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Welcome to the first edition of the August 2009 edition of The Pull List. This review has all the title from the fifth Wednesday of July. Even though there were five weeks it seems that Marvel always bottom loads their shipment of titles. So, both Image and Vertigo were represented by one title, DC dropped 7 titles (though one will be reviewed tomorrow) and Marvel had the high count (as usual) with 18 titles. So we have a total of 27 books on hand and I don’t have any more time for introductory words so let’s get to it.
Spoiler Alert
Marvel
-DarkTower: Fall of Gilead #3- This is a time of mourning for Gilead. Cort dies due to the poisoning and Aileen is grieving. She decides to pursue her dream of being a gun-slinger by cutting her hair and pretending to be a boy. Alain and Bert find Sheemie and stop some mutants from attacking him. Bert faces terrible news when he learns his father has died as well (he was the one who jumped in front of a poison dart to save Steve Deschain). When things can’t get any worse, Vannay the mortician is killed by some mysterious messenger. This is Gilead starting to fall. There’s a great essay by Robin Furth in here as well about her views on women in comics. It’s worth the read. I didn’t even notice that this was illustrated only by Richard Isanove. Did Jae Lee leave prior to this issue or before the mini even started? There was literally no difference between this and previous arcs. I was not too high on Darktower for a bit (it was getting a bit bland) but this has restored my love for it. 1/1.
-Dark Reign: The Goblin Legacy #1- I thought this would have a Goblin story but no, it’s just four pages of Vanessa Hand looking for information on Norman and Norman being all like, nah honey, you won’t be doing that. So Spider-Man #39 and 40 are reprinted (the famous story where Goblin learns Spidey’s identity and vice-versa) with the great art of Romita being allowed to shine. A Goblin timeline is included, too. I already had ASM 39 and 40 in a Masterworks volume but if you don’t, $4 is an awesome price to pay for it. For me, it wasn’t worth it. 1/2.
-Dark Reign: Hawkeye #4- Hawkeye kills a team of Bullseye’s lead by Solo before being captured. It seems that Hawkeye’s father is behind all of this. The great thing here is that Hawkeye pretends he is trapped to listen to the whole story (and Solo learns that he had been used) before getting up and telling them their paralysis device isn’t working on him. Look like they are in trouble. I can say without reservation that this is the best of the Dark Reign mini-series titles. 2/3.
-Dark Reign: The Hood #3- The Hood continues straddling the line between his human and villain form. A bunch of his goons are captured but he doesn’t free them right away as he opts to spend time with his kid first. He is also trying to release himself from Dormammu’s power. Dormammu shows that he can be a force for good by having Hood’s mother (who suffers from dementia) being perfectly fine again. The White Fang also appears and the Controller tells her that she can get to Hood while he’s with his family, and while he’s not wearing his cape. This has done a great job of telling us the readers all the different aspects of the character of the Hood. In New Avengers he’s really just the evil crime boss while here he is multi-faceted and almost a sympathetic character. 3/4.
-Dark Reign: Lethal Legion #2- This is told in past-tense while we catch up with events going on now. For instance, we see how the Lethal Legion came about and how they actually kidnapped Norman. Back in the present, we are dealing with someone on the team who sold them out and with the death of Grim Reaper at the end. I didn’t expect anything out of this but it has delivered an intriguing story and a very fun sell-out on the team. 4/5.
-Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man #2- Venom/Spider-Man/Gargan wants revenge on Jonah so he kills a stripper and puts it on his bed. He also starts a little gang war to really mess with the new mayor. So JJJ goes to Norman for help and what does Norman do? He gives him Spider-Man for help. Yeah, Venom/Spidey/Gargan. And what do you think Venom will do? Yeah, kill JJJ. Bachalo is drawing the hell out of this. 5/6.
-Dark Reign: Young Avengers #3- The Young Avengers hold a tryout to test the new Young Avengers. The YA judge the New YA and decide who should stay or go. Hawkeye has an especially harrowing experience with Executioner and the YA think they may have been too harsh in their judgment. It seems that Norman has his eye on all of this and sees Executioner talking to his mother, Princess Python. I enjoy the Young Avengers and this new group of kids and Norman’s involvement adds a very different element to this tale. 6/7.
-Dark X-Men: Beginnings #2- We look at how Cloak and Dagger, Weapon Omega and Daken came to join the team. Cloak, Dagger and Omega were basically manipulated by Norman to join. Daken’s kick-ass conversation with Norman (and really throwing everything in his face) was awesome. 7/8.
-Fantastic Four #569- The FF defeat The Marquis of Death when Ben revives Clyde Wyncham and he combats the Marquis’ apprentice (who happens to be Doom by the end of the issue). The FF manages to defeat the Marquis because they are the freakin’ FF and Doom kills him because he’s freakin’ Doom. After the Marquis is disposed of, the Thing calls off his wedding with Deborah because he is afraid of what would happen to her. This was a satisfying conclusion to Millar’s run on here. I’m glad to see Marvel 1985 paid off here. The ending got a little bit confusing but everything was done right and Deborah was properly dropped from the series. 8/9.
-Marvel Zombies 4 #4- Daimon has a harrowing experience with a Dormammu possessed Jennifer Kale and deals with his relationship with Patsy Walker. He does exorcise Dormammu from Kale. The Sons then put the essence of the Zombies into Simon from the Zombies series. Everything’s all done and good, except for the Deadpool head floating at sea. This may have been my favorite of the Zombies series since the first one. 9/10.
-New Avengers #55- The New Avengers face off against the Hood’s goons and the Hood’s gang starts some infighting. They do come across a device that will stop the heroes’ powers and one of the villains uses it on the New Avengers to great affect. They are all knocked out (even Hawkeye and Bucky who are freakin’ human and have no super-powers) and it looks bad for the New Avengers. Spidey regrets telling the NA his real name (and rightfully so considering all he went through to keep his identity secret). I wonder how Bendis will explain the fact that Hawkeye/Ronin was affected by the device. 10/11.
-Secret Warriors #6- Fury and the rest of his troops take off with the helicarriers after the Secret Warriors arrive to force Hydra’s retreat. The Warriors learn that they weren’t contacted by Fury. So who called them? Fury gives Dum Dum one month to get a new SHIELD together and the Countess now holds some ancient Asian Pandora’s box. This continues to be great. That’s all you need to know that this is awesome. 11/12.
-Son of Hulk #13- I guess this has been renamed just Son of Hulk for a very obvious reason; Skaar is no longer in it. So a new kid (named Hiro) claims to be the Sakaarson and he controls the ship that has fled from Sakaar and heads to another planet to become its god. Hmm, so Skaar is no longer on the title and now we have Hiro in a spin-off Sakaar title. Will this have legs? I’m not sure but this was pretty good and after a lot of the heavy Skaar stuff in the early pages we have actually created a simpler story that can be easily followed. 12/13.
-Thunderbolts #134- Songbird goes to the Fixer and Mach-V for help but Fixer doesn’t want to help a criminal. You can’t argue with his reasoning; they spent years clearing their names and now she wants them to throw it away? So Mach-V tells her where to find Radioactive Man and she heads off but not before getting caught by the Thunderbolts. Black Widow reveals that she is not Yelena but really Natasha and she’s working for Fury. She tells Songbird the comic book version of come with me if you want to live. I always liked the old Thunderbolts so this is an easy pick-up for me. I have to tell you, this has been alright but once this storyline is finished I think I will be dropping this. 13/14.
-Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem #2- JJJ writes the obituary of Spider-Man and remembers a time he and Hulk saved some children. It’s a great illustrated issue by Bagley and Immonen that ends with Cap finding Spider-Man, who is very much alive. This was very well-written and couple that with great art and you have a winner. 14/15.
-Ultimatum #5- Well, Ultimatum is the end and this is the last issue and we have deaths coming out of the wazoo. Wolverine meets his end thanks to Magneto, but not before impaling him. Fury tells Magneto all the secrets (he’s not a mutant but genetically engineered) and then he’s off by Cyclops. Cyclops then gives a speech and he’s killed by Quicksilver, who is very much alive, and who wants to make everyone pay. Doom is killed by Thing, too. We have a list of casualties at the end of the issue and we have a new Ultimate Universe to look forward to. Hey, it only had 10 years of continuity so cleaning up some of the big characters is no big deal. Still, seeing Wolverine die is pretty jarring. This did do the job of cleaning up the Ultimate universe and I thought it played well given what had come before. 15/16.
-War of Kings: Ascension #4- Darkhawk bails from fighting the Imperial Guard and fights Talon. He frees the Skrull from Talon’s control and the Skrull kills himself to ensure that he won’t fall under Talon’s control again. He makes Darkhawk swear that these Raptor gems would never be released. Looks like Darkhawk has a reason in the Abnett and Lanning cosmic universe with the extra wrinkle added that he’s wanted by everyone now. 16/17.
-Wolverine: Noir #4- Wolverine sees how his old flame, Rose, and Creed are behind this whole set-up to him. Rose herself wants revenge and kills Dog and Mariko to get revenge. Logan has no choice but to kill her, ending what Creed wanted from her as a partner in a crime ring. Logan has been one of the most conflicted souls in the Marvel Universe so with that in mind everything that happened here made sense. It’s just a tortured guy and it doesn’t matter what universe one of his stories takes place it is always full of heartache and that’s what defines him as a character. Great ending. 17/18.
-X-Men: Forever #4- Shadowcat has one of Wolvie’s claws and she (with the rest of the X-Men) chase a rogue Storm. Suddenly, a young Ororo shows up to see Gambit at the end of the issue. I hope Claremont is having fun with this. I seriously doubt that this is the story he had in mind after X-Men #3. It reads more like an Exiles type alternate-universe story and if you read it like that it’s not all that bad. 18/19.
DC
-Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #3- We’re done with the other Lanterns so let’s focus on just the Green ones. The first story is a great one of Kilowog and his drill sergeant and their first and only mission together. The second features Arisia accepting the ring that has been passed on through her family, an honor she greatly appreciates. The real winner of this issue if the Director’s Cut of Blackest Night #0. Instead of the ones we get from Marvel (just pencils and a script) we have notes from Johns and some of the editor’s about the issue. It was great to read, both the issue (which I somehow missed) and the comments from the creators. 1/1.
-Detective Comics #855- Batwoman encounters Alice, another Carroll, knockoff but this one is tricky. She doesn’t tell Batwoman anything and sneaks a poisoned razor out of her mouth and slicing Batwoman with it. She’s in bad shape and the Colonel has to help her out. He’s ready to fend off Alice with a gun until a group of werewolves and monsters show up. This stuff is very creepy and dark and I love what Williams is doing with the layout of the panels. The Question is the star of the co-feature (meaning DC can add an extra dollar to the price of the book) and she’s looking for a man’s sister. She beats some thugs and learns where the woman is. She arrives at Chandless and she is immediately tazered down. I’m not crazy about the Question story but the Batwoman stuff has been excellent thus far. 2/2.
-Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #3- Ink battles off some of Mr. S’s henchmen before selling his son out to the police to protect him. He doesn’t tell them that he was the real murderer, or that one of his Tat’s were. However, someone is bugging the jail and when they overhear Mrs. Ink telling her son that Ink did it; you could hear the villain going, Got ‘Im! Ink gets thrown out of his house for getting cozy with a female tattoo as the crime and gang violence escalates and Ink is nowhere to be found. Ink is definitely a conflicted hero and he’s not in a shiny city like Metropolis or even a gritty town like Gotham. He’s in the ghetto and how could be possibly stop this gang violence? 3/3.
-Justice League of America #35- The Royal Flush Gang takes over a casino to draw out the JLA. They do get the JLA, but a pretty lousy version (Dr. Light, Vixen, Firestorm, Plastic Man, and Red Tornado). They fight off the Gang but their own mistakes cause the Gang to escape. It seems that the JLA are just pawns in a bigger game between Roulette and Professor Amos Fortune. When even characters in the comics are making fun of this JLA line-up, you have problems. All joking aside, this rag-tag group is a much different group than we’re normally privy to (especially since almost all the main stars are gone) and this is an opportunity to elevate some of these characters in the eyes of the DCU. For the first time in a long time, the JLA is not the premiere team in the DCU. It’s different and I will give it a chance. 4/4.
-Justice Society of America #29- A mysterious egg appears at the JSA brownstone and this is an ominous sign for sure. It appears the egg is Obsidian in condensed form. Before the JSA can investigate further they are called into action by Tapeworm. All the JSA arrive and they are immediately ambushed by villains who specifically target certain members. They are decisively routed and Mr. Terrific is stabbed in the brownstone by one of the young sidekicks under a villain’s mind control. The JSA look defeated and the only thing that gives me a clue is that no one wants to fight Stargirl. This was a great beginning for the team of Willingham and Sturges. Just great battle scenes and interesting story to start off a new arc. 5/5.
-Superman #690- Atlas beats up the too-trusting Steel and takes Iron Works for General Lane. The Guardian tells one of the Science Police that she’ll be working with Chris Kent, Zatara and Mark Merlin must look for Prince Ra Man and Sodam Yat gives an alien called Tellus something to give to Mon-El. Every plot started in this issue was To Be Continued in another book. This issue was called the set-up and it didn’t pertain to any of the stories but the fact that this $3.00 comic was just a set-up by DC to preview other stories that really are only loosely Superman related. This title was fun with Mon-El in it but I have to say this issue was a big waste of money. 5/6.
Image
-Mice Templar: Destiny #1- The mythos deepens. We see some very graphic scenes of the Templar civil war that broke the Templar as Cassius remembers some things he would rather not. He goes about training Karic and not really treating him too well. They find themsevles in a magical part of the forest that is deadly and both find themselves falling under its mystic spell. Karic uses his one save from Wotan (everyone gets one) to save Cassius and Cassius realizes just what Karic is about, as Karic wanted to use that to save his captured family and friends. The duo are captured by Mole Goblins at the end. What a great, epic story. I was originally off-set a bit the graphic nature but it was all worth it to show just what Cassius went through and how it affects how he treats Karic. The arc was really setting things up and now we’re off right into the action. 1/1.
Vertigo
-Northlanders #19- The Norn ladies hold off the Saxon’s killing a few more before they make their escape at nightfall. They end up meeting a few years later with some of their buried treasure. This wasn’t as interesting as the previous arcs but it still features some great visceral fighting scenes and that’s always enjoyable. 1/1.
Awards
-Book of the Week- Mice Templar: Destiny #2 kicked all kinds of ass and I am loving this mice tale more and more every time I read it. If you aren’t buying this you are doing yourself a real big disservice. BUY. IT. NOW!
-Disappointment of the Week- Superman #690 was the one book that really pissed me off. It was like a huge commercial and I just felt like I was used when I bought it.
-Cover of the Week- Clint Langely’s Dark Reign Hawkeye #4 cover was just awesome. I loved that skull in the background.
-The Bottom Line- All of Marvel’s books were good (except for the reprint Goblin Legacy); all of DC’s were good, too (except for Superman). Northlanders was its usual self and once again Mice Templar ruled all. This was a really good week that was rife with Dark Reign tie-ins, really cool mini-series ending, new arcs beginning, and mini-series really picking up steam. There was something for everyone here.
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