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!

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 #41

Last Week’s Comic Book Awesomeness

Spider Island: Avengers #1 – Love it! I can’t say I’m thrilled about an event while there are two other events (Fear Itself and Schism) going on in the Marvel Universe, but I’m enjoying the creativity of what’s happening. New Yorkers getting spider powers? Sure! Why not? I’m loving the light-heartedness of Chris Yost’s story, and I REALLY like that Mike McKone keeps on getting Spidey work (even though this one doesn’t actually have Spider-Man in it). And Frog-Man. I don’t remember reading anything about him during the Initiative period, but I thoroughly enjoyed the one-off Spectacular Spider-Man story (#185) by J.M. DeMatteis. At the time, I didn’t appreciate DeMatteis’s stories or Sal Buscema’s art. Looking back, these Spider-Man stories were some of the best I’ve ever read. I liked Amazing Spider-Man more at the time, but these have held up so much better. And smack dab in the middle of these great stories is a story about Spidey having dinner with not one but TWO Fabulous Frog-Men. And now FFM the younger is calling himself an Avenger, and he’s having a damn good time. Between that, Hawkeye’s frustration with his new powers, the Ultimate Spider-Men, and Squirrel Girl’s new foe, there was absolutely NOTHING to dislike about this book. Kudos to absolutely everybody involved, and I want them to do more comics together.

Thunderbolts #163 – Wooooooow, Mr. Jeff Parker. Let’s start at the beginning. The cover? What the hell. How are Namor and Cap members of the Thunderbolts? How will this play out? I’m sufficiently intrigued. Where did the missing ‘Bolts end up? I assumed, since they were in Austria, maybe they’ll be found by Baron Zemo. There ARE Nazis, so that’s not completely ludicrous. But time travel? Sure, that’ll work. Even bad guys LOVE kicking Nazi ass, so I’m in the storyline for the whole ride. Great new direction, and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

Thoughts on the first full wave of DC’s New 52 titles:

Action Comics #1 – I’ve always wanted to like Superman, but I can only take him for a bit, usually less than a year, before I just get bored with him. I liked this issue, so I’m hoping Grant Morrison will be able to give me the Superman stories that I’m craving…even though I don’t know what those are.

Animal Man #1 – I really liked Grant Morrison’s run on Animal Man, but really, who didn’t? I tried to keep up with the hero after that, but it got too weird for me. The past few years he’s just been kind of thrown around. Nobody really knew what to do with him. Hell, he spent a good chunk of time in space. So I hope we’re going to get a firm direction going for this hero with potential. I like the little “interview” that kicks off the issue. It seems to suggest that the broad strokes of the past are pretty much intact. I like that. First off, I like the new costume. I never was a fan of orange and blue. I like where the book is going, but wasn’t this something that happened in the original series, or something similar? Maybe during Delano’s run? Can’t remember. I am interested in seeing where it’s going to go, though.

Batgirl #1 – I picked this up because I absolutely loved Secret Six, and I hoped Gail Simone would be able to bring me into the Batman Universe. Didn’t happen. There wasn’t a single thing I enjoyed about this issue, except for the bit of continuity that was kept regardless of the universe-wide reboot. That’s it. Maybe Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman can get me interested in this corner of the DCU, because this title sure didn’t.

 

Stormwatch #1 – This might be the book I’m most looking forward to. I absolutely LOVED Warren Ellis’ (shock there, right?) run on Stormwatch and The Authority. I think his run on these books are perhaps the best bit of superhero storytelling I’ve ever read. I then enjoyed Mark Millar’s Authority, but that’s about where my enjoyment of the title ended. I like the team, I like the premise, I just didn’t enjoy the stories. Now they’re fully enmeshed in the new DC universe. So let’s see what happens when we’ve got two Supermen and two Batmen (not counting the rest of Batman Inc. [is that even part of the New 52?]) running around the same universe. The first issue looks good enough. Old characters, new characters, a good explanation with still enough mystery to keep me coming back.

Swamp Thing #1 – I liked Scott Snyder on American Vampire, and I like what he’s doing here. I think it’s going to bring the good creepiness of Alan Moore’s “Swamp Thing,” the best of “Hellblazer,” and Jamie Delano’s “Animal Man.” As with all of these titles, though, I really hope I can separate old Swamp Thing from new Swamp Thing.