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I would be remiss in not mentioning that today is the 5-year anniversary of September 11th. I live in New York City and was shocked, saddened and appalled at what happened that day. I just want to leave a little not to remember those who lost their lives on that day.
In other news, today was my first day of teaching full periods so what I did to mess with the kids was to give a test on the first day to see what they knew. Yes, I am evil. Even though I have been busy this week teaching, I could find time to throw something up here since I only picked up 12 comics this week. There were 5 Marvel titles and 7 DC titles. Marvel is truly suffering from the Civil War delays since I would be getting between 7-10 Marvels a week with the Civil War tie-ins. Not too many blow-away titles this week from either company though I was looking forward to the first issue of 1602 Fantastick Four and the second issue of Agents of Atlas.
---Start Spoiler Warning---
We’ll start with some Marvel mini-series this week. 1602: Fantastick Four #1 came out this week and I had to read this first since I loved the original 1602 series. The second one wasn’t as good but this is written by Larry David who I am a fan of so I hope it will be better. It introduces us to the Frightful Four right away and Otto Von Doom requesting to see them. Meanwhile, King James I is talking to Shakespeare about how to improve his plays. All of a sudden, a flying ship with a bunch of Vulture like creatures in it emerge from the clouds and kidnap Shakespeare. See, Von Doom needs Shakespeare to document his travels. Ben Grimm is there and tries to help but they take off with him anyway. Reed sees it all through his telescope but Sue mentions that he promised to stay since she’s pregnant. This was very well-written by Peter David with the necessary action, the funny lines and the origins of our villains. We didn’t see the FF pretty much at all but this was the perfect set-up to the rest of the four issues. I just wonder what Shakespeare masterpiece is supposed to be written about Von Doom. The second mini-series I was looking forward to was Agents of Atlas #2. The first issue just blew me away and I was just a little let down by this issue, just a little though. This issue explains the origin of Gorilla Man, where Marvel Boy has been, and the whereabouts of Venus. Derek Khanata was the SHIELD agent who lost Jimmy Woo and was sent by Dum Dum Dugan to find information about him. He goes to his house and is stunned to see M-11, Gorilla Man, Marvel Boy and a young Jimmy Woo. Jimmy was transformed back to his young self and doesn’t remember anything past 1959. They end up near Wakanda and find Venus but unfortunately Yellow Claw has found Jimmy Woo. This was a fast-paced issue which gives a lot of background that was missing the first issue and seems to be a decent enough mystery tale.
Next up is a pair of Spider-Man books. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #12 was the second part of I Hate A Mystery where Mysterio shows up to terrorize the school Peter works at and then to confuse things another Mysterio shows up. Both claim to be the real Mysterio. The one inside the building claims to be Quentin Beck, although he is dead (suicide) and the second shows up to confront who he thinks is the fake. The real Mysterio leaves as the fake Mysterio battles Spider-Man. The kids are on their own with Flash and another teacher (Miss Arrow) and then Miss Arrow is taken and Mysterio reveals he is Quentin Beck, with a huge chunk of his head blown off. This story has been pretty confusing and muddled so far. There are too many Mysterio’s, too many secondary characters, and Spider-Man seems very happy-go-lucky given the circumstances. He makes a crack about Batman in this issue as well. I enjoyed Peter David earlier with 1602, though I could’ve passed on this. Spider-Man Black & Blue & Read All Over #1 is a prelude to Civil War of sorts as Peter Parker struggles with hiding behind the mask. Aunt May urges him to unmask and he decides he will and strikes a deal with the Bugle. So the big day comes and Spider-Man is there, a whole troupe of them. It seems that a bunch of other people took it upon themselves to claim they are Spider-Man. Peter Parker does unmask and says he’s Spider-Man but since so many others are doing it, JJJ doesn’t believe him. It was a sweet story that leads some insight into why Peter Parker unmasked in Civil War #2, though this would be much more relevant had it come out before Civil War did. There is also a reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #12 where Peter is unmasked by Dr. Octopus but again no one believes it since Spidey was sick when he fought Ock and nowhere near as good as he should be.
Onto DC and Brave New World Mini-Series. It spawned 6 titles and three of them came out this week. The Creeper #2 was the best by far, but that isn’t saying much. The Creeper starts with a flesh eating monster eating some kids then looking for Mike Hewson. The Creeper is also looking for Hewson since he shot his counterpart, Jack Ryder. Jack and Creeper share a mind which leads to some interesting dialogue and Creeper even runs into Batman who asks if he is a hero or villain. Creeper says he’s good so Batman lets him go, but he better stay that way. Creeper then battles and defeats Axeman and looks for Hewson, but the flesh eating monster got to him first. Creeper then goes to track down this monster and seems to jump headlong into him. This has been one of the better BNW titles as its dark and gritty and takes on the creepier things in Gotham. I liked he ran into Batman and the inner monologue with the Creeper and Jack Ryder speaking to each other. Creeper is a hero I would like to read more of. OMAC #3 came out as well and it features OMAC stealing something from NORAD to try to rebuild brother eye. Mike Costner rebels against the programming though and crash lands from space into Nevada. A van of strippers are there and pick him up and one recognizes him. When they all fall asleep Costner wakes up, steals some money and leaves and one of the strippers now recognizes him as the person who crashed into her place in issue #1 (or Brave New World, I forget). She threatens to call the cops but he saves her from an oncoming truck. The mini-series is almost half-way through and still not much has happened. Everything could’ve been told in two stories and I haven’t been drawn into this world as I have other BNW titles. I loved the OMAC mini-series but this just hasn’t done it. The slow pacing has really hurt this. Finally there was All-New Atom #3. I’ve really tried to like this since it featured Simone writing it and Byrne drawing it but I just can’t enjoy it. This issue featured some guy in a costume killing someone then meeting with Choi’s friend at the end while Atom battles some weird blob who consumes people. He then goes to work and his boss hits on him and asks him out, then at a drive-in she grows to a 50 foot woman and eats him. Then there are a troupe of people hailing this blob “cancer god.” Suffice to say, I am completely lost and I don’t really even care about this characters. I heard Byrne was leaving soon so I hope a new artist can kick start things but Atom has been a mess so far.
There were two titles to feature Nightwing this week. Outsiders #40. Outsiders continues to be a well-written title as part of Metamorpho teams up with Katana as we learn more about Brain and Mallah’s idea to clone meta’s and sell them, and there is a mystery man in shadows working along with them. Metamorpho and Katana find a Superman clone and unleash him. He pretty much destroys the place, freeing the Outsiders, then busting out of the complex. The Outsiders threaten Brain and Mallah tells them who the third man is, Dr. Sivana. There is also some intrigue. Apparently there is a secret that Grace has been keeping from some of the Outsiders, but not all. Could this break the team apart? Again, Outsiders was just very enjoyable as Winick takes a hodge-podge of characters and mixes them extremely well, and the stories have been great so far. Things are happening and the cliff hangers every issue keep me coming back. Nightwing was also in his own solo title, Nightwing #124. I would love to say it was as good as Outsiders but it was not. It’s the conclusion of Nightwing in NYC hopefully, as this title has gone from bad (with Jason Todd) to worse. He eludes the cops with Arsenal’s help and nothing more is mentioned of it. Also, Fireball and Sparkplug (a young girl) lure Barry and Cheyenne together but Nightwing shows up, defeats them in 2 panels and rides off into the sunset. This has just been bad, bad, bad. The story with Jason Todd showed some promise but it just evaporated into a mess. I think a new writer is coming to revive this failing title and I can only wait for that to happen.
There were two space-faring titles, one from both companies. Marvel brought out Beyond! #3 and it is a lot better than previous weeks. Deathlok and crew defeated Dragon Man as Deathlok reveals he was with the Beyonder many moons ago with another team but apparently they were sent back with their memories erased and Deathlok agreed to stay to save their lives. Also, the big thing is that Spider-Man is revealed to not be Spider-Man at all but a purple morphing creature! This issue was a huge pick-up from the previous one and seems to be shaping out nicely. I wouldn’t recommend it yet just so I can see if #4 delivers and since #’s 1 and 2 were so disappointing. DC had its own space title, the debut of Mystery in Space With Captain Comet. Mystery in Space was confusing for me since I wasn’t familiar with Captain Comet nor any of these characters so I was a bit lost. The writing by Starlin was pretty good and I feel I know these characters a bit more. It basically shows Captain Comet dying and coming back to life as well as we’re introduced to some supporting cast members, Eye and Tyrone. Eye is a telepath who can fight and Tyrone is a dog. There is also a villain introduced named Prime-7 that has a project that could kill millions. There was even a back-up story on The Weird whom I never heard of before. I can honestly say I didn’t know what to expect from this but it wasn’t bad at all. I don’t know if I would recommend it right away just because of my unfamiliarity with the characters but I will check out issue #2 and go from there.
Finally, there’s nothing else left except 52 Week Eighteen. The mystery begins right away as Dr. Fate is found liquefied with only his helmet remaining. Detective Chimp finds Ralph Dibney (surprisingly fine considering the state we last saw him in) and asks him to investigate what happened. Ralph asks D.C. to bring the Shadowpact and they arrive in Gaza, Egypt. Ralph hears the helmet talking to him and they are off on a pilgrimage. Shadowpact didn’t hear the helmet and are slightly confused. Black Adam and Isis hand Question and Renee awards for stopping the assassination but there’s one problem. Renee isn’t there. She’s so upset about killing a young girl that she doesn’t attend the ceremony and instead sleeps with another woman. Question notes that the problem is still with Intergang and they all vow to stop them. Finally, during Booster Gold’s funeral ceremony in Cincinnati (since it’s the only place that’d have him) and Skeets finds an ancestral link to Booster in someone who attended his funeral. Hmmm, maybe Booster will return? There was also an origin of the Question. This was a very good issue that packed a lot into it. That’s what I originally loved about 52, following 2, maybe 3 or 4 storylines in one issue. The weekly nature allows this to happen since hanging plot threads are picked up right away and I can remember things a lot easier for 7 days as opposed to 31.
---End Spoiler Warning---
The Cover of the Week would have to go to All-New Atom #3 as it is just visually striking seeing the Atom lunging foot-first into an eye. The story sucked inside though so the cover was the only thing it had going. A close second would go to the Spider-Man one-shot. This week was pretty mediocre but the Book of the Week would have to be 1602: Fantastick Four #1. This was a slow week for Marvel and DC and DC took a big hit due to the crappy titles near the bottom. It only pulled out a 2.43 average and dropped their overall average to 2.94. Marvel was much better with a 3.4 overall average and a 3.25 overall average. Still, it was a slow week this week with little besides the top two titles being great. Next week should be a little better with Annihilation #2, Captain America #21, and Incredible Hulk #98 dropping from Marvel (among others) while DC seems a little slow next week as well with Green Arrow, 52, and Firestorm dropping. I hope next week will be better. See you next week.
Quick Hits (in reading order):
1602: Fantastick Four #1: The Frightful Four appear in 1602 as Otto Von Doom kidnaps Shakespeare to document his travels. Excellent opener. 4.5.
Agents of Atlas #2: Learn more about the Agents of Atlas as they try to find Venus. An enjoyable follow-up to the great debut. A good mystery is building up here. 4.5.
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #12: Mysterio’s abound as Spider-Man and the students are trapped in the school. Will the real Mysterio please stand up? Confusing second part of the story arc with too much going on to make it enjoyable. 2.5.
Spider-Man: Black & Blue & Read All Over #1: A look into why Peter unmasked in the recent Civil War event. Would’ve been more relevant had it been released before CW #2 but it was still good. 3.
52 Week Eighteen: See Ralph Dibny and Shadowpact investigate the fate of Dr. Fate. See Black Adam deal with Question and Montoya. See the funeral for Booster. All this and more in the loaded issue. 3.5.
Outsiders #40: Mallah and the Brain’s true intentions are revealed as Katana tries to free her teammates. A well-written well-paced story that delivers. 3.
Creeper, The #2: The Creeper looks for the man who shot his counterpart, Jack Ryder, but not before running into Batman. Good story with a darker feel to it that lends itself well to Gotham City. 3.5.
OMAC #3: OMAC tries to rebuild Brother Eye but how will Mike Costner react? Very slow pacing to the title so far as we wait for things to pick up before series conclusion. 2.
All-New Atom, The #3: Atom meets the cancer god and gets eaten. The story has not been well-done at all and this issue is the worst of the three so far. 1.
Nightwing #124: Nightwing battles cops and two other villains as this title has reached a low point. It can only go up from here. 1.
Mystery in Space #1: See what happened to Captain Comet and how his arrival will impact Prime-7. The Weird also returns. Good writing that piqued my curiosity for issue #2. 3.
Beyond! #3: The story continues as Deathlok assists the heroes and villains stuck on the planet. The story is getting a bit better and I enjoyed this a lot more than the previous two. 2.5.
Rating Scale:
5 – Must Read
4 – Recommended
3 – Mild Recommendation
2 – Wait for the Trade Paperback
1 – Avoid at all costs
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