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This week was little bit back to normal. Last week was very light but now as January picks up this week saw more books in my pull box. Let’s see, the first of the thrice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man’s was the highlight, in terms of stature, but there were a lot of new #1’s that came out, and a few mini-series (thankfully) ended this week. All told, 1 Wildstorm, 13 DC’s and 9 Marvel’s add up to 23 comics overall. I also picked up The Picture of Dorian Gray and gave it a quick read before giving it to my buddy who taught that book in his English class this year. I have no more to say in the intro, so let’s move onto the warning then the books.
Spoilers Ahead
The Main Event:
-Amazing Spider-Man #546- People hated One More Day but this frest start on Spider-Man was surprisingly good and well-written. There is a Spider-mugger hanging around town and people wonder where the real Spider-Man is. He hasn’t been seen in months since the Civil War but New York has a new hero, Jackpot. Speculation already has Jackpot as Mary Jane. Peter Parker is real down on his luck, he has no money, lives with his Aunt, has no job, and is basically a loser. We are introduced to a new villain named Mister Negative, who buys a mysterious briefcase with some strange letters in there. Peter is mugged by the spider-mugger and chases after him, losing him when he goes into the food pantry May volunteers at and they think Peter is homeless! Peter leaves and wants the money he is owed by JJJ. They have an argument and JJJ has a heart attack! This was a very good issue, telling us where Peter is and I think people should give these guys a chance. They had no control over OMD so check this out with an open mind. There are some back-up stories. One is a two-page spread telling us what’s up in Spidey’s post OMD life. There is a Land drawn short of Jackpot in action, Aunt May working at the shelter and stopping a thug from hunting out one of the men there, and one of a recently returned Harry meeting his girlfriend’s father, who he is backing for mayor. I was nothing short of pleased with this.
-Hulk, The #1- This debut issue starts a whole type of mystery for Samson, She-Hulk, Iron Man and SHIELD. They find themselves in Russia and find the dead body of The Abominination. He was beaten badly then shot dead by a gamma radiating beast. But the Hulk (Bruce Banner) is well contained miles underground? The crew ponders who could’ve done this. There is a pointless fight between the Winter Guard and the heroes to have some action involved ansd we see Rick Jones, wearing no shirt and torn pants, wondering what he did. I guess we are to assume that Rick Jones is the red hulk? Interesting issue but the fight was kind of pointless and took away from the flow of the story.
-Spirit, The #12- This would be the swan song for Darywn Cooke and it was quite good, in typical Cooke fashion. Spirit learns that his old love, Sand Saref, is involved in some very bad things and her whole life of crime stems back to Spirit’s uncle telling some crazy jokes that got him and Sand’s father killed. Sand is peddling a virus that will kill the person on contact and make it seem like a heart attack. She double crosses some people and they come after her. The Spirit saves her but he finally realizes that he has to let her go. His real identity, Denny Colt, is dead and Sand leaving again just shows that. This will be remembered as one of the best 12 issue runs in all of comic book history.
Marvel
-Ghost Rider #19- If you missed it, last issue’s big reveal was that Ghost Rider was really an angel and not a demon and this is the first book that deals with that revelation (hence the name of the arc). Ghost Rider battles Satan, who is at full power now since all his 666 avatars are dead. GR and Satan battle but GR has one last surprise for him. One of Satan’s avatars is actually brain dead and in Dixie’s care. When they are battling Dixie and GR make it so the brain dead character dies at a certain point which sends Satan to hell. Ghost Rider has won but Dixie was shot in collateral damage where she was hiding the body. Ghost Rider goes off in search of the living angel from last issue. This was awesome and a perfect end to Revelation, and I look forward to the next one!
-Mighty Avengers #7- Spider-Woman drops the Skrull off at Tony’s place and they argue about having Skrulls around and pondering who they can trust. Tony has the idea that Spider-Woman should join the Avengers (without registering) to shock the team and see if any of them act Skrully. Some are surprised but no one acts too suspiciously. Things go about as normal, with Wasp trying to get Wonder Man to change his look. We then go to a broken Stark satellite and from there the Venom virus falls on New York and the Avengers are there. The thought bubbles make some great comedy and the Bagley art was great. Delays killed this though, since the Venom virus saga is already over in New Avengers. Still, this was a great issue.
-Nova #10- Nova continues its amazing run with this issue starring Nova and Gamora. They both wake up with each other with no idea how they got to where they are. Nova is severely hampered with the virus slowly taking over but he and Gamora team up to get out of wherever they are alive. They find out they are stuck in something called a Vore, basically a predator that hunts in the space between dimensions. Nova and Gamora get out and Gamora looks to take advantage of Nova’s trust in her but Nova knows not to trust her and stabs her before she can get to him. He finds Drax and throws Gamora at her and takes off, going after the Phalanx with only about two hours before the virus either takes him over or kills him. This was a nice break from the main fighting in Annihilation but I look forward to Nova’s part in this war against Ultron and the Phalanx.
-Onslaught Reborn #5- Onslaught Returns ends months after it begins and for all the corniness of Loeb’s writing and the bombastic art of Liefeld, it was actually pretty good! I am shocked I wrote that, too. Bucky narrates this big battle where Onslaught has the heroes on the ropes. Hawkeye remembers who he really is. Looking at the costume you can tell who it was, but seeing him was cool. Yes, Hawkeye was Wolverine. He takes off the helmet of Onslaught and the heroes go to work on him and Bucky makes the ultimate sacrifice to get rid of Onslaught. Franklin returns home and there’s one last surprise. Bucky Barnes (the female version) is now on our Earth where Captain America is dead. I thought this was awesome, just one big fight and a good twist at the end.
-Punisher War Journal #15- This issue is just one big cat and mouse battle between Punisher and Kraven Jr. Kraven has some sort of new teleportation power and uses that in their battle. Frank eventually gets the upper hand thanks to Rhino. Frank lets Rhino go for the murder of the security guard and Rhino actually writes a letter the widow. Frank goes to his sidekick and says they need to go to the Savage Land, where Kraven was hiding. In other news, Bridge recruits Sable to take out Punisher. This was a standard issue, really just average.
-The Twelve #1- I don’t know if an issue could kick more ass than this one. This was a big set up issue, where we are introduced with the 12 main characters. We meet them in 1945 as the Allies descend upon Berlin. The twelve of them really had no connection but were the closest to the house they inspected. They end up getting captured and frozen so the Nazi’s could perform experiments on them. The Nazi’s didn’t expect the Russians to invade so the heroes remained frozen, until now. They wake up and the government wants to use them as heroes since they don’t trust the registration act heroes and all but they ease them into their new surroundings. Phantom Reporter, the narrator, quickly catches on and the reveal (him finding a 2008 nickel) was really cool. We fast forward to the last panel, some time after the big reveal and Phantom Reporter is standing over the dead body of Blue Blade with a gun in his hand. This was just an awesome introduction to characters most of us have never heard of and a great last page promising 11 more months of awesomeness from this title.
-Wolverine #61- Wolverine has a battle with Yashida, and kills him, again. Then he fights Azrael, the angel of death. The samurai (Scimitar) that first killed him in the first part of this issue was actually a part of Logan’s soul and he slices him up. Logan soon realizes that Azrael is being controlled by Phaedra, since Phaedra can undo Azrael’s work. Logan strikes a deal with Azrael. He will kill Phaedra for him in exchange for Logan getting the part of his soul back so he can be whole. The only downside is that the next time Logan dies, he will stay dead and his healing factor is not as strong as it once was. So Logan has only one more chance, the next he dies he remains dead (I will believe it when I see it). I doubt that will be held for long. I doubt even the other X-Books will mention it and in the next arc it will be forgotten. Oh yeah, Yashida gets up and takes the Scimitar helmet in another plot thread that will be forgotten. The five issue arc was alright but its not something that Marvel will stand by and makes Wolverine considerably weaker.
DC
-52 Aftermath: The Four Horseman- This finally ends and I have to say the last two issues were million times better than the first. The Doom Patrol, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are battling these Four Horseman and there’s an interesting twist thrown in. It seems that the Four Horseman have been transferring themsevles into the heroes as their new hosts and they are starting to take over, except Batman, who can control it just fine, being the cool guy he is. Anyway, Dr. Cale ingests some sort of gateway that can contain the Horseman then absorbs them. She wants the gateway taken out at issues end and does she want to use them for her own power? I hated the first four issues but once it started going, the last two proved pretty good.
-Bat Lash #2- Bat gets questioned by Dominique’s father about her whereabouts. Of course, he doesn’t know that Brubaker has her daughter and tried to rape her. Dom escapes and Bat finds her. They escape from a bear and stay in a cave until morning when Bat brings Dom to the doctor. He walks out to see Brubaker waiting to hang him. Good Western story so far, though it is very light on action. The storytelling has kept my interest thus far, though.
-Countdown to Final Crisis #16- Monarch and his army have a grand old time destroying Earth 51 and the Monitor’s that are there. The Monitors abandon Solomon, who regrets his actions. The Batman of Earth 51 vows to take action and saves, then questions Jason Todd. He knows his version of Todd is dead and this one has a lot of explaining to do. Queen Belthera (we saw her a while back in Countdown) observes Donna Troy fighting an alternate version of herself and sends some of her monsters to that Earth for slaves. Solomon is beside himself but Superman Prime shows up offering to help. There is a one page shot of Olsen and Forager tells him he’s a soul catcher. So the abilities he has are from the dead New Gods? That’s my own pondering there, they never said that. This is three good issues in a row, as the series is focusing almost solely on the Monarch/Monitor battles. Though I wonder what happened to Trickster and Piper?
-Green Arrow/Black Canary #4- Green Arrow is going mad with grief over what happened to Connor. They are stuck at sea and Arrow does the only thing he can. He calls out to Clark and Clark hears him, flies over and brings him to a hospital. The rest of the issue deals with Ollie’s obvious pain and suffering over what happened to Connor and starts regretting not being a real father to him and vows to do better. Everyone tries to comfort him but it doesn’t work. He is just angry and lashes out at everyone. All the JLA is there for support except Batman, who secures their floor but doesn’t go in. Wonder Woman says he should but Batman makes a comment that he knows what it is like to lose a son and knows he can’t help Ollie. After hours of waiting Ollie gets good and bad news. The injuries to Connor have been healed, but he is brain dead. Wow, that was just an emotional issue and this was some great writing on Winick’s part. He captured the emotion perfectly and Chiang’s art compliments it perfectly. Great stuff here.
-Green Lantern Corps #20- There are two central themes here. The first is Guy and Kyle deciding to leave Earth and start living in Oa. Well, there goes the neighborhood. Mongul as we know from last issue has one of the Sinestro rings and goes off to cause some havoc. This was really a rest from the Sinestro storyline and a comic used more to set up the pieces for the next big arc. It was a nice rest from the chaos of the big event before it. A very good epilogue.
-Infinity Inc. #5- This is probably my least favorite title that I pick up every month and this is another reason why. The art isn’t too great and the story has been pretty boring. Kid Empty kills again, goes after a cutter named Lucia, but gets stopped by Nuklon and Natasha. Natasha tells her father she was hiding her form from him and blah blah blah. In the back up tale the old girlfriend of Kid Empty starts dating the shapeshifter.
-Nightwing #140- This is by far the best Nightwing comic I’ve read in a very long time. Basically Dick is becoming his own self, his own identity separate from Batman and his role as Robin. Dick meets with Bruce and Tim and they say they need to keep on eye on Talia. Dick is enjoying his time in New York and investigates the landscape so he knows it well. He has a run in with Talia and they have a nice conversation about keeping an eye on each other. He goes out as Nightwing to stop a group of thieves who have been stealing corpses and is shocked to be fighting a dead Langstrom. The enemies evade Nightwing but he did get something, a new base. It turns out where the criminals were was owned by the Wayne Estate and the curator of the museum is leaving. Dick will be the new curator and Lucious Fox and Bruce will help make his own cave of sorts. The issue ends with a nice chat between Dick and Tim and Superman shows up to chat with Dick. Just an excellent introduction to what will hopefully be a fruitful and meaningful run on Nightwing, something he hasn’t had since before Infinity Crisis.
-Salvation Run #3- Salvation Run continues as one of the best mini-series currently on the shelf and this issue is a big standoff between the maniacal Joker and the plotting Luthor. Luthor anticipates a throwdown and uses it to his advantage. He wants to be able to rally the troops against a common enemy. Joker has a huge cache of villains on his side now, including Grodd. We saw Blockbuster sort of in the middle before which was odd but it makes sense when we find out who it is. It seems Martian Manhunter is observing and recording the happenings on the island and things are getting worse. Well, having MM on the planet provides a way out since he won’t be stuck there forever. Very good issue. Who hasn’t dreamed of seeing Luthor vs. Joker?
-Suicide Squad #5- The first three issues were just really setting up all the awesome things going on in this issue. Flag is not who he thinks he is and he goes to Eiling to bitch about it. It seems that Eiling has a secret word that gives him complete control of Flag. So the Suicide Squad is being sent to Dubai to stop a corporation that has a secret gas called Scarlet Tears that is very deadly. The team must go and kill the members of the board. Eiling has his own agenda, getting the help of White Dragon. He contacts on the higher ups of the company and tells him his demands on how to stop this. A really interesting espionage type tale that betters Checkmate in many ways.
-Superman #672- Superman flies to the moon to save Lana from the bugs as Chris (his son) seems to be getting very sick. He has a strange growth on his arm and when Lois takes off the watch, he explodes? That’s not good. We meet the insect clone, a version of Lana Lang, and it seems she had a deal with Luthor she made long ago for some strange reason. The Queen puts her stinger into Supes’ neck at issue end as Lana tries to escape with old Lexcorp employees stuck on the moonbase. I am still not terribly impressed and this villain seems just very lame.
-Teen Titans Lost Annual #1- I doubt this is really a “Lost” annual more like a Flashback annual like Marvel did in the late 90’s. This was a nicely drawn and written issue that makes it feel like it was written and should’ve been released in 1963. The plot is inane, but fun in its simplicity. A group of aliens have kidnapped President Kennedy and replaced him with a doppelganger. Only Robin knows this and convinces his mates to go with him to their planet to save JFK. I am sure people can spot the ending from a mile away but I won’t spoil it. Anyway, the Teen Titans (Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Robin and Speedy) find out these aliens from Ullustro have kidnapped the president so he can bring an end to a war that has been waging so long no one knows what they are fighting over. Great action and just a perfect nostalgic book.
-Wonder Girl #5- Wonder Girl and the Titans (with Arrowette!) battle the Furies. Hercules battles Olympian and gets the upper hand. The god-killer kills one of the Furies and the issue ends with Hercules and Cassie fighting (Cass is strengthened by a guantlet) and Wonder Woman shows up. This almost feels like a kiddie title. I don’t have any vested interest in this anymore. I don’t really know what this is leading to.
Wildstorm
-Gen13 #16- The Gen kids are still unaware that they are being filmed for some sort of film. The Gen kids continue with their daily routine and only Fairchild suspects anything. She doesn’t tell the rest but finds the people filming her. She can’t get any information, though, and is still perplexed as who masterminded this. Fairchild finds a man named Professor Bryson who seemingly can help her. The characters that the other Gen kids hang around are all products of the people filming them. This was a good issue that finally tells us what is happening. We were as lost as the Gen kids for a while.
The Awards
-Book of the Week- The Twelve #1 wins in what was probably the most loaded week of great issues I’ve ever had. This was a tough choice but The Twelve was just awesome. I even said, “F&^$ing awesome,” after reading it. The characters are so well written and you just get drawn into their story, in them being in the future they don’t know and a great teaser in the end.
-Disappointment of the Week- Infinity Inc #5 was by far the worst and the easiest choice. I hate this title. I want to see what happens with number 6 and if it is as bad as this. Well, can you say, Dropped?
-Cover of the Week- Hulk #1 was a good cover in a week where most of them were just alright. I just loved the extreme close-up Hulk seen here and although I usually don’t dig Ed McGuinness’ work, this was a nice cover.
-The Bottom Line- This was a loaded week. Off the top of my head, you had The Twelve #1, Amazing Spider-Man #546, Hulk #1, Spirit #12, Teen Titans Lost Annual, Nightwing, Salvation Run, Green Arrow/Black Canary, Nova, and even Onslaught Reborn. I mean, those titles were all awesome. This was easily the best week I’ve had reading comics since I started TPL and it will be a tough one to beat. Just an awesome week. Next week will be a big letdown I bet, compared to this one.
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