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Yeah, I’m still catching up on this. I promised I would be caught up by February, but that’s a lot of books to read! I’ll try to get two of these done by the end of this week, Tuesday at the latest. Anyway, who cares what I plan to do, just as long as its done, right? The tale of the tape sees 4 DC’s and
Spoiler Alert
The Main Event
-Batman #686- Neil Gaiman writes this final send-off to Batman and Bruce Wayne and with Gaiman on board, you know this has to be good. This was quite an interesting title, and quite an interesting concept. Bruce and someone else are off-panel looking at Batman’s funeral, with everyone in Gotham attending. But, things aren’t always as they seem. It’s different. It’s the characters we know but the eulogies given in this issue by Selina Kyle and Alfred reveal some very interesting stories. Selina killed Batman in her version, after giving up being Catwoman for him and knowing she would never have his love. Meanwhile, Alfred’s story features the idea that his primary villains were just actor friends of Alfred’s with Alfred being Joker himself. This appears to be Bruce’s mind playing these games with his own insecurities being played out in front of his eyes. Excellent issue. 1/1.
-New Warriors #20- I thought this was appropriate to be featured here this week. I always loved the original run of New Warriors, and I still have the whole run in my collection. I never thought this title lived up to that greatness, or what I perceived as greatness back in the early 90’s when I was a teenager, but I have fond memories of the title. I pretty much loathed reading the early issues of the title and I think some of the problems that the book started with were never resolved. The team were little known mutants who became powerless post M-day and we never really were introduced to them in a way that made us care about them. The one strong character was Night Thrasher and this final arc featuring him in the future battling Iron Man was the one storyline that got me emotionally invested in the characters. The Warriors are imprisoned by Donyell and his brother who rule America in a totalitarian way. Donyell has a change of heart, frees the Warriors and they return home and break up. They had to rush that ending a bit but the final storyline was a good one and maybe the title wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. 1/1.
Marvel
-Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #4- Adam agrees to help the heroes, explains his origin and his nemesis’ origin (anti-matter accident) and has a chat with Namor about being true to yourself. Well, the first three issues were great, this one hit a bump in the road (the story wasn’t as compelling) but we should get a good fight next issue. 2/2.
-Amazing Spider-Girl #29- Sigh. I’m sad to see this one go. More great storytelling, as May battles her father who is possessed by Norman Osborn. Her clone is a symbiote, and Goblin has May in a precarious situation as the issue ends. The final one should be explosive. 3/3.
-Amazing Spider-Man #583- So this is the origin of Lily Hollister as Menace. She stole the stuff from Norman’s secret room. Oh, and she accepts Harry’s proposal. Yeah, she’s a psycho. The origin made sense, though I don’t know if it’s something I am really digging yet. The Kitson art looked good, sandwiched between the greatness of JR Jr. 4/4.
-Avengers/Invaders #8- The art looks different here. Anyway, the New Avengers get the Cosmic Cube from D’Spayre who was actually the original Vision and send the Invaders back in time. Something happens that changes the timestream so the New Avengers are sent to the past to change it back. Wow, that just got real confusing real fast. Act III should be interesting. 5/5.
-Captain Britain and MI13 #9- Dracula makes a deal with Doom that will ensure he’s left alone as he takes Britain, the magic capital of the world. He starts by kidnapping Spitfire’s father and having some demons attack the team. This dark horse title has proven again how good it is. 6/6.
-Incognito #2- This is an amazing story, combining the dark and gritty noir setting and storytelling into a superhero based story. We meet Black Death who learns that Zack Overkill (our hero) is alive and well, even though BD was told he was dead. Zack’s having problems of his own. His friend finds out his secret identity and tells him he won’t tell anyone, if he robs a bank with him. Sounds like Zack’s in a little quagmire here. Fantastic storytelling from Brubaker and art from Phillips. 7/7.
-Marvel TV: Galactus – The True Story #1- This is an interesting concept. Think of it as a National Inquirer TV show, questioning the validity of something, in this case Galactus, with all the silly interviews with crazed people. It was funny and full of paranoia and conspiracy theories from the regular joes of the MU. I hope they continue this series. There’s a reprint of the first 14 pages of Fantastic Four (1961) #50, with the Daily Bugle questioning Galactus’ existence even then. 8/8.
-Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #4- I was all set to give this a 0, but it was pretty good. Wolverine fights people, beats the crap out of them, it was easy to understand, and Logan is now the Black Dragon of Chinatown. Ultimately, this will be forgotten, but it wasn’t bad at all. 9/9.
-X-Infernus #3- Magik’s soul is now in the possession of Belasco’s daughter, who also takes Pixie’s soul. The rest of the X-Men get there as Wolverine and Colossus are taken under her control and are used to take out Mercury and Rockslide. That leaves only Nightcrawler left. He takes the soulsword, ready to make his final stand. This was awesome. I like the road team of X-Men that they used and bringing back some of the more mystical elements of the X-Universe. 10/10.
-X-Men Origins: Sabretooth #1- This isn’t really an origin of Sabretooth, more a retelling of why Logan and Creed hate each other. Eh, it wasn’t worth the $4. 10/11.
DC
-Action Comics #874- Superman has words with the Kryptons about Zod and all coming back but returns home with little fanfare. He finds out that the Phantom Zone is disappearing and has to save Mon-El. Guardian is featured in Origins and Omens and it just retells his origin. This was a harmless issue, adding a new element to the New Krypton story. 2/2, but not by much.
-Batman and the Outsiders Special #1- Batman has a message to Alfred from the grave and it entails getting the Outsiders back together. It’s a new-look team. It’s interesting but nothing I’ll keep reading. It was a well-written intro to this new team so it served its purpose. 3/3.
-Trinity #37- This may be the best weekly series DC has put out, just because it has been telling two great stories the whole time. The trinity battle in the indigenous world, only to see it laid to waste and vow to fix it up. However, the alternate versions of familiar faces bother them. Speaking of this alternate universe, we see their Joker and he’s just as messed up as the one we know. He’s quickly recruited by Morgaine and Nigma doesn’t see anything good coming of this. 4/4. This just a great freaking comic.
Awards
-Book of the Week- Batman #686 was just a really cool look how different people perceive what The Batman is and who he is and why he acts the way he does. I am really interested to see how Gaiman resolves this in Detective Comics. The art of Andy Kubert deserves a lot of credit, too. He does a great job conveying classic interpretations of Batman and his cast as done by classic Batman artists.
-Disappointment of the Week- X-Men Origins: Sabretooth was really just a waste of paper and time. It didn’t offer anything new and was just $4 I won’t get back.
-Cover of the Week- Batman 686 takes home both awards. This Alex Ross cover was just gorgeous, with Alfred holding the empty Bat costume with a very somber look on his face.
-The Bottom Line- I’m still clearing out the backlog so even though this is like three week’s old, it was still an awesome of comics.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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