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These came out the last week of March but it won’t be posted on the ol’website until April Fool’s Day. By the time you read this I will have been back at work for two days and probably dog-tired but I am actually writing this on Friday. Anyway, there are 11 DC’s, 2 Wildstorms and finally 13 Marvels which add up to 26 titles. That made the average of March about 24.25 comics a week, down from last months 24.75. Enough with the numbers, let’s go to the April Fool’s Edition of TPL.
Spoiler Alert
The Main Event
-All-Star Superman #10- I usually complain about delays in books but when it is as well-written and well-crafted as this one, I don’t have a problem. Superman is faced with the fact that he is dying. He is actually very worried about the fate of the Earth after he dies. He writes his memoirs, he finds a new home for the people of Kandor; putting them on Mars, he constructs a separate universe without him to see how it turns out, he has time to stop a robot in Metropolis, saves a woman contemplating suicide, meets with Luthor and tells him he can still do good (it doesn’t go over well), maps his genome for a scientist he trusts, and finally Lois Lane sees an article Clark wrote called, “Death of Superman.” We end with a great scene on Earth-Q (the Earth Supes constructed) of a man with a pencil drawing Superman, obviously supposed to be Joe Shuster. This was just, like I said, a well-crafted issue. I will sadly miss this title when it ends. 1/1
-Countdown to Final Crisis #05- This is another issue narrated by Buddy Blank. He and Una try to find his family and are constantly attacked by recipients of the virus. It is a very dismal view of the Earth. We see heroes being affected, mass death, and the world is really ending. Buddy and Una find Buddy’s daughter, who has succumbed to the virus. They take his grandson and leave but Una is overwhelmed by the monsters. She sacrifices herself and gives her flight ring to Buddy. Buddy and his grandson leave to an abandoned facility (Command D). He watches the end of the world from his bunker, through the eyes of Brother Eye. Nations bomb each other and finally the heroes leave, breaking contact with Brother Eye and leaving Buddy and his grandson alone, and Buddy mentions that the boy is the last boy on Earth. This was the second well-written issue in a row. This was an awesome origin of Kamandi and I like it is on an alternate Earth. I wonder what will happen to the heroes who were there? 2/2.
Marvel
-Marvel Atlas #2- This is the second issue of the handbook style book. It talks about all the main places in the Americas and Africa that inhabit the Marvel Universe. They talk about real places (like the US and Canada) as well as all of the fictional places in Marvel, like Wakanda. They actually show maps of the places with where they are situated and it’s very interesting. I think the $4 price tag will ward some people off. For completists, this is a nice book to pick up. 1/1.
-Mighty Avengers #11- Doom speaks with Le Fay before we get to the meat of the story. So Doom is attacking the Mighty Avengers (san Iron Man and Sentry) and he captures them all! They are powerless and watch as Doom prepares for Iron Man and Sentry to show up. He teleported back in time a few minutes before the others show up. Somehow, Spider-Woman is able to free herself and the Avengers fight Doom’s robots. Ms. Marvel is able to warn Sentry before the bomb explodes (which we saw last issue). Iron Man survived and is powered up by Sentry. The two of them meet Doom and Sentry just wrecks him in a manner we’ve never really seen before. Doom is arrested and the Avengers won. Black Widow does ask Spider-Woman about her apparent newfound powers. Are we suspicious that she’s a Skrull? Hmmm. Very well-done. Is this Bagley’s swan-song for Marvel? If it was, he did go out with a bang. 2/2.
-Ms. Marvel #25- This is a Secret Invasion tie-in, and also the longest a solo Ms. Marvel title has run. Congrats to Brian Reed and all the artists for that acheivement. Based on this issue, we are in for another 25 issues. We switch between the past and present as the past shows Carol, pre-powers, with Mar-Vell in disguise finding a Skrull device. Of course, Carol doesn’t know it is a Skrull device and when she touches it the Skrull’s get her DNA. Carol later comes in contact with a Skrull hi-jacking one of their space shuttles and she kills him. Still, the Skrull’s have her DNA and that is how Tony can say that Carol is a Skrull. Carol takes a flight to clear her head and finds an AIM gathering. She follows one of the trucks and find they have a Skrull with the powers of the X-Men?! The Skrull disappears and Carol calls the guy she’s been seeing. He had earlier dumped her and he is very surprised when he calls, considering that he was with the Skrull Carol at the time! Carol flies back and finds him dead on the bed. It is suggested he is a Kree. Carol sees the dead body when SHIELD agents burst in telling Carol to freeze. They don’t know if she’s a Skrull. This was a really good tie-in and I hope Ms. Marvel figures prominently in SI. They tell a brief history of Carol and she’s never just had a run as a certain character. She’s had like 5 identities and really the character needs an identity to ground her and make her a premiere female player in the MU. This issue rocked by the way. 3/3.
-New Avengers #39- It’s Secret Invasion time and so Bendis does with New Avengers what he did during Civil War. He focuses on a certain character each issue until the event is done. This time he is focusing on Maya and it is revealed she has a history with Wolverine. That seems to be the popular thing to give a character credibility. They have a history with Wolverine so they must be important. So Maya doesn’t really believe in the Skrull threat until she goes out on the town and is attacked by a Skrull! Luckily for her, Wolverine is following her and he takes out the Skrull. This Skrull also has the powers of the X-Men (like we saw in Ms. Marvel). He had wanted to kill Maya and take her place. Maya comes home and sleeps with Hawkeye. She seems to listen very well for a deaf person. I enjoyed this. 4/4.
-New Warriors #10- The New Warriors, especially Jubilee, is really pissed about Night Thrasher and his mysterious ways. They confront him and NT tells them he has a device that can predict super humans and what they will do next. Jubilee isn’t convinced but after talking to some of the techs there and how NT saved them, she goes along. There are a couple of sub-plots, like someone spying on Diablo, and a super-human who blows up a house after the cops don’t negotiate properly. This was interesting, and it earns a point. 5/5.
-Picture of Dorian Gray #4- This started off very poorly but damn has it picked up. Dorian is descending more and more into debauchery and he takes it up a notch when he kills his former friend, Basil Hallward. He calls a friend, a chemist, to dispose of him. He doesn’t want to but Dorian shows him a letter he wrote that convinces him. I wonder what was in that letter? This is really intriguing and although it started off slowly, it picked up really well. 6/6.
-Power Pack: Day One #1- Franklin is left by his parents to the care of the Powers. They head up to the roof after the adult Powers go to sleep and Franklin asks how they got their powers. So Alex narrates the first part of the story. He tells of the team moving to upstate New York, their parents getting kidnapped by Snarks (reptilian aliens) and a pony that Katie found getting killed because of Jack’s big-headedness. This is a really fun retelling of the origin and the explanation of Jack’s gravity power at the end was really well-done and my wife, an Earth Science teacher, could even use that idea so the idiots in her class could understand. This gets an easy point. 7/7.
-She-Hulk #27- She-Hulk and Jaz are off to find Bran, the guy who blew up the story She-Hulk was in a few issues ago when She-Hulk sees on the TV that the man she saved last issue is in jail. His wife was killed by the alien last issue and he’s being blamed! She-Hulk goes to help him but gets arrested anyway (she ripped the bars off his jail cell accidentally). She-Hulk swallows her pride and calls Mallory from her old law firm. She shows up and, with the help of Iron Man, free the innocent man. She-Hulk is kind of embarrassed by this and she really wants to tell off Stark but can’t. Stark does give her a message (He’s Sorry) and that kind of smooths things over. Jaz and She-Hulk (humbled a bit) head off to find Bran again. This was very well-written where She-Hulk has to respond to all those she has wronged the past few months. Peter David has done a fantastic job since Slott left. 8/8.
-Spider-Man: With Great Power #3- Peter starts letting the fame get to his head, trying to make time with two women behind each other’s back. He is a star on TV though JJJ wants an angle to write about. Uncle Ben and Aunt May are getting worried about Peter and him not being in school and Ben actually confronts Peter as he leaves a club, at 6:15 in the morning with Liz. He uses his spider sense to stop rubble from falling on his uncle. They also showed the criminal that Peter let get away. This was well-written and I liked how Peter was watching the FF fight the Miracle Man. This fills in some holes but I don’t know if it really corresponds to how Peter acted at his school, especially taking Liz out which was really out of character, especially in the early Lee/Ditko issues. JJJ having a reason to write about Spidey (he was watching the FF fight instead of helping them) makes sense. This will get a point. 9/9.
-Ultimate Human #3- This is a really long and drawn out origin of the Leader. He was Peter Wisdom working for a secret agency and wanted to create British super-soldiers but the company really didn’t want to. He tested on himself (using parts of Banner and Stark), became the Leader, and thus he kidnapped Stark and Banner to take their DNA and recreate himself. This was actually very boring and a really drawn out origin of a villain that Stan Lee would’ve written in 10 panels. I just didn’t care for it. 9/10.
-Ultimate Iron Man II #4- Tony, Obadiah and Whiplash are on the plane. They can’t diffuse the bomb so Tony has another idea. He flies the plane very low, allowing Obadiah and Whiplash to jump out. Stark makes the plane explode as he jumps out and has limbs blown off in the process. He is brought home to his father, who just escaped from an attempt at being kidnapped and the two wonder who could’ve orchestrated this? The smart money is on Dolores but he’s now out of the picture because Rhodes found him dead at his home. Tony comes to a startling conclusion, it seems to be his mother, Loni, behind it all. This was just awesome. Orson knows how to tell a story and how to build it up perfectly. I look forward to the conclusion and I am happy they increased this from a 4-issue series to a 5-issue mini. 10/11.
-Ultimate Spider-Man #120- Magneto shows up and talks to Liz, trying to get her to join the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, since her father is in the Brotherhood. Liz doesn’t know what to do and flies home. She finds out her mother lied about her true father and she can’t take the deception. The X-Men show up to try to recruit her but she just flies away again, this time to MJ. Spidey shows up, reveals his true identity to Liz and Liz goes off with the X-Men. We then backtrack in time to the Blob talking to Magneto about having a daughter and wanting her here in the Savage Land where they are located. So the Blob is Liz’ father. That’s a little weird. This was good fun and although the payoff was a bit weird, it was original and unexpected. 11/12.
-WWH Aftersmash: Damage Control #3- So Damage Control deals with a talking Chrysler Building, and Arch-E tells them it is just due to the Shadow-Stone. They cut a deal with the building that it can take a month vacation every year. You know, this mini started off very well, with a great intro, a good follow up and then we get here and it just completely fell into lunacy and craziness. I know you have to suspend disbelief with the MU but the Chrysler Building coming alive? That is just too much. 11/13.
DC
-Batman Confidential #15- We see the origin of Wraith and how it ties into Detective Gordon. Gordon was on patrol at night and sees a man, woman and their son stealing. He confronts them and they both pull a gun. Gordon is shot but he kills both of them. It was later covered up because the man Gordon killed was a crooked cop. The boy was put in an orphanage and couldn’t be adopted for fear he would talk. Wraith trained and now has an agenda against all cops and especially Gordon. He based his costume and methods on Batman and we see his hostage from the issue before is actually his version of Robin! Batman and Nightwing have a big fight on their hands to end the threat of Wraith! This was a really good issue. 3/3.
-Blue Beetle #25- Blue Beetle continues bringing the awesome. He was captured and had the scarab ripped from him. It turns out that the words Jaime said last issue is actually the name of the scarab! They recombine and Blue Beetles lays a whoop ass on the Reach. Beetle lets all the other heroes in on what’s going on so the Reach is done. Jaime’s family is still under attack and surprisingly, Guy Gardner, Fire and Ice show up to save them! The leader of the Reach aborts his mission and wants to destroy Earth. Jaime puts his life on the line to stop the detonation process and right he’s about to explode with the ship, Booster jumps out of the timestream and brings Jaime back home! It was amazing to see all of the storylines pay off here, from his hero friends showing up, to Booster who just met with Jaime in his own series. Blue Beetle showed he is a smart hero, and he has learned well from his predecessors. This was nothing short of fantastic and if you haven’t been reading this, you are missing out. Next issue should be interesting as it is in Spanish, but I look forward to it. This was as close to a perfect conclusion as you could get. 4/4.
-Countdown Presents: Lord Havok & The Extremists #6- The title started off very poorly and uninteresting but slowly picked up. I was wary of how this would end after the misprint on the front cover (#6 of 8, instead of #6 of 6). This shows the origin of Lord Havok himself. He was born a malformed baby to a Russian czar, but had a great mind. He had a great way with electronics and buils prosthetic limbs for himself. He evnetually went away but when his mother was killed by his father, he returns with a vengeance. He kills his father and takes over a part of the land for himself. We fast forward, Havok and his team battle Monarch and his foes and trick them. When Prime and Monarch fight, Havok and his extremists teleport away with plans to take over all the multiple earths. This started off very poorly but really picked up at the end. 5/5.
-Countdown to Adventure #8- So Rann is saved, the three heroes return home, and they save Earth due to Starfire’s power. It was a nice ending but altogether predictable. Forerunner is also lost in space with her crew. An alien race asks them to transport a planet from a group that feeds on planets. They are able to do that and the new planet forms, complete with a population culled from Forerunner’s DNA. She now has her own planet. Again, this was predictable. It was fine storytelling but I felt that something was missing from the title, it didn’t end with a bang but just very predictable. 5/6.
-Countdown Special: Eclipso #1- This reprinted three stories from Eclipso’s past and they were all quite good. In the first, we see Eclipso playing chess with Darkseid talking about how he was there from Earth’s beginning and how he was banished from the world. The second two stories show Eclipso trying to take over Spectre and get back to Earth. Phantom Stranger gathers a gang of magicians to save them but get help from another three magicians who save the real identity of Spectre. I usually don’t recommend reprints, but this was a very good one. 6/7.
-Legion of Super-Heroes #40- The LSH must deal with robotic alien monsters showing up and attacking, but they keep disappearing before Braniac can investigate them. There is a bit of a disagreement with Timber Wolf and Saturn Girl over her using her telepathy on him and she says she won’t do it again. Lightning Lad has problems being leader but his sister tells him he’s doing a good job. Projectra is descending lower and lower and may have actually killed someone at the end of the issue. This was nothing short of enjoyable. 7/8.
-Spirit, The #15- This fun little tale features Spirit going to France in order to bust a diamond stealing ring. This series is nothing but fun and even though it doesn’t build any ongoing storylines, comics should be fun and Spirit has been fun. It is missing a little something since Darwyn Cooke left but Aragones and Evanier still get the jist of the character and write a damn fun book. 8/9.
-Teen Titans #57- The second McKeever arc on Teen Titans has been a pleasant read. Robin goes to visit Cassie to tell her that Red Devil is missing. Cassie seems really pissed at Robin and the two spend the issue arguing, until they get a troubling text, Titan Tower is badly damaged. We see it is badly damaged because two of the villain Titans (Copperhead and Persuader, sent by Clock King). They tell Ravager they have Kid Devil (who is being tortured) and she actually cares. She dons her costume and throttles them. It seems that Ravager has some sort of power where she can see what’s going to happen fightwise before it happens which Clock King can see. It is Ravager in the Titans Tower when the image is sent. It seems that Ravager may be in trouble. I like how Ravager was written here and how she actually does care, she is human. 9/10.
-Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #7- Miss America, who was thrown into the sun last issue, is reborn as Miss Cosmos. Neon is able to burn the bugs out of Red Bee and all the people she is controlling. They think the threat is over until Red Bee reveals that the bugs that took over her has a huge force coming to Earth to invade. Uh-oh. I definitely see that next issue will be a huge battle with definite casualties. The dumb subplot of the beast made of many humans seems completely useless (unless it is paid off next issue) but the Red Bee stuff has been interesting up to now. I’ll give it a point, I’m in a good mood. 10/11.
Wildstorm
-Wildstorm Revelations #6- The ladies are trapped in Gamorra but Nemesis finishes off a centaur guardian of the emperor and they get off with the information they needed. So the women find what they needed and head to a secret compound. While there, Nemesis is attacked by a Zombie metahuman and told to Change or Die. Majestic saves Nemesis and it seems the superhumans in the compound are being released all over the world! This last issue was the best of them, finally getting to where they needed to go, but it felt it was a 6-issue commercial for Number of the Beast. 1/1.
-World of Warcraft #5- So Broll and Lo’Gosh are in search of a mystical idol that is causing those who hold it to become irritable and attack our two main characters! Broll and Lo’Gosh eventually succeed in getting the idol, they destroy it, things go back to normal and the duo heads off to a great city. This was a fun fight issue. 2/2.
Awards
-Book of the Week- This was an easy winner. Blue Beetle #25 completely kicked ass this week. I said it before, it was the perfect conclusion to a great storyline and it had me on the edge of my seat the whole issue with twist and turn after twist and turn. Congrats to Mike Rogers and Rafael Albuquerque.
-Disappointment of the Week- Ultimate Human #3 left the worst taste in my mouth. It was just very boring. The origin of Leader was just very drawn out. It was a rare miss for Ellis (though his third one on TPL).
-Cover of the Week- All-Star Superman #10 by Frank Quitely was the easy winner. It is just a beautiful shot of Superman looking over the world, something he has always done and something he still wants to do when he leaves.
-The Bottom Line- Wildstorm had a perfectly acceptable week, going 2 for 2 and picking up the pace after starting off the TPL point system very poorly. They started 0 for 4 but have managed to hit at 8/9 since. DC had another solid week. They followed up their perfect week last year with a 10 out of 11 (91%) with the only misstep being Countdown to Adventure, which was too predictable an ending. I’d take 10 out of 11 every week, though so I don’t have any complaints with DC. Marvel had a strong week, too, with hitting at 85% (11/13). I think DC had the best week, with some amazing issues (Countdown, Blue Beetle and All-Star Superman). I really liked this week, I blew through the issues in three days, but next week should be something else, with Secret Invasion to look forward to.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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