What You Should Have Read #66

Comic Books Released Sept. 12, 2012

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!

Avengers Assemble #7 - First off, I'm dropping this title as soon as Bendis and Bagley wrap up their run. Bendis has not been wowing me with his Avengers work since AvX started. Marvel NOW, rather than serving as a jumping-on point, is providing me with a number of options for shorting my hold list. This series has been better than Avengers or New Avengers, but not by much. I think Bendis is leaving the franchise at just the right time, if not a bit late. There was a lot of ambiguity in the issue, and things just happening. None of the normal human Avengers died in the vacuum of space. Thanos used a cosmic cube to "destroy" cosmic beings then apparently became "reality." I did enjoy the art, though. Bagley's work is reliably pleasing.

Avengers vs. X-Men #11 - I had hopes for this series. High hopes. With the lackluster beginning, I was hoping it would end strong. My hopes were bolstered with a somewhat more engaging middle, but now, nope. Although it reads like two characters COULD have died, only one actually did. And you know what? Big whoop. Seriously, Professor X has been redundant for quite some time, at least as long as the mutants moved to Utopia, probably longer. He has no allegiance to Wolverine's "side" or Cyclops' "side." He no longer teaches or leads mutants. He's not fighting for tolerance or mutant rights. Hell, except for that Legion story a while back, I can't even remember the last time he showed up in a book. Sure, he's Scott's father figure, but even that's something that's been put on the back burner since at least Schism. The only way this would carry any weight for me is if there would have been a build-up sprinkled throughout AvX at least and ideally through some of the X-books. As it stands, the dude just falls down. Hell, I had to read the "AvX Commentary Track" on Comic Book Resources to confirm that he actually WAS dead. Other than Wolverine telling Hulk to throw him, there is no reaction other than people just standing around. Hell, Magneto being taken down got more of a reaction than Charlie's death. And really, how many times has Xavier been killed? And is it actually possible to kill one of the greatest telepaths in the Marvel Universe? Dollars to donuts he's alive somewhere on the astral plane, just waiting for the next big X-Men crossover to happen so he can return. So no, I don't like. It's cheap, it's easy, and really, it's sloppy.

Batman #0 - As much as I'm loving Snyder and Capullo's Batman, I think the gem of this issue was the back-up. It starts out as the "origin" of the Bat Signal, but we're also treated to a brief glimpse into the pasts of Tim, Jason and Dick...and it all comes back to the Bat Signal. I did like the main story, but I was a bit taken aback by Bruce's non-reaction to the death of the bank employees. I thought he'd at least berate himself a bit when he got back "home." Nope. Just more dead people in Gotham. Other than that, though, good script by Snyder and good-looking art by Capullo. Can't wait to see where the Red Hood Gang pops up after (or during?) the upcoming Joker story.

Journey into Mystery #643 - So, what do you really think is going on here? Is Loki back to his evil ways, or is this another scheme within a scheme within a scheme? Regardless of the answer to the former, I'm sure latter is still true. Whatever the reasoning and whatever the outcome, I'm ready to end my close association with the Asgardians. It was a fun and surprising run, something I never thought I'd buy regularly, but my interest is starting to wane, despite the best efforts of Mr. Gillen.

New Avengers #30 - Although Iron Fist was nowhere to be seen in this comic (remember when the covers teased a scene from the comic? A plot point? I miss those days), this was a passable tie-in to AvX. And really, it had as much to do with the main AvX story as this week's Wolverine and the X-Men. The ending was pretty predictable, and truthfully it was a long time coming. I'm okay with Luke quitting the Avengers and focusing on his family. What does a man with indestructible skin do after something like this, though? Private security? Security guard? Is he actually qualified to do anything? If Avengers Academy were still open I'd think he would make a good teacher. It'll be interesting to see where Luke goes from here.

Shade #12 - This was an extremely verbose issue, but it did the one thing I've wanted since I started reading Starman, but I didn't think we'd get it with this limited series: The Shade's origin. This was a good story for those whose introduction to the Shade was this series. For those of us who consider Starman the best thing they've ever read, there were some great nods to the series. Charles Dickens. Culp. Piers Ludlow. Had Deathstroke not been included in the beginning of this series, I'd assume this was set in the pre-New 52 DC universe. As it stands, I don't see how it can be in DC's new continuity. The JSA never existed, so Jack Knight's legacy wasn't there. Don't care, though. It was a great series, and I hope we see some more in the future. We need to learn about Scathach. My only problem with the issue was the Shade's journal entries. Maybe it was just me, but the script was difficult to read. With the amount of writing on the page, though, I don't think any attempt at making it slightly more readable would have worked. It would have covered up too much of Gene Ha's beautiful artwork.

Uncanny X-Force #31 - This is by far my favorite incarnation of X-Force, and I've been around since the beginning. I really came down on Betty's side with this issue. Why not kill Daken? Just 'cause he's Wolverine's son? What is different about his situation? Like she said, they're ready to kill Evan because of what he MIGHT do, but Daken roams free despite all he's already done. Wolverine doesn't even like him, right? Doesn't think there's any chance of rehabilitation?

Wolverine and the X-Men #16 - This is a very loose tie-in issue to AvX, but that doesn't mean it's a bad issue. In fact, that might make it better. Killgore's takeover of the Hellfire Club is explained, and as much as I disliked the little tyke and his gang when they were first introduced, I enjoyed the story. A lot. I liked Emma and Scott's reaction to how evil the kids really are. I liked the prison break. I liked Killgore's origin. Yup, that means I liked the book.

What You Should Have Read #65

Comic Book Reviews

for the Week of June 20, 2012

This week’s issue of Avengers vs. X-Men is the best I’ve read so far. There’s enough dialogue to make this last more than a couple of minutes, and there’s a lot going on. I thought the hunt for Hope was pretty stupid. Leave Hope to Scott, and if you’re worried about the Phoenix, send your people to try and take care of it (which, yeah, that happened, but the whole Utopia strike team thing was ridiculous). It’s good to see the Iron Fist plot from New Avengers finally being brought into the main book. It didn’t clear anything up, but it’s good that those ideas are here. I’m enjoying the new art from Olivier Coipel. I have no problems with John Romita, Jr., but I find that his work doesn’t flow all that well. His panels look more like tiny pin-ups. Coipel is much easier to flip through. I knew the ending of this issue was going to happen, but I wasn’t planning on Cyclops being the one to utter the words. I was expecting it’d be Scarlet Witch. After spending the previous five issues wondering how disappointed I was going to be at the end of the crossover, I find myself a little excited to see where this is going to go.

This was my first issue of Avenging Spider-Man, and I picked it up because it was the “Ends of the Earth” epilogue. It was bad, but I don’t think it was really necessary as an end cap. Except for the beginning and ending bookends, the story is a flashback where Spidey recounts a previously untold adventure with Silver Sable who, despite the lack of a body (also no Rhino body), is in fact dead. Never mind the fact that Sabra and Kangaroo also apparently bought it while helping out Spidey. Sable was a friend; the other two were just random international characters that were easy cannon fodder. There was one thing about this issue that made me sad. An editorial box said that this took place after Web of Spider-Man #72. I had that issue! Anyways, Spidey tells Sable and Strange that he can’t get married because he has a girlfriend. Web took place well after Pete and MJ got married, so why didn’t he say he was already married? Because that was scrubbed. It made me sad when I realized Pete and MJ never got married. It was a great nod to current continuity, though. There was also a member of the Wild Pack. Yay ‘90s!

Not a single member of the Dark Avengers appeared in the Dark Avengers this issue. Not a problem, though, because the issue was awesome. We finally find out why the Thunderbolts have been bouncing through time. There’s a wonderful guest star that is firmly rooted in current continuity. The story looks like it wraps up rather quickly, but I think the issue flows wonderfully. The whole thing centers around the Man-Thing, and this new version of him/it is terrific. I’d really rather read more stories about this team than the new team, the Dark Avengers. Of course, I have faith in writer Jeff Parker to flesh out this new team and get me to care about what happens to them.

Truth be told, I was a smidge disappointed in this week’s Invincible Iron Man. Stane was taken out like the chump he is. The hostage situation made absolutely no sense. Why didn’t Justine have her soldiers take out Doug from a distance? A good sniper with a head shot would be able to take him out with no harm to Sasha, correct? And Spymaster took the easy way out? Really? Still, the art by Salvador Larroca was as great as always, and the dialogue flowed wonderfully, but I can’t get behind the actual plot…except for the Tony/Bethany/Rhody stuff. I was totally okay with everything that happened there. Despite my disappointment, I do like that I have no idea where writer Matt Fraction is going with the story. I like to be surprised.

The best part of this week’s Journey into Mystery was the recap by King Arthur. I thought the bit in the club with Hellstrom was rather pointless, since we don’t see him actually doing the job that Loki tasked him with. Loki could have just mentioned his plan to Leah, and we would have gotten a bit more of their excellent back-and-forth. Of course, then we wouldn’t have learned about the Trashcan of Doom. I hope that comes into play by the end of the storyline.

Ah, finally an issue of New Avengers that isn’t utter crap! Sure, it’s still all about the Phoenix’s connection with K’un Lun, which isn’t explained, but we do get to see a red-headed Iron Fist who becomes the Phoenix. Also, this issue also actually has two members of the New Avengers in it, and it’s Spidey who brings the issue home. I love Hope’s skepticism at her reason for being at K’un Lun and her complete and utter turnaround once Spidey gives his speech. Granted, it’s a speech he’s given to himself plenty of times, but it’s a wonder when we get to see someone else’s reaction. So, yeah, great bit of story. And the art? Wonderful. When he first started out, I was not a fan of Mike Deodato. Not at all. But now, his work is art, not just lines on paper.

I’m giving X-Factor a second read because it was late when I started reading it and I really had to work at staying awake. That’s not a comment on Peter David’s writing. I was just really, really tired. Hell, I didn’t even notice that Jamie and Guido were talking over Longshot, who was laid out on a slab. While the last issue set up Rahne’s big journey, this issue set everybody’s new arc in motion. Rahne takes off with Rictor and Shatterstar to look for her abandoned son. Banshee and Havok head to Ulster, NY to see why it looks like Theresa is killing people. Maddrox continues investigating Far Sight’s death…right after he has a roll with Layla. And Lorna and Monet wait for Longshot to wake up. They have the easiest job. There was no action at all in this issue, but that’s par for the course with set-up issues. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a meaty issue. Dan Slott should be very happy with it. I know I was…on the second reading…when I was awake and alert.

My back issue purchases were Amazing Spider-Man #s 655 and 656.

Here are my planned purchases for next week:

Amazing Spider-Man #688

Spider-Men #2

Wolverine and the X-Men #12

What a gloriously tiny week. That makes up for the Ultimate Spider-Man Omnibus that I pre-ordered a month or so ago and received earlier this week.

And if I can make a little gripe, DC also has the Infinite Crisis Omnibus HC solicited for next week. I’m not going to get it, but I wanted to check out what was included in it to make it an omnibus edition. The main mini itself wasn’t going to be big enough. Sure enough, it includes ALL of the Infinite Crisis minis…except the main one. If your book is called the Infinite Crisis Omnibus HC, shouldn’t you have the main series included in it? Or title it something slightly different?

If my LCS gets a Locke & Key Card Game in, I’ll buy it. That’s somewhat of an empty promise, though, because I’m 95% sure they didn’t order one “just in case.”

What You Should Have Read #63

Comic Book Reviews 

for the Week of June 6, 2012

Quick thoughts so I can play a bit of catch up.

Avengers vs. X-Men #5 – No. No no no. This is Marvel’s new go-to plot point in events? Give everybody the same power? Hulked Out Heroes. Fear Itself. Spider Island. Now there’s a handful of Phoenixes? No no no.

Dark Avengers #175 – I get why Thunderbolts was retitled, because all the team members are former members of Osborn’s Dark Avengers, but are we to believe that this is going to last? Regardless, it’s still the Thunderbolts program. Meh, in the long run the title doesn’t matter. It’s still a good comic book, and there’s a lot going on in this issue, a lot of good stuff.

Earth 2 #2 – Alan Scott is gay. Doesn’t affect my enjoyment of the title at all, so that’s all I’ll say about that issue. As for the rest of the comic, good stuff. I liked the Flash stuff, although the dialogue was a bit hokey. My favorite part was the Mr. Terrific/Terry Sloane confrontation. I might want to go back and read his latest series.

Invincible Iron Man #518 – Good, solid issue. Lots going on with Rhodey and the new armor, Stane and Mandarin, Stark and his rehab, Spymaster and Mrs. Arbogast, and whatever the hell is going on with Detroit Steel.

Journey into Mystery #639 – The Loki stuff, as always, was excellent. The Captain Britain stuff and the Manchester god thing were confusing as hell, though. So Otherworld went through this war in Uncanny X-Force, and now they’re fighting another one here? These guys just can’t catch a break.

Secret #2 – I don’t know what to think about this yet. I’ve learned, though, that Hickman plays the long game, so I’m assuming there’s going to be a good payoff, but right now it’s a slow start.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #11 – So, the Scorpion’s a tough son of a bitch. What excited me, though, was the cliffhanger with Aunt May. Pete had such a great supporting cast with May, Gwen, MJ, Kong, etc., and I’m not feeling that with Miles yet.

X-Factor #237 – What a wonderful done-in-one story. It’s a done-in-one story that brings up a past plot line and sets up a future story. Peter David is awesome.

My back-issue purchases for the week were Amazing Spider-Man #s 663 and 667.

Next week (or this week, actually), I’m planning on getting:

Batman #10

Shade #9

Boys #67

Amazing Spider-Man #687

Avengers #27

Avengers Assemble #4

Spider-Men #1

Uncanny X-Force #26

What You Should Have Read #61

Comic Book Reviews for the Week of May 23, 2012

I thought this storyline was going to have some consequences, but I was shocked that Dan Slott was able to flash fry half the world without some repercussions. That was a very ballsy cliff hanger at the end of the previous issue, but I enjoyed the way it was taken care of with this issue. The Chameleon is great, and his banter with Mysterio is refreshing. It’s nice to see the villains working together rather than bitching about everything and disrespecting the idea of teamwork. Of course, that doesn’t mean Spidey isn’t somewhat successful at picking off the lackeys before Doc Ock sends in his new big guns. I’m glad this is wrapping up with the next issue. The story is working well, but it’s starting to drag just ever so slightly. I’ve never been a huge fan of the longer storylines. Three to four issues does the job for me, especially if the powers that be are going to sub in another artist. I haven’t minded Humberto Ramos for the past couple of issues, but I’ll always prefer Stefano Caselli. There’s more of an intensity to it and a bit more realism, if something like that can be said about such a fantastical comic book.

Is it wrong that I liked it when Thori sort of saved the day by attacking Luke/Loki? He’s one of things I’ve been enjoying about Kieron Gillen’s run with the Asgardians. This has been a good crossover. You wouldn’t think that I title like The New Mutants and a title like Journey into Mystery would work well together, but they do. I didn’t like the ending of this issue, though. Gillen changed the nature of the Disir. They went from being evil creatures to nothing but a group of tragic, horny women. I don’t want to feel sorry for them. I liked them when they were evil Asgardian cannibal women (dibs on the movie title!). I hope this story ends satisfactorily next week.

And that’s it for my new comics. I picked up Ultimate Spider-Man #s 155 and 157 for myself and a random pack of comics for the kiddos that included an issue of Futurama, Tiny Titans, Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four, X-Men: First Class and X-Men/Power Pack. I also finally broke down and got a hold box at my LCS (Rick’s Comic City in Nashville). I’m surprised it took me this long.

My anticipated titles for next week are:

Batman Annual #1

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #39

New Mutants #43

Wolverine & the X-Men #11

That’s a totally respectable week of purchases.

What You Should Have Read #59

Reviews for Comics Released May 9, 2012

Between my new issues and a handful of back issues, this was a big week for me. Let’s get right to the reviews.

Bendis and Bagley together is usually a no-brainer for me, but I’m getting very tired of Bendis and his Avengers, but that’s something I’ll get to with my New Avengers review. I’ve got no problems with Bagley’s art here. It’s solid and clean, and it’s what I expect from him. He’s not a superstar artist, but he’s dependable, and you always know what you’re going to get. I’m giving a bit of an internal eye roll, though, that this title even exists. I mean, I get the reason for it, but titles created solely in order to cash in on something rather than because the creators want to do a particular story, well, I find that those tend to come off as a bit flat and emotionless. This team of Avengers consists of the characters from the movie, including Maria Hill (no Cheese…excuse me, Agent Coulson…yet, but I’m sure he’s not far behind). Hell, even the last page smacks of MOVIE CROSS PROMOTION!!! That said, I’m enjoying this title more than either of the other Avengers titles at the moment. Just because I don’t like the reason for something doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the finished product.

  

I’ve never been able to get into Batman as a solo character. I loved what Morrison and Waid did with him during their JLA runs, but I’ve never been able to get into any of his solo series. I decided to give it a try with DC’s reboot since I liked both Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Although I enjoyed the first issue, I just couldn’t keep with it so I dropped it. After reading nothing but rave reviews, I decided to pick it up again this week, and I double-dipped by picking up the previous issue so I could get in on the ground floor of “Night of the Owls.” Dammit, looks like I’ve got to go back and pick up some back issues, because I’m officially hooked. I like that Bruce, while still a genius detective, is pretty damn tough. He’s a fighter, and not the kind who uses specially place nerve punches to quickly take out an opponent. He’s a brawler. I’m also enjoying the back-up stories with art by Snyder’s American Vampire cohort Rafael Albuquerque. Issue eight had an Alfred-focused story, and issue nine focused on Alfred’s dad. I’m loving this bit of history, and it makes me all the more eager to snatch up issues two through seven (my buddy bought the hardcover collection yesterday, and I’ll probably borrow that before I can pick up the single issues) of the series to see what else Snyder has done with Batman’s world and Gotham. It makes me think about James Robinson’s Starman, and that’s high praise indeed, since it’s my favorite series. If Snyder is going to continually give us a history lesson and make Gotham an actual “character” (and not just a dark collection of warehouses and alleyways) like Robinson did with Opal City, then sign me up. I do hope I can enjoy the current storyline without having to get the other tie-in issues. So far it looks like I’ll be able to. The flow between issues eight and nine was smooth, and a small blurb let me know that I can read about one of Bruce’s side missions over in Detective Comics, but it didn’t look like it had any bearing on the thread that’s running through Batman. So yay! I’m reading a Batman book, and that brings my New DC tally up to three!

I wasn’t able to hit up a comic book store last weekend to participate in Free Comic Book Day. Had it been the weekend that my kids’ mother had them, then I totally would have, but it wasn’t, so I couldn’t. My LCS had a few copies of Dark Horse’s contribution, though, and I grabbed one on my way out of the store. A Serenity story written by Zack Whedon? Yup, I’m in. And it was pretty awesome. It was short and sweet, and it really captured the voices of all the characters. I could totally see this as the opening of a new episode…and now I’m sad. The Star Wars story was good, too, but it felt extremely similar to the Serenity story.

I’m always surprised that enjoy Journey into Mystery so much. I’ve never been a fan of Thor or his supporting cast, and while I tended to enjoy J. Michael Stracyznski’s series, I was never really blown away by it. Kieron Gillen makes everyone so likeable, even “villains.” This issue gets a smidge confusing, but it’s explained away well enough. It’s part two of a crossover with the New Mutants (almost as bad of a name Cougar Town) that began with last week’s Exiled one-shot. There are a bunch of plotlines coming together, and it’s neat to see them all lead back to the same place. As excited I am to finally be involved in Batman’s world, I’m also excited to be learning about this new-to-me corner of the Marvel Universe.

I am disappointed in the current storyline in New Avengers. I assume there will be a decent payoff, but wow, Bendis is not doing his best work here. First of all, there is not a single appearance by an Avenger, new or otherwise, in this book. At least we got a panel or two of Iron Fist last issue. Between the Kree stuff going on in Secret Avengers and the K’un L’un stuff going on here, it looks as if the mythology of the Phoenix is being rewritten as to have a larger connection with the mystically cosmic part of the Marvel Universe. I guess that’s okay. It’s something you have to come to grips with in comics. Retcons happen. The Kree stuff makes sense. This, though…this just feels forced. And hey, let’s throw Leonardo da Vinci into the mix, too. Jonathan Hickman’s S.H.I.E.L.D. was confusing enough, but it mostly existed in a vacuum. Sure, Nathaniel Richards and Howard Stark showed up, as did the Brood and Galactus, but I was okay with that. The story, while trying to give S.H.I.E.L.D. a larger history in the Marvel Universe (unnecessary), was surprisingly insular. It didn’t (at least it hasn’t yet, and I don’t know what additional plans there are for the series) have any interactions with any regular Marvel characters and instead dealt more with inserting various classical thinkers and scientists into Marvel’s history. One of the main characters was da Vinci, and now Bendis has brought him over and shoehorned him into this crossover. After the wonderful Osborn stories, the past two issue of this series has really killed my enjoyment of the title. This storyline is back-up material at best.

Wolverine and his hit squad are having a hard time of late. This is a team that shouldn’t work. The characters don’t work well together. There are too many conflicting personalities, ideals, and motives. But writer Rick Remender does a wonderful job of smoothly making this dysfunctional team succeed where they have to. I love Deadpool here, more so than in his regular series. I like him playing off of other characters rather than just his internal monologues. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it, he and Fantomex need a spin-off road-trip mini-series. The team is down to a skeleton crew for this issue, but Wolvie isn’t worried since he’s assuming the mission will be a cakewalk. Of course it doesn’t turn out like that. After a bit of a confusing stumble with the Captain Britain stuff, I’m back on board with where it looks like this book is going: massive murder, moral conflicts, and the eventual wringing of hands and pulling of hair.

Wolverine and the X-Men is still my favorite post-Schism X-book. It’s weird to see Wolverine in the role of headmaster, but it works, and the kids are all amazing. There’s a bit of dissention in the ranks this issue, and it doesn’t seem forced at all. Jason Aaron does a good job of explaining why certain characters make certain decisions. So far I’m enjoying this little slice of the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover than anything else happening with it. I also like that Aaron isn’t abandoning current plot threads to focus on the crossover. We still get a good dose of Angel and Genesis and even a bit of Quentin and Idie.

I also picked up a couple of back issues for my collection, and I picked up a few issues for my oldest son. We sat on the floor of my comic book room (read: my walk-in closet) bagging and boarding our new issues. I got him Justice League Adventures #s 2 and 3 and I ended up getting:

Amazing Spider-Man #656 (Captain America 70^th Anniversary variant cover)

Amazing Spider-Man #665 (I Am Captain America variant cover)

Amazing Spider-Man #671 (my favorite cover in quite some time)

Justice League Adventures #1 (it actually came with my son’s grab pack, but I kept it because of the Alex Ross cover)

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #4

Here are the new comics I’m expecting to get next week:

Shade #8

Locke and Key: Clockworks #6

Amazing Spider-Man: Ends of Earth #1

Avengers #26

Avengers vs. X-Men #4

Fantastic Four #605.1

Invincible Iron Man #517

New Mutants #42

Thunderbolts #174

X-Factor #236