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Welcome all to The Pull List. This edition was a lot of fun to do. I picked up my comics on Friday afternoon, giving me only a few days to read and write reviews for 19 comics! WOW! That’s quite a haul this week. Let’s see, 11 Marvels and 8 DC’s. This week also saw Darktower #6 released which I read but don’t review for this weekly. Anyway, onto the show!
Spoiler Warning
Main Event
-Thor #1- Donald Blake retrieves Mjolnir, and returns to the void (not the Void) where Thor has been resting in peace. Donald tells Thor the Earth needs him. Thor enjoyed resting but learns that it is Man that makes him so and will help us. He fights his way back through death and Thor has returned. Donald Blake is now his altar ego, again, restoring Thor to what he once was. I like the secret identity thing is restored as Blake can be used as his human side. It was a good opening issue, if only to get Thor back into the MU.
-Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness #5- Ash tricks the Necromnicon into thinking the Zombies will eat him next if he doesn’t raise the Deadites and get Ash out of there. Well, the book complies and Ash escapes, but not before throwing the book back into the Marvel Zombie universe. Ouch. Ash ends up back in NYC, in a world overrun by Marvel WereZombies. The fun never stopped in this one, as everything was tongue in cheek (Scarlet Witch: No more killing). And just a great 5-issue mini-series.
TPL Quickies
Marvel
-Captain America #25 (Director’s Cut)– A chock-full edition of the seminal issuu of Captain America. You get the comic, the script and the pencils. Very well-done.
-Fallen Son #5– This would be Captain America’s funeral. There was a nice speech by Falcon and they ended up burying Steve where they originally found him (though the public doesn’t know that). Some beautiful art by Cassady and the writing tops the previous 4 issues.
-Fantastic Four & Power Pack #1- This was a surprisingly good tale featuring the Power Pack and Franklin Richards. Franklin shows up at the packs school and draws attention away from Jack, which pisses him off. He tries to get back but later saves Franklin from some bullies, one who happens to be the son of the Wizard. They come back and the Pack (minus Jack) and FF saves the day. This leads to Frank and Jack being mad at their respective groups and strike out on their own. Really fleshed out story for a “kids” tale.
-Irredeemable Ant-Man #10- Ant-Man takes on the Hulk! He fails miserably and ends up in SHIELD custody. Uh-oh.
-Loners #4- Julie struggles with some truths about herself, and the lies she perpetuates. I think she’s a lesbian, by the way they’re writing it. She talks about these things with the group when the villain shows up. 4 issues in and I’m not too impressed.
-Ms. Marvel #17- Ms. Marvel stops MODOK from self-destructing the bomb in public but oddly becomes blue and has other voices coming from her mouth for a while. Sean Madigan is killed and AIM is in disarray.
-New Avengers & Transformers #1– The Decepticons land in Latveria and their paranoia machine causes a war to erupt between Latveria and its neighboring country. The New Avengers also bicker amongst themselves. Spider-Man is kidnapped by Megatron and the Autobots show up at the end to help, though the New Avengers clearly don’t want it. Nice introduction to the New Avengers for TF fans who may not know them.
-New Warriors #2– Sofia ponders the New Warrior’s offer. She runs into Jubilee who apparently is in the New Warriors, despite having no powers (no problem, she says). Tony Stark offers the team amnesty while Wolverine looks for the Warriors after recognizing Jubilee through her mask. This is slowly picking up steam.
-Ultimate Power #6- The Ultimates and the Squadron fight until Dr. Doom appears. This world may be in trouble. This was one big fight, allowing Land’s artwork to shine.
DC
-Action Comics #851– Superman escapes the Phantom Zone with the help of Mon-El then goes to Luthor for help in stopping Zod and company. This is continued in Action Comics Annual #11, although #10 came out earlier this year? What?
-All-Star Superman #8– Really fun story sees Superman speaking Bizarro to escape the world, since he’s dying being on it without the red sun and his radiation poisoning. Lois does learn Superman is dying as well. Superman leaves at the end, but not before Bizarro world sinks deeper into the netherworlds of the universe. Very cool story.
-Black Canary #1- Black Canary tells Sin about Ollie and their past life. She wants to enroll Sin in a school but doesn’t know where she would fit. Dinah’s ex-husband appears and asks for Dinah’s help, which is luring her into Merlyn’s plan.
-Countdown 43– This is all about the funeral for Bart Allen. The Trickster and Pied Piper attend, leave and get downed by Deathstroke. Donna Troy and Jason are there with a Monitor, who plots to prevent the other Monitor’s from doing no good and look for Ray Palmer. Forerunner prepares to train a Bleed army. Good tribute for a fallen Flash.
-Flash #13- This is a reprint, or a different cover (it doesn’t say second printing) but the story is still good!
-Nightwing #134– Vigilante takes aim at Eddie Hwang, a person from Nightwing’s past, and Nightwing stops the shooter. Later, Dick goes to dinner with Hwang to learn more information and Vigilante kidnaps Dick! This looks to be a much better story than the last one.
-Outsiders #49– Batman helps the Outsiders and Checkmate rescue Sasha. Nightwing steps down as leader of the Outsiders, leaving Batman in charge. The last issue of a really good run. I await Batman’s decision on who will be on the new team.
-Supergirl #19– Supergirl makes amends with those she hurt in the past two years. Supergirl is back? Hopefully the crappy stories that don’t make sense are offer. This is hopeful.
The Awards
-Book of the Week- You know, I don’t care what people think, Fantastic Four and Power Pack was the best book I read this week. Just a great story with great characterization. I am eagerly looking forward to #2.
-Disappointment of the Weak- Action Comics #851 wasn’t bad, but the fact that this arc has been dragging so long and is now continued in an Annual is just unacceptable. I don’t know what the problem is but this is just annoying as hell.
-Best Cover- No cover really jumped out at me this week. I have to say the Coipel version of Thor #1 takes top honors this week.
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