nova, and Thunderbolts), and some promising new additions.

I’m usually wary of TV or movie tie-in books, but I’m such a fan of Supernatural that I’ve got to read the comics, too. I guess I’ve got to go back and pick up the previous ones that I missed.

The pants-wetting book of the week, though, is Starman. It’s written by Robinson (who, I just learned, has a deal with DC that they won’t use Jack Knight without his permission, so that’s all kinds of awesome) with a cover by original Starman artist Tony Harris. This might be the closest we get to the reunion of the two creators and their creation (even though Jack isn’t in the issue), so I’ll take it!

Stuff That I Loved

Starman. Oh, thank God this didn’t let me down. And this worked well as a stand-alone issue, even if you weren’t reading Blackest Night. The book quickly touched upon the main characters of Opal City and where they currently are. The book then centers in on the Shade, and it’s like the series never ended. Robinson was able to capture what few characters were still around (Clarence, Mason and Hope O’Dare and the Shade being the only ones) as if the series hadn’t ended, what, almost a decade ago. That can’t be right, can it? Hmm, 2001, so it’s close. Even though he said a return to Jack Knight didn’t look likely, I would love to see a Shade series written by Robinson. There’s a wealth of possibilities there, and I don’t think we’ve ever gotten a full origin story for him. Who’s with me?!?

Thunderbolts. I was going to put this in the like section, but as I thought about it, I realized that this was a damn good book. The ‘Bolts didn’t beat the Agents of Atlas, but they sure as hell gave them a beating. And let’s not forget the poison. Then there’s the Ghost who is still doing his own thing, but we saw how he got away to attempt to kill Stark. But this issue’s holy crap moment came at the end with Scourge’s new programming and the Headsman standing in the wrong spot.

Amazing Spider-Man. Well, this was more of a Hammerhead/Mr. Negative issue than a Mysterio one, but I guess since Mysterio is the classic villain, he gets top billing. It was still a great story, regardless of page time for the cover villain. I care not one whit for Silvermane, but enjoyed watching the recap about how the entire Maggia was decimated and was now run by a buffoon. It’ll also be neat to see an evil Aunt May for another issue or two.

Stuff That I Liked

Mighty Avengers. “I’ve been “reality-punched?” That’s the stupidest @#%* thing I’ve ever heard of.” Not as awesome as last issue, but still pretty good. I’m sick, though, of Osborn as a good guy. Let’s get into the Siege and get him taken down a peg or two. Or all of the pegs. As evidenced by this issue and other recent events, he’d be nothing without Loki, and it looks like Pym already has something brewing.

Hulk. Good start to another Marvel event. This wasn’t so much a Hulk story, though, as an Intelligencia one. I like the idea of these guys taking out all the big brains in the Marvel Universe so they can operate with impunity. The actual Hulk stuff wasn’t all that great.

Incredible Hulk. This should be read before this week’s Hulk issue. This issue’s goodness comes from the fight with Dr. Doom, both with Banner and Skaar. I also enjoyed how the Intelligencia was able to take out Doom’s intelligence. I imagine that was a sweet victory for them, since he was supposed to be in the group.

Incredible Hercules. Excellent, if not a bit predictable in parts, bit of storytelling. It was good to see Herc and Amadeus at each others’ side again. It was the sacrifice that was pretty predictable, though. I also liked the changes of heart for Delphine and Hera, and the twist with Typhon was NOT predictable…at least to me. I also enjoyed the Agents of Atlas backup and how it mirrored what was going on in the main story.

Green Lantern Corps. I liked the idea of keeping the red ring on Guy as long as possible since he had two rings on and could successfully rekill the Black Lanterns. I also liked the way Mogo was used, I just didn’t like the timeframe. Time permitting, I think it would have been more suspenseful or more of a “Hell yeah!!!” moment if this had been built up a bit more, maybe just show Mogo travelling through space for a few issues before he shows up and saves the day. I bet he’ll be used to heal/cure Guy, too.

Gravel. Nice little done-in-one story. I like the magic portrayed here rather than the stuff usually portrayed in the Marvel or DC universes (DC proper, that is. Some of the stuff over at the Vertigo offices could fit in quite nicely here. I’d like to see a meeting between Gravel and Constantine. That’d be fun.). The “superhero magic” is all showy and theatrical with waving arms and exotic tongues. The stuff here is down-and-dirty. That’s the way it should be done.

Dark Avengers. I liked this issue. I’m confused as hell about what happened in it, but I liked it. I think. I might be too confused to know if I liked it or not. Everything I know about the Sentry I learned after he joined the Avengers. I haven’t read any of his mini series, so I don’t really know what was originally said about his origin and what Bendis retconned away. So I’m very confused as to what the hell happened in this issue.

Fables. This actually almost ended up in the Meh Pile, but it was saved by the few pages of sexual tension between Red Riding Hood and Flycatcher. The rest, having to do with a baseball game where the Goblin team won the Haven pennant, was somewhat boring. I’m looking forward to the next big story, which will hopefully be the battle with the villain who has taken over Fabletown. Issue #100 is coming up later in the year, so I’m guessing we’re just taking a break before everything gets going.

Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth. “So how was your first experience with inter-dimensional self-incest?” Okay, so I still check out this book, and this issue was funny. I don’t think I could stand a series of nothing but alternate Deadpools, but this issue did it right.

Brave and the Bold. Joker stories CAN be good. The Killing Game. That issue of JLA where Martian Manhunter got into his mind. This issue of Brave and the Bold. This time it’s the Atom who has to decide whether or not to live the Joker live or die. And he’s pretty gung-ho for letting him die. But he’s a hero, and heroes don’t do that. It sounds corny, but it comes across pretty well in the issue.

Blackest Night: The Flash. This is by far the best of the minis to come out of this event. Johns is doing such a good job balancing all of these characters he helped to mold when he had his legendary run on the Flash. Now he gets to take his two greatest revamps and combine them (sort of) into something new: Barry Allen as a Blue Lantern! Both threads of this issue, the Rogues and Barry, were expertly woven into a great story that I’m looking forward to finishing up next month.

Avengers vs. Agents of Atlas. Solid first issue that pretty quickly (once they were together, that is) settled the misunderstanding of their last meeting. I’m worried about the rest of the crossover, though, because time-based stories have a tendency to get overcomplicated. It’s the problem I had with the Avengers/Invaders series. The best thing about the backup story was its length. It was mercifully short, and incredibly gag inducing.

Stuff That Was Meh

 

Nova (Time-travel stories seem so pointless), Project Superpowers (Now I’m just getting it for the pretty, pretty Alex Ross covers), Supernatural (Gah, I’m still not a fan of licensed properties), Web of Spider-Man (Got it only for the Mysterio “origin” story and wasn’t impressed), Spider-Woman (I’m disappointed that there’s a Bendis book out there I’m not absolutely loving), Incorruptible (I’m enjoying the main series rather than this mirrored counterpart), and Captain America (more Cap, less crappy backup).

Comic Book Reviews for the Week of Nov. 12, 2008 (On-Going Series)

Action Comics #871

It seems like every five years or so I start picking up the Superman titles again, only to drop them in less than a year. This time it was the New Krypton storyline that brought me back in. I’m actually surprised I haven’t jumped in sooner since the books have Geoff Johns and James Robinson writing the stories with Alex Ross providing covers. But the New Krypton stuff brought me back. I want to see what happens when the Earth has to cope with 100,000 Supermen. I wasn’t too terribly lost with this issue. It seems like every time I pick the books back up, Brainiac looks different. I’m sure I’ll read the back issues at some point. General Lane shot Luthor. That was cool. And Agent Liberty is still alive? How is that possible? I would have figured he would have been cannon fodder a long time ago. And it was nice seeing Doomsday getting his evolving ass handed to him by a small army of Kryptonians. I’ll definitely stick around for a few more months.

Amazing Spider-Man #577

My favorite Spider-Man/Punisher team-up is when Garth Ennis brought him in for an issue of his Marvel Knights on-going series. Hilarious. This one wasn’t bad. I’m starting to enjoy Zeb Wells. He seems to have just as good of a handle on the Spider-verse as the other writers on the series. I’m not as big of a fan of Paolo Rivera. Actually, it was just his Spider-Man that I didn’t care for that much, but he’s the title character, so that’s kind of important. I hope we’re close to seeing the end of this Spider Tracer Killer sub-plot. It’s gone on long enough, I think.

Booster Gold #s 13 and 14

"M-magic hand! A magic hand took my freeze-gun!!"
"Thank you, magic hand."

I don’t know how I missed last month’s issue, but I did. It looks like we’ve got a new creative team here: Rick Remender and Pat Olliffe. Sounds like it should be a solid team. Halfway through issue 13, I was thinking that this felt a lot like the most recent Atom series, and then who should show up but Chronos and Lady Chronos, whom I last saw in The All-New Atom. This was a great start for Rick and Pat. They immediately jumped into a world conqueror and managed to take Rip out of the picture so all the focus can be on Booster. Good call. Okay, pretty much because of the magic hand scene, Remender has sold me. He’s perfect for this book. This little two-parter really showed us how he’s going to handle Booster, and I think it’ll be great.

Captain Britain and MI-13 #7

"Lady J, I like the way you fight. Promise I won’t kill you. Until we’re out of this."

This has been a surprise hit (for me, at least) springing out of Secret Invasion. I think it’s so awesome when I can pick up a book at random and a writer can just blow me away with great stories about characters I’ve never cared about. This issue see Brian getting his fondest wish, having Meggan back. But his insane brother Jamie returns, and I have no idea if that’s part of his dream or if Jamie is somehow snapping him out of this. Or if Meggan will eventually come back with him when this is all over. Also, there’s a small matter of the Black Knight not actually having the Ebony Blade. I don’t know what that means, but I remember a small kerfluffle a few years ago regarding the Blade and the Black Panther and there being two blades floating around the Marvel Universe. I guess we’ll get the final answer to that next issue.

Fables #78

"But, Miss Beauty, this wasn’t the usual poop! It was all wet and messy and explosive even! It’s splattered everywhere."

Ah, Buffkin. Even flying monkeys have a fascination with poop. Boy Blue sure has had a rough time of it. Red Riding Hood wasn’t really Red Riding Hood, Rose Red wasn’t into him like he was into her, and now he’s lost an arm. Sucks to be him. The backup story was just...weird.

Fallen Angel #31

"As for you...you were right the first time. You are just a bitch."

I like that the farther we get into the story, David is throwing more and more Biblical references in here. It makes sense since Lee is ACTUALLY a Fallen Angel. We also got a lot of information here concerning the roles of various characters, specifically the original sinners.

Ghostbusters #2

"You got beat up by conjoined twins in high school?"

Eh, it’s okay. I think I enjoyed the first issue more just because I hadn’t even watched the movies in so long, it brought back some memories. But really, this isn’t anything that hasn’t been done over in Marvel or DC before.

Gravel #6

"I’m sorry I had to kill your special magic daddy."

I thought Ellis’ idea for Gravel, a combat magician, was brilliant. If there’s magic in the world, why WOULDN’T a government put it to a military use? This issue sees Gravel coming to terms with his inheritance after killing Royston. He gets money, he gets an estate, and he gets a semi-trained group of fighters, and he wants none of it. I can’t necessarily say I’d make the same choice.

Green Lantern Corps #30

I thought the Zamarons were relatively human looking females,. These are not the Zamarons I remember from the Millennium crossover from two decades ago. Peter Tomasi is doing a great job of showing that the Guardians have blinders on when it comes to their cause, just as the Zamarons do with theirs. So now another directive, one that prohibits relationships between Green Lanterns, will be written into the book of Oa. Oh, the Guardians are just bringing this war upon themselves.

Sir Apropos of Nothing #1

"The man in black fled across the desert."

I’ll buy just about any comic with Peter David’s name on it. As for his books, I’ve only read two (both of the Imzadi ones), but I’ve been meaning to get a hold of the Sir Apropos books. Now I can about him in comic book form. Okay, the first page? Any reader of the Dark Tower books or people who read the first issue of Peter’s adaptation of the Gunslinger will find it hilarious. From the first two pages we’re already getting Peter’s love of wordplay. I have high hopes for the rest of the book. Heh, the Aybee Sea. And the ending recalled more of the Gunslinger. Very nice. Peter has won me over again. I’ll be back next month for the next installment.

The Walking Dead #54

"The thing about smart mother fuckers is that sometimes, they sound like crazy mother fuckers to stupid mother fuckers...I hope you guys aren’t a bunch of stupid mother fuckers...because Eugene here sure as fuck ain’t crazy."

I don’t remember quite so many f-bombs before in this book. But we’re finally getting back on track. Now, with the group joining up with the people heading to D.C., the book has a purpose again. It was too boring, too same-old same-old when they were just sitting around at the prison. Now they’ve got a purpose, some new characters, and we may find out how this all happened. Oooh, something to look forward to! That hasn’t happened in a while!

Titans #7

Okay, that’s just stupidity on the part of the Titans. Since he returned in Teen Titans, Jericho has been nothing but a villain. I still can’t tell if this comes before or after DC Universe: Decisions. If it’s after, that means that the end of Decisions ruined the end of this and the Titans will retrap Jericho in Match and ship them back to Star Labs. If it’s before, then Jericho was still bad and the Titans shouldn’t have trusted him. I call this very sloppy writing since Winnick wrote (or was at least co-writer) of both books.

Trinity #24

"Air is for cowards!"

It looks like we’re finally on our way to seeing the fixing of Earth, now that the "trinity" of the JSA are somewhat back in their own minds. And there’s still more villainy goodness to be had in the back-up, with Krona taking John Stewart, and Despero and Kanjar Ro about to form an alliance with the "trinity" from the Crime Syndicate of Amerika.

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Listening to: Alien Ant Farm - Tragedy (Hidden Track)
via FoxyTunes

Comic Book reviews for the week of Sept. 17, 2008

Cream of the Crop

All-Star Superman #12

I don’t think I’m the only person who doesn’t always get Grant Morrison. But I still buy just about everything he writes, because when I DO get it, I always enjoy it. I enjoyed this series for the most part. I don’t think I’m enough of a Superman fan to get what Morrison was trying to tell us. I realize that there was some grand point to the series, but it was lost on me. Now, just as a Superman story, it was great. Each issue was fun, and they showed why Superman is widely considered the greatest hero. In this final issue, Superman comes back from death, defeats a super-powered Lex Luthor, and reignites the sun. All in a day’s work, right? Something else I enjoyed was Frank Quitely’s art. It’s a conundrum, really. His work isn’t pretty. Everybody looks lumpy and the women are not attractive, but somehow it works and looks great. I’m not sad that the series is over. It had an erratic release schedule, and Morrison was able to tell a complete story, so nothing else is needed. All that’s left to wonder about is the sequel. I’m sure there will be one, so all that’s left to wonder is will it be Morrison and Quitely again following up on that last page, or will it be someone else telling their own out-of-continuity story?

Amazing Spider-Man #572

Dan Slott is an excellent Spider-Man writer. I think I need to go back and read his Thing and She-Hulk books. I think he’s really captured everybody in Spider-Man’s world. I like Norman Osborn as sort of a psychopathic Lex Luthor type character. I’m liking Anti-Venom, and I’m looking forward to finding out exactly what’s going on with him. I like Mac Gargan as Venom more than I liked him as the Scorpion. He was always just some loser in a suit. I’m glad Norman was able to get the symbiote healed, but I’m not all that crazy about the Venom/Scorpion hybrid. I guess I’ll have to wait until the next issue before I really decide if I like him or not. There’s nothing new I can say about JR Jr.’s art, so we’ll just leave it at “Me likey.”

Captain Britain and MI 13 #5

I loved the introductory storyline for this series, which I had thought was only going to be a mini-series that tied into the Secret Invasion. I’ve not read much of Pete Wisdom. I stopped reading Excalibur before Ellis took over and made him into the character he is today. I read Pryde and Wisdom years ago, and I just recently read the Wisdom mini and really enjoyed it. Paul Cornell has really made me care about these characters that I new little to nothing about. I felt Captain Britain’s sacrifice and the death of Skrull John, and I cheered for Faiza when she pulled out Excalibur and for all of England when Captain Britain returned. This issue is a jumping-on point for those who didn’t pick up the first four but heard the good buzz. It re-introduces us to this new team and brings in a surprise (well, not if you look at the cover), somewhat odd member, Blade. Kind of risky with a vampire on the team, no? I guess we’ll see what happens with that next issue. I also really enjoyed the scenes with Dane and Faiza at Faiza’s parents’ house. This book was a pleasant surprise for me. It’s always exciting when you end up enjoying something that you’re not expecting.

Iron Man #33

‘Bout damn time, although I expected this story to happen in Avengers: The Initiative, where War Machine is a main character. But this is okay. This issue follows on the heels of Secret Invasion #1 and a recent issue of A:TI. The Skrulls have just disabled all Stark Tech, and Rhodey gets a message from Tony that sends him to a satellite. I’m not too big (no pun intended) on the big mecha War Machine, but we really do see War Machine live up to his name. Christos Gage delivers a great story, and it’s good to see Sean Chen on an Iron Man title again, even though we didn’t see much of Iron Man in the issue.

Mighty Avengers #18

Once again, it’s an Avengers book with no Avengers in sight. But that’s okay. This issue gives us a quick look into how Nick Fury trained his Secret Warriors, including lying, injecting them with explosive tracking chips, kicking the crap out of the, kidnapping them, and torturing them. What a great guy! He then makes them kidnap Maria Hill, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., telling them she’s a Skrull…which is another lie. It’s all a test for something bigger, which just happens to be the Skrull Invasion that starts on the final page. I’ve always known Fury was a badass, but I’ve never known him to be such a devious hardass. I guess have to kill your lover who is in fact a shape-changing alien will do that to a person. I’m loving this event, and I’m looking forward to some more of Bendis’ non-Avengers goodness in this Avengers title.

Trinity #16

After a somewhat slow start, this book is really starting to pick up. I’m glad we didn’t have to wait until the end of the series for the Trinity to battle their opposites. The blending of the personalities is a good idea, and I like how they’re using what was supposed to be a hindrance into a strength. It’s why these three heroes ARE the trinity. They can turn weaknesses into strengths and inspire others to do so. I’ve liked Mark Bagley’s work since I picked up the first issue of New Warriors on a spinner rack almost two decades ago. I was disappointed when he left the title, but thrilled when he showed up on Amazing Spider-Man, a title I was already reading. I didn’t read Thunderbolts, but I’ve been reading Ultimate Spider-Man since the beginning, and his run with Bendis is legendary. It’s nice to see him branching out to DC now, and I think he’s finally getting the hang of the characters...which is good since he’s drawing just about all of their heroes in these last two issues!

Young X-Men #6

As with the new X-Force book, I figured I’d start back into the X-world after the current calamity with some brand new books rather than jumping right into Uncanny X-Men or X-Men: Legacy. I’ve been very pleased with this book. The only character on this new team that I was even remotely familiar with was Dust since I read all of Morrison’s stint on New X-Men. But I didn’t feel knowing the team members intimately was all that important, and I was pretty much right. The first story arc had some double crossings in it and some good (if not a bit one-sided) battles with the original Young X-Men, the first group of New Mutants. When all was said and done, we had a traitor revealed, the villain revealed, and a team member dead. This issue was fallout from that, and it worked well. Now we’re getting the official formation of the team, and we’re seeing a lot of emotion and angst. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this will all play out.

Leftovers

Brave and the Bold #17

Okay, I don’t like Supergirl, or at least this one. I thoroughly enjoyed the previous incarnation written by Peter David. She was just so…pissy. Asking for help and then not really doing her best to use it. Snapping at the people attempting to help her. If I were Raven I would have swept her up in that cloak and left her in Azarath. Marv Wolfman did a good job with the story, and if I’m correct in my assumption as to who Jon’s father is, he pulled out a relatively obscure character from a little more than a decade ago. I didn’t read much of him when he was around, but I’ve got the gist of what happened with him. I’m not the biggest fan of Phil Winslade. He’s a very adequate artist, but it’s just not my thing.

DC Universe: Decisions #1

Hmm, not a bad issue, but I’m a little scared that it’ll get preachy, especially with Judd Winnick being one of the writers. He’s a good writer, as is his partner on this book Bill Willingham (Fables), but he’s been known to promote causes in the books he’s been writing. I’m not into politics in the real world, so unless we’re reading about a major character running for office (Lex Luthor for President! Again!), I may end up glossing over the actual political stuff in the series. I’ll be with the book for the detective work, and the obvious conflict that Green Arrow’s decision will create. As for the art, I’ve like Rick Leonardi’s work for some time now. Even after 20 years, his style is still very recognizable, but it’s cleaner. He’s a solid artist that always delivers a quality product.

Gravel #5

When Ellis wrote stories about Gravel, the weird shit he put on the page was sick yet compelling. I think Mike Wolfer is capturing the essence of Gravel, but it’s just not up to par with Ellis. I’m still enjoying the story, though, and I like the idea of a combat magician. It’s in this issue that we see that Gravel doesn’t win all the time. I mean, it’s his book, so I’m sure he’ll come through eventually, if not next issue, but he can still be outsmarted.

Greatest Hits #1

This book almost made it into the Cream of the Crop. I like behind-the-scene stories, but I like it interspersed with at least a bit of action, especially if we’re jumping into a story about a brand new team. I feel like I should know more about these guys than I do. But it was still a very solid story by David Tischman, and Glen Fabry’s art is almost always nice to look at.

Incredible Hercules #121

I thought this was the weakest issue of the series so far. Not bad, just a weaker issue in a run that’s been pretty darn good. There just wasn’t enough Amadeus or Hercules and too much set up for this new storyline. When we DID see the duo, it was really good. I liked the interaction between Herc and Namora, and Amadeus being a typical horny teenager was pretty darn good. Good, but not great.

Squadron Supreme #3

It’s just not the same without JMS, and it’s not the same without the MAX label. It’s still a very readable comic, but it’s not on the same level as when it began. I want the original Squadron to return, and I want Fury sent back to the Ultimate universe. I’m wondering if Ultimatum will deal with this at all. And what’s with the analogues to the regular Marvel Universe? We’ve seen a Spider-Man (woman), a Captain America and an Iron Man. Hmm, since the original Squadron Supreme members are analogues of the Justice League, maybe this is a sneaky way to have a Marvel vs. DC non-crossover.

Compost

Age of the Sentry #1

I liked this book…when Alan Moore did it with Supreme. This really felt like a DC book from the ‘60s. I like the Sentry as a schizophrenic hero who is also his own arch enemy. But I can do without these campy throw-back stories. No thank you, sir.

Walking Dead #52

I keep reading this because the beginning of this series was so good, and I keep waiting for it to get that good again, but it just stalled a handful of issues ago. It seems like we’re just going over things that have been done before.