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

What You Should Have Read #54

Thoughts on Last Week’s Comics

Animal Man/Swamp Thing #s 5 – These aren’t main DCU books, these are old-school Vertigo books, and I love them both. As much as I’d like to see some of these non-JLA characters and books stand on their own for a bit in this relaunch without crossovers and team-ups and stuff, Animal Man writer Jeff Lemire and Swamp Thing writer Scott Snyder have done a wonderful job of weaving The Red and The Green together. I think that NOT having a crossover would be a disappointment. I like how this is shaping up to be a battle between the kids, Maxine vs. William, with probably the obligatory Animal Man vs. Swamp Thing superhero misunderstanding as an undercard.

Avengers Annual #1 – Gabriele Dell’Otto was a wonderful find for Marvel, and it pains me that he hasn’t been used as much as he should be. I’m guessing it’s a speed thing? He’s my new Alex Ross, which is a pretty poor comparison considering their styles are so different. Dell’Otto doesn’t drip with realism like Ross does, but he’s got energy. Now, you know I love Brian Michael Bendis, but I was expecting more from this issue. I was expecting a battle royale, but I guess we got all our fighting from the New Avengers Annual (with just a bit here). All this annual seemed to do, though, was set up more stuff. So the world is going to start looking at the Avengers with a bit of mistrust? They’re going to turn into the X-Men? If anything, I expect Beast to do exactly what Simon asked of him. He took Cyclops to task, why wouldn’t he do the same thing with Steve or Tony?

Avengers Academy #24 – Too much hand wringing and self-justification from Reptil to really make this issue enjoyable. It was the brief interpersonal moments that barely saved it.

The Boys #62 – Looks like everything is about to hit the fan. I’m enjoying the ride that Garth Ennis is taking us on with these amoral superheroes, but I REALLY want them to get their asses handed to them, every single one of them.

Defenders #2 – This was a rather quick issue. The Defenders get their butts kicked, they get captured, they escape, and they hear the “villain’s” plans. That’s a lot of stuff for 22 pages.

Thunderbolts #168 – Really, who would have thought that Luke Cage would have been such an important fixture in the Marvel Universe? This issue felt like filler. Luke is trying to round up some of the Raft escapees while Songbird and Mach-V have it out with some suits. Yeah, kind of boring, since Luke spends most of his time in his own head. I’m hoping we’ll get more action or quasi-villainy next issue.

Uncanny X-Force #19.1 – So X-Force isn’t actually in this issue. This is all a set-up for the Age of Apocalypse…mini-series? I don’t think it’s an on-going. I know UXF writer Rick Remender isn’t writing the mini, but as long as it keeps the quality that this issue brought to the table, then I’m going to enjoy it.

Villains for Hire #2 – Like Purple Man, I’m not buying the Misty Knight thing. Something else is going on. As good as the writing is, though, it’s getting really tough to care at all about what’s happening to these fourth-rate villains.

Also, in case you've forgotten: When I can remember to add this to the bottom of my posts, 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 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 when you click ads, I get a little bit of money, and as a single father of three, every penny from every source helps...especially with Christmas bills here and an unsure/shaky work situation. So I’m going to keep this tiny bit of begging at the bottom of my posts, and I hope you’ll take an extra 10 seconds after reading my blog to click on an ad. The only thing it costs you is time. :) Thanks so much!

Comic Book Reviews for the Week of Nov. 5, 2008 (On-Going Series)

New format this week. Rather than "rate" the books I read, I've got them divided up by type of book (on-going, mini-series, or special/one-shot). Let's see how this works.

Amazing Spider-Man #576

I like that Spidey had to use at least a bit of his brains to defeat Hammerhead. I was under the impression, though, that his entire skeleton had been reinforced. If not, then how exactly does he walk around with that incredibly heavy noggin of his? I like this new Hammerhead, and I hope we see him around more. I also like this new reporter. She’s cute and feisty and spunky and a smart ass. Just enough of MJ’s personality to win back all the BND haters, with a bit of Gwen (she’s blonde…maybe I’m reaching) thrown in for good measure. Next week is the Punisher, but I’m not sure which writer we get and I’m too lazy to look it up on the web. I’m digging Joe Kelly so far, though. I’m glad he’s on board.

Gigantic #1

I’ve heard lots of good things about Rick Remender, but that’s after his series have been going for a while, so I thought I’d get in on this one with the first issue. This issue gives us the basics, just enough to get us wondering what exactly is going on so we’ll come back next issue. Apparently Earth was created as a television show/station. All of the sudden some giant robot/alien shows up, accidentally kills a bunch of people (which he feels badly about), and is followed some alien cops or bounty hunters or somesuch. Why is he being chased? Why did he blow up? What will happen in the next episode/issue? I’ll let you know in a month.

Invincible Iron Man #7

“Doing well since leaving Stark?”
“I’m okay…”
“Hear you’re taking pictures for a website.”
“Um…”
“Great career move there, guy.”

Okay, I think this is the first time since Brand New Day began that something that linked Peter Parker to Tony Stark (and not Spider-Man to Iron Man via the Avengers) was mentioned. So he did work for Tony, that much is still good. Too bad we had to get this nugget in Iron Man’s book and not Spider-Man’s. I think Matt Fraction needs to be in on the Spider-Man brain-trust. He captured the guy perfectly. And the interaction between Tony and Peter harkened right back to pre-Civil War days when they were all buddy-buddy. This is just me, but I liked it when everyone knew who Spidey was. It was new and it was interesting. I think, even in the midst of Brand New Day, there are still stories to be told from that, and I would think Iron Man would figure heavily into it what with Tony being a mentor to Peter and all. Wow, from reading this you might think this was actually a Spider-Man book. It’s not. It’s an excellent Iron Man book. Matt Fraction is just doing gang-busters on this title, and Salvador Larroca is definitely on top of his game.

Justice Society of America #20

Since Alex Ross is by far my favorite artist, I’ve been thrilled to see him working on the Justice Society covers. I have to admit, though, I think there are just a few too many characters. It’s starting to get a bit confusing, especially with Power Girl’s origin being explored/retconned/destroyed. There’s just so much going on that it’s a bit difficult to fully keep up. But I’m trying, and it’s still a good read once things click for me.

Secret Six #3

“Our hostage bit me, do you see? See where she broke the skin? Then she spat at me. She’s captured my heart, fellows. And I have been keeping the perfect dowry in my freezer at home!”

Seriously? A get out of Hell free card? That’s awesome! I’m loving the interaction between these guys, and riding away on the horses was a nice touch. Villains sure can be a lot of fun.

Top 10: Season 2 #2

I think I really need to go back and read all the ABC books. This is a really engaging series, and while it is doing a relatively good job at being new reader friendly, you can tell there’s so much that’s been missed. This issue mostly focuses on Irma Geddon and her mental state following her partner’s death. From what few nuggets were dropped about those circumstances, it sound like it would be an interesting story.

Trinity #23

Okay, Busiek has found his groove. I like what he’s doing with the absence of the Trinity: the world is trying to replace them. Pretty damn neat. And Bagley has found his DC groove. It’s great that he’s getting to draw just about everyone in the universe. I think the shit is about to hit the fan, too, what with Despero heading to Earth, John Stewart being corrupted by a Qwardian entity (I’ve no idea who), and Kronus watching the whole thing.



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