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Okay, still clearing out the backlog of comics I have that I couldn’t read last week because of work. Luckily, the time killer known as the yearbook is done and thus I finally have free time again!
Spoiler Alert
The Main Event
-Agents of Atlas #1- Oh man was I looking forward to this. I loved the first mini-series, bringing together these old heroes of the 50’s and making them relevant, some for the first time ever. When I heard they were coming back I was stoked. Luckily, this delivered. The Agents make a deal with Osborn where basically both are using each other. The Agents, led by Woo, have an agenda all their own. It will be interesting to see how this agenda plays into this new Marvel Universe. Throw in a dragon that eats Man Mountain Marko and the freakin’ Mandarin, and you have one of the greatest Dark Reign tie-ins to come out. 1/1.
-Secret Warriors #1- Fury put together a Secret Warriors team to battle the Skrulls and they are still together to do his bidding. They mess up a recon mission on Hydra, we get to know some of the Warriors a bit better, and we’re assaulted with a big twist at the end, Fury has been working for Hydra the whole time. I don’t know how well received that turn will be. I mean, Fury has been the man for quite some time and I find it hard to believe he would be working for Hydra. Maybe he’s playing the rest of the Secret Warriors, but that surprise was not something that I would expect, but even worse, would actually believe. I bet the star coming out of here will be Phobos, though, he’s just really cool in this issue. A good first offering, and I will give the turn a chance before condemning it. 2/2.
Marvel
-Amazing Spider-Man #585- Lily rejects Harry’s proposal, Spidey battles (and loses to) Menace and is arrested, and Menace is revealed as, Lily??? Wow, this was a loaded issue. Remember how I said Fury wasn’t believable as part of Hydra. Given what we’ve seen so far, this is a believable twist. 3/3.
-Astonishing Tales #1- Marvel Comics Presents didn’t work so we get this instead, for $4.00 no less. We have four stories, three of them ongoing, and none of them were terribly interesting. Wolvie and Punisher team-up (again), Iron Man 2020 does something but no one cares about him to start with, we see Cannonball and Sunspot in Mojoworld which was the best thing here, and Iron Man deals with some no-name villain. Take a pass on this. 3/4.
-Black Panther #1- Black Panther is seriously, gravely injured after an attack by Doom, and someone needs to take over the reigns. In this day and age of comic book story-telling, it told what it needed to and we have a mystery, who will be the new Panther? 4/5.
-Cable #11- Cable & Kid keep escaping further and further into the future, which gets progressively more desolate, until Cable passes out at the end. There were no roaches at least. 5/6.
-Deadpool #7- Deadpool takes out Killer Shark, and learns that Bob actually sold him out. He has a change of heart though, sends note to Norman Osborn that he knew Normie was behind it, and Norman sends the Thunderbolts after him. I had no complaints with this. 6/7.
-Invincible Iron Man #10- Pepper sees female Iron Man armor as Norman takes over all of Stark’s companies and buildings. I was excited about this Dark Reign tie-in, but it’s run its course for me. I don’t know if I’m ready for a female Iron Man. 6/8.
-Punisher #2- Punisher meets his new friend who saves him, and he has dirt on Norman and he wants Punisher’s help. Punisher loads up on some stolen goods and helps piece together some major illegal activities with Norman’s hands in them. Punisher is finally interesting in the Marvel Universe again. 7/9.
-Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #1- Wait, is it really here? Are they trying this again? I know it’s been delayed to high heaven, but damn, this was a really good book to read. I loved the pacing of Lindelof, and that beautiful opening spread by Yu. If it’s finally coming out, it is recommended. 8/10.
-War of Kings: Darkhawk #1- Darkhawk goes to work and it goes well, until his amulet starts taking over and running amok. He is even more surprised when another Darkhawk shows up. What, is there a whole corps of them, too? There’s only 2 issues here, so either it’s resolved next issue or leads into WoK proper. There’s a reprint of Darkhawk #1, which I remember reading back in the day. It’s a bit hokey now but still interesting. 9/11.
-X-Men: First Class Finals #1- The X-Men are pulled into a dream of Jean’s, fight old foes in the danger room, and some dude named Frederick shows up for Cyclops. It’s good clean fun, with obscure villains from the latter run of the original X-Men series. 10/12.
-Wolverine and Power Pack #4- The Power Pack end up in Japan and they run into Wolverine (of course, considering the name of the title). They fight the Hand. Again, good clean fun and you get a self-contained story that’s done well, a rarity in this day and age. 11/13.
-X-Men: The Times & Life of Lucas Bishop #1- This mini-series looks at the past of Bishop, and how he found out about the mutant birth he is trying to kill in the pages of Cable. It explains why he wants to kill her (she led to all the other mutants getting imprisoned). I thought this would be terrible, but it was anything but. 12/14.
-X-Men: Magneto Testament #5- Easily one of the early contenders for mini-series of the year, Testament concludes with Magneto in the concentration camps in a historically correct setting, and seeing the terrors that he and all the other Jews dealt with back in the early 40’s. This is as real as it gets for a comic, not dealing with just super-heroes stuff, but taking a character we know and showing, through this fictional characters eyes, what exactly happened in these concentration camps. Just a beautifully done story and I would recommend it to all. 13/15.
-X-Men: Noir #3- This is weird for me. I like what’s happening, but it’s hard for me to explain what exactly is going on. It’s our X-characters in a noir setting, and it works. I really liked the inclusion of the Golden Age Angel for the one we know. This is just a well-organized tale of crime and the seedy under-belly of 1920’s New York City. 14/16.
-X-Men vs. Hulk #1- This is a one-shot (taking place around the 170’s of Uncanny X-Men) where Wolverine plans for Hulk to battle Colossus. It wasn’t any great shakes, but it wasn’t anything horrendous, either. There’s a reprint of X-Men (1963) #66, the last issue of the series, so that makes it somewhat worthwhile. You’re not missing much if you don’t get it, but it was fun. 15/17.
DC
-Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #3- Mon-El convinces Sodam Yat to fight for them, and he does. This is just mass action here, Superman battling SM-Prime, the Legion getting the hair of Luthor as it falls out. This was delayed, I think, but still better and easier to follow than other FC titles. 1/1.
-Secret Six #6- The Six escape from that weird thing, only to have Deadshot turn on them and steal the Get Out of Hell Free card. Well, he always was a jerk. The Origins & Omens back-up just talks about the origin of the current Secret Six. 2/2.
-Trinity #36- The Trinity (as gods of the purple people) start to fight amongst each other. Meanwhile, Morgaine takes over more of the world as Nigma saves one of his so-called enemies. The gods fighting and Nigma has a heart? Great stuff thus far. 3/3.
Vertigo
-Northlanders #14- This book continues to be a favorite of mine. It’s just the brutality of it all, weaved around a great story. Here, Magnus gets ambushed by Rangar’s men, and he is captured as his daughter looks on. An incredible title. 1/1.
Awards
-Book of the Week- There’s really no competition this week, the clear winner was X-Men Magneto: Testament #5. It transcends comics and is just an amazing creation of art and writing melded together.
-Disappointment of the Week- Invincible Iron Man #10 for me was just boring and dull. I didn’t expect much from Astonishing Tales, so I can’t say it’s a disappointment, but this was so good to start and now I didn’t even care when I read it this week.
-Cover of the Week- War of Kings: Darkhawk #1 was a favorite of mine, just for the cool shot of Darkhawk and nothing more.
-The Bottom Line- Yeah, I’m getting back on track. This is only 8 days old! I haven’t even picked up the books for the 2/17 edition of TPL yet, but I hope to have it done by the end of the week, and the 2/24 edition done by that Saturday, and hopefully I’ll be back on track! Yes!
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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