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Wow, I can’t believe that in 2 days it will 2009. Unbelievable. It’s been a long year, with a few things I don’t want to get into here, but 2008 has ended pretty badly and I hope 2009 will be a brighter year. This is the last edition of TPL for 2008, and here’s the rundown. This week I picked up 4 DC comics, 1 Dynamite title and 17 Marvels, for a total of 21 books this week. Ironically, I picked up 21 books each week in December. After this, and before the new books come out on January 2nd, look for a best of 2008 edition, including all the best that I read this year, and the final rundown of all the books I read for this weekly review.
Spoiler Alert
The Main Event
-What If? Back in Black #1- This is the fourth of the new What If one-shots and I have to say they’ve been disappointing so far. The earlier What Ifs had a fleshed out story while these newer ones show glimpses of what could happen, without really creating a separate story with its own plot. Case in point, Mary-Jane is killed instead of Aunt May, Peter goes mad and kills Kingpin and then gets arrested. It wasn’t that great of a story, it was a very basic What If that a 10-year-old could’ve come up with. The Young Avengers/Runaways back-up was there, and I can’t really recommend this one way or another. 0/1.
-Ultimatum #2- Ultimatum continues with some huge moments. Spider-Man and Hulk help out with the clean-up while we look at some casualties, including Capt. America seemingly drowning, Thor finding Valkyrie and making a deal with Hera to have her come back, Hawkeye finds Wasp being eaten alive by the Blob and Magneto confronting Xavier and killing him! I couldn’t believe it when Magneto snapped Xavier’s neck, but its something that never could be done in the regular MU, as this doesn’t have years of continuity behind it. Doom also revealed to Reed that he can get to other worlds to get Nick Fury back, a plot point that will be important later on. I actually think this is better than Final Crisis or Secret Invasion in terms of pacing and great moments. Highly recommended story thus far. 1/2.
-New Avengers #48- It’s the aftermath of Secret Invasion, and all the New Avengers meet at Bucky’s place to plan their next course of action. This centers around Nick Cage and Jessica Simpson trying to find their baby and Cage turning to Norman Osborn for help. This was better than the Secret Invasion tie-ins, and at least this is sending the New Avengers in the right direction and actually having a story-line. I like how Cage is actually going behind everyone’s back, not because he’s evil but because he is so desperate to do the right thing and find his baby. 2/3.
Marvel
-Amazing Spider-Man Brand New Day Yearbook #1- This is a very good and comprehensive look at what has gone on in Spidey’s life during 2008, including the Secret Invasion and tie-in stuff. This ties up continuity very well and is well-worth the price 3/4.
-Captain America: Theater of War #1- This one-shot features the replacement Captain America taking on Senator Joe McMurphy and eventually revealing that McMurphy (obviously a swipe on Joe McCarty) is really a Commie spy. Two reprints of the 1950’s Atlas Era Cap are provided as well. This was great to see more from the replacement Cap that we don’t see or hear too much of. 4/5.
-Daredevil #114- DD’s life continues to crumble as Milla’s parents take custody of Milla and Black Tarantula and White Tiger seem to fall under the control of Lady Bullseye. Another awesome issue from Bru. You have to be reading this. 5/6.
-Darktower: Treachery #4- The players keep moving into place. Roland tells his father about the Grapefruit and gives it to him, as the spy looks on. Roland’s father also has his wife coming after him at the behest of Marten Broadcloak. When I read this I forget I am reading a comic and reading an epic, literary tale. 6/7.
-Hulk #9- The two storylines conclude with Hulk beating off the Wendigo’s (with an appearance by Brother Voodoo) and the women thinking they beat Rulk only to have him jump off and make a deal with Thundra that no one knows about. The split stories makes this a quick read, and make it more enjoyable than the earlier full-length issues. 7/8.
-Ms. Marvel #34- I picked this up because it was a Dark Reign tie-in and it featured Spidey and Ms. Marvel teaming up to allow Ms. Marvel to get information on Norman Osborn. Nothing ground-breaking, though the art was decent. I thought Siqueira’s Spidey looked very MacFarlane-esque. 8/9.
-New Warriors #19- Stark leads the New Warriors into Dwayne’s hideout only to find Dwayne teaming up with the current Night Thrasher. New Warriors has been really good the past few months. 9/10.
-Nova #20- Nova meets with his former New Warrior friends (Firestar and Justice) to discuss his brother being a Nova Corps guy now. Meanwhile, Nova’s brother is thriving as a Corpsmen and we have Ego the freaking planet showing up at the end. This was another awesome issue. 10/11.
-Runaways #5- The Runaways hide from the Majesdanians as Chase shows up in an amped up mini-van. This is a good, fun series with great art by Ramos and some great scripting by Terry Moore. 11/12.
-She-Hulk #36- She-Hulk is captured by the despot of the country she’s trying to help and eventually has a fitting end for him, having Jazinda pretend to be him and give up his presidency and dropping him in the middle of Australia. It was a decent finish to this storyline. 12/13.
-Skaar Son of Hulk #6- Skaar leads the inhabitants of Sakaar to safety as we see that Skaar helps those who can’t help themselves. In a stunning twist, the former Red King shelters Skaar and his troop. This was the best issue so far with some great insight on Skaar and the return of Red King. A very good issue 13/14.
-Ultimate Spider-Man #129- This issue revolves around Aunt May trying to get Gwen Stacy back into the school and actually having the cops show up at her door to question her about Spider-Man. Peter’s already gone to the city, and it looks like it’s gonna rain! (See Ultimatum #1 if you didn’t get that joke). 14/15.
-Wolverine: First Class #10- Wolverine and Shadowpact are in the woods and Wolverine becomes a werewolf. Were-wolverine? Eh. I can’t recommend this as the whole issue came off as a bit sophomoric. 14/16.
-Wolverine: Origins #31- Wolvie and his son go out to look for Romulus, only to find Cyber along the way, and only to have Daken turn on Wolvie at the end. That was an awesome ending. 15/17.
DC
-Batman #683- While Bats is captured in Final Crisis, he goes through a what if scenario where his parents didn’t die, but he eventually figures out what is going on. So, Batman goes crazy then is captured in FC? We will see where this heads, and I am a little fearful it won’t be that good, but this was an interesting take on Batman’s mythos. 1/1.
-Batman Gotham After Midnight #8- The holiday themed issues continue, as Midnight strikes on Christmas, this time taking out detective Clarkson, who Batman was getting cozy with. Batman surmises that Midnight must be a cop. Very interesting story that is now halfway over. Probably the most compelling Batman story I’ve read in a while. 2/2.
-Trinity #30- The inhabitants of the new Earth tell how they came to worship the Trinity. It happened after they showed up and took out Krona. Meanwhile, Hawkman learns that the clues he received could lead to defeating these villains who have joined with La Fey and Enigma. Another very good issue and I really love what Busiek is doing with this. 3/3.
Dynamite
-Army of Darkness: Ash’s Christmas Horror- This was a surprise for me, one last holiday special before Christmas. It was cutting it close being released on 12/24 but it was a great Christmas edition of everyone’s favorite Zombie hunter and it has a Christmas Carol-y vibe going on. This was my favorite 2008 Holiday Special. 1/1.
Awards
-Book of the Week- Ultimatum #2 is really shaping up to be a great series, and it’s the one event at the tail end of 2008 that is actually delivering.
-Disappointment of the Week- What If? Back in Black was just really bland, and I think it deserves its place in the DotW column.
-Cover of the Week- Ms. Marvel #34 had a great noir-ish cover done by
-The Bottom Line- This was a great way to end 2008, with a near-perfect showing and a strong effort from all three companies. I don’t really have much else to say. Most of the books this week were very readable, though not that many stand-outs. That’s alright, Ultimatum stole the show this week, in a big week for Marvel comics.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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