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I was talking last week how TPL will be much smaller from here on out and now I have to eat my words. Marvel just killed me this week. Get this, there were only 2 Wildstorm titles and only 6 DC titles, while Marvel came in at 3 times the two combined with 24 titles. Luckily it only looks like the last week of the month is really Marvel heavy, so next few weeks should be bearable and looking ahead they both seem light. Combine this with two trades I picked up, as well as three issues I bought but am not reviewing (since I am not up to date with those titles yet), you had one expensive and heavy week. Also, I think its known I write the introductions on the Wednesday I get the comics and start the TPL but I have to add in that this week also saw the loss of one if the greats in the biz today, Michael Turner. I was never the biggest fan of his art, but he seemed like one of the nicest, hardest working guy in comics and he never let his cancer get him down. One of the bright lights of the comic industry has been dimmed and I send my condolences to his family.
Spoiler Alert
The Main Event
-Final Crisis #2- The craziness continues in Final Crisis as we take a look at no less than three or four different themes going on here. We look at the Japanese superheroes we saw in the Final Crisis Sketchbook. Mister Miracle (a different one than we are used to) shows up to show one of the Japanese heroes the Motherboxxx. A man looks into the case of the missing children and finds them in Bludhaven, where the evil New Gods are using them to create actual New Gods. The superheroes mourn the death of Martian Manhunter, so I guess he really is dead. Libra mentions something about bowing to another power, perhaps Darkseid? An Alpha Lantern shows up to investigate the death of Orion and says that Hal is the one who did it! Batman finds out that the Alpha Lantern is an imposter but it is too late and he is brought to the Darkseid club. Clark is at work when Clayface impersonates Jimmy and the building explodes, with Lois caught in the rubble. Finally, the two Flashes ponder if the bullet was actually shot through time and that’s how it ended up 50 feet in the ground. They are shocked to see Barry running towards them with a new Black Racer behind them. The first time I read this I didn’t get what was going on. This is something you need to read twice to really digest and when you do that, you have just an incredible story going on. I think it lacks what we as readers are used to from these big events, and that is that “Oh Shit” moment at the end of every issue but things are going very smoothly and this is still the introductory part of the story. I am impressed so far. 1/1.
-Marvel: 1985 #2- The awesomeness continues with this mini-series, as Toby comes face to face with Hulk (who smells bad) and finally finds the Hulk come face to face with the Juggernaut! Toby likes seeing the heroes but he’s no idiot, he runs the hell away. We learn that the man who owned the house the villains are staying in was a man named Clyde Wyncham who Toby’s father knew. Toby doesn’t know who he can talk to about the whole thing, but mentions it to his father. His father believes him but tells him to say no more. We see Stilt-man walking down the street and then Sandman breaking into a woman’s home and Electro causing problems as well. Millar is killing on this story, introducing the heroes slowly, as it would be in real life. 1/1.
Marvel
-Angel: Redemption #2- Angel is making it with a woman when she sees the scars on his back. He bails and dumps her. The woman gets with Angel’s nemesis at school starts dating her and wants to get back at Angel. Angel then saves some kid from freshman night, punches out the same guy, and the boy he saved says he knows Angel’s secret. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first, as the man looking for Angel was only in a few panels talking to some boy and after saying the art wasn’t too bad in the first issue, it just didn’t gel with me this time. I would have to finish this for a final word, but it doesn’t look like a recommendation here. 1/2.
-Avengers: The Initiative #14- Ok, so we know Pym is a Skrull, and we know that the person in the Initiative with the Freedom Ring is a Skrull, too. But the Skrull with the ring finds out Pym is a Skrull and wonders who else is a Skrull, too. Even he is paranoid now. 3D Man gets a new assignment, as leader of the team in Hawaii and the glasses the original 3D Man gave him has a peculiar power, he can actually see Skrulls in plain sight! He finds one in Hawaii and takes him out after a huge fight. He returns to Stamford and the Skrull with the Freedom Ring bends reality to make everyone look like Skrulls and now 3D Man has no idea what is true and what is fake. Very compelling, as 3D Man may be a sleepr hero in the whole Skrull Invasion. 2/3.
-Captain America #39- Red Skull’s plan to take over America and cause its downfall continues, as he debuts the new fake Captain America to save the new presidential candidate (also put in place by Skull), in front of a live audience. Bucky sees this and of course he needs to take a deeper look. We look at Sharon, pregnant with Steve’s baby, escaping her prison and taking out Sin in the process. Bucky breaks into the new Cap’s place and he punches Bucky with a super-strong shot. He vows Bucky will die that night. Brubaker is crafting one of the best stories in modern comic book history, outside of any huge, epic event. 3/4.
-Daredevil #108- Matt tries to take on Big Ben’s case but he is adamantly against it. Matt and Dakota know there is something more to this and when they dig a little deeper, it seems the Feds are involved. Matt meets with Urich who gives him some more information. Dakota then meets her father who tells her she shouldn’t have been involved. Daredevil tries to get information and a Mr. Slaughter is informed. Finally, Big Ben tries to kill himself after these recent developments. Wow, two Brubaker winners in a row. Just throw in Criminal and you’ve got the Brubaker hat trick. 4/5.
-Fantastic Four #558- Doom shows up at the Baxter looking for help when the three who broke him out take him away again, after handing the FF their asses. Johnny breaks up with his criminal girlfriend, who is actually the daughter of one of the men who took Doom for their own. Sue talks about the new nanny they have and she is more than she appears, talking to Valeria, whose mind has advanced to that of just under her father’s but she hasn’t told anyone yet. We focus in on Doom again, and some big green monster named Dr. Banner is in charge. That is an interesting development. I don’t know how this plays into the Marvel Universe with the goings on in the next comic on TPL, but it has the makings of something good. 5/6.
-Hulk #4- Watcher shows up to, well, watch the preceding events when Red Hulk punches him! Red Hulk and Green Hulk fight, with Red Hulk eventually getting the upper hand. Iron Man talks to Hill and we find out that Samson’s jacket has gamma radiation on it. Could it be the Red Hulk is Thunderbolt Ross and the Green Hulk is Samson? So RH takes GH to the bridge to kill him but Thor shows up. This is both a fun title (the humor of Loeb shines through), and is telling an interesting story. The epic fight scenes drawn by McGuinnes were just fantastic. People complain about lateness, but when all is said and done, no one will remember if it was a month late. The story delivers and that’s good enough for me. 6/7.
-Immortal Iron Fist #16- Danny Rand learned his fortune may not have been entirely legal and was stained with blood, so he wants to give back. He opens a place for lost kids to train and eat, he helps the other fighters from the six cities look for the seventh, he starts up a new company with Luke as a partner, patches things up with Misty, then sees something very troubling. He realizes that all the other Iron Fists died when they were 33, and guess who just turned 33 today? That is a new revelation. It had to be 33, though, that being how old Jesus was when he died. I liked this issue, but unfortunately it is making its last appearance in TPL, since Fraction is living and I don’t really care to stick around to see what else happens. 7/8.
-Marvel Comics Presents #10- Vanguard continues to be good, as Blade kills Yoosef, Thing is freed from his bonds, and Micromax is really a turncoat. Machine Man was just stupid, as he recounts an ex-lover who shows up at the end. Deadpool has to kill someone, fights off some ninjas, then succeeds in finishing his job, but not before the twist ending. Weapon Alpha has a new ability, to control his powers. Iron Man gets a bit suspicious, though. It seems that USAgent has the plug pulled on him as he’s lying in a hospital. One story doesn’t save this, and I will be happy when this ends with #12. 7/9.
-Mighty Avengers #15- This issue focuses solely on Pym and how he was changed into a Skrull. It is drawn by Romita so it is a plus right away. Moving on, Pym was having problems with Janet, starts dating a young girl who gets information from him, and of course, this girl is a Skrull. She takes over Pym, then uses the Ultron event to find the weakness in Starktech (now it makes sense!). I like these issues for filling in on holes in the Secret Invasion. The only thing that could be troubling is that Joe Quesada says you don’t need to read these to get the full story of SI and you can enjoy just the main story. That’s true, but what if you read Mighty Avengers and don’t want SI stories? Then you would be screwed. Sucks for you people, but this issue kicked ass in showing how Pym played into everything. 8/10.
-Ms. Marvel #28- Ms. Marvel fights in Manhattan by herself and soon realizes this is a war, and she is a warrior. She starts killing the Skrulls, since that is what you do in war, and she actually enjoys it. The Skrulls soon start hiding in plain sight as humans so Carol lets out a low level blast that knocks out humans, but leaves the Skrulls standing, showing she will stop at nothing to stop the Skrulls. This new, meaner Ms. Marvel is just awesome. 9/11.
-Mythos: Captain America #1- I was a little bit disappointed with the other Mythos titles, but this one was just amazing. It is a retelling of Cap’s origin, how he became Cap, and the story we all knew, but it takes on a much more personal level when Cap starts thinking back on the ones he fought with, the ones who were lost, and even dining with the veterans. It gets to the point where there is only one veteran left and this was honestly one of the most touching stories I have ever read as a comic-book reader. Paul Jenkins wrote his ass off on this and it was just an amazing piece of art. 10/12.
-New Avengers #43- This is more holes in the story issue that fills in on Spider-Woman and her role. She was kidnapped, the Skrull Queen took over as Spider-Woman and starts planning the whole thing, first needing Vibranium, leading to them landing at the Savage Land (as seen in earlier issues) and in Wakanda (which hasn’t been seen yet), having mutants turn against each other (which was House of M), and finally being part of the New Avengers to get more information. It ends with M-Day and I am pumped to see the conclusion. 11/13.
-New Warriors #13- Stark asks for the two cops help in taking down the New Warriors as Thrasher and the rest of the NW save their abandoned friends. Blah blah blah, big fight, blah blah blah, Thrasher lied to them again, blah blah blah, does anyone care? The next solicits said that the next story will be the beginning of the end, so I hope they just end this, its killing my memories of the original New Warriors. 11/14.
-Power Pack: Day One #4- The origin ends, as the Power Pack destroy the Annihilation device, stop the Snark invasion and reprogram them, and they are now heroes. I don’t read these for any novel storytelling, these are just fun issues, that are well-written, and never lack an energetic story. This will make you feel like a kid reading this again. 12/15.
-Secret Invasion: Runaways & Young Avengers #1- The Runaways and the Young Avengers both have Skrulls in their midst and you knew that was going to play into the Secret Invastion storyline. The Runaways are walking down the street when the Invasion hits and Xavin seemingly turns on everyone. He is really just trying to save them. The YA have similar problems, especially with Hulkling who is half-Skrull, half-Kree. Apparantly he is one of the signs that the Skrulls were seeking in taking over Earth. Xavin soon seeks out Hulkling and the two are caught in the Skrulls midsts at issues end. Nice introductory story to show how the Skrulls from these two young teams are being affected. 13/16.
-She-Hulk #30- She-Hulk garners a release from jail (with her fellow jailbird) to stop a huge Bran walking down the streets. Hercules gets involved, Jaz finds out that Bran is actually two different entities, one being godly (which is why Hercules was there, to recruit him on his most recent mission). She-Hulk and Hercules defeat the god, they end up sleeping together, and Jaz gets a sudden impulse probably having to do with the Secret Invasion. The other woman that was freed may not be all she seems, either. This was entertaining, and She-Hulk shows what a hoe she is by bedding Hercules, and her rationalization of it was pretty spot-on. 14/17.
-Ultimates 3 #4- This is just a little late but it continues to roll on, as we see how Magneto first landed in the Savage Land. He “came in peace,” then started destroying them, causing Ka-Zar and Shanna to hide and wait for their revenge. In the Savage Land, the Ultimates that are there have a run in with Magneto which doesn’t go too well for them. Wolverine and Black Panther are taken down by Juggernaut (but not after Wolvie mentions he knows who Panther is), Hawkeye is downed by Sabretooth, Valkyrie falls victim to Mastermind and Pyro, and Thor is stopped by Magneto and an evil looking Quicksilver. Back at home, Wasp learns from Ant-Man that the Cap and Iron Man she was talking to were robots, and they were built by a child of Pym and Wasp’s, to let robots take over the world. This is probably Ultimate Ultron. People with nothing better to do complain about delays like everything is supposed to work like clockwork, and those naysayers are missing out. So if it’s late, you save $3 that month, don’t bash a good, well-drawn story (which this is) because it’s late. Awesome fight scenes, and cool reveals make this a winner. 15/18.
-Ultimate Spider-Man #123- This is a BMB special, where each page has about 40 word balloons, and this time the subject of the dialogue is Venom coming back. He encounters Spider-Man at a museum, fights off Silver Sable and the Wildpack, and eats people in the park after he tells them the story. I have to say I wasn’t too crazy about this one, way too much dialogue for even a Bendis tale, and it lacked the punch that his other writings do. It was a bland way to have Venom come back. 15/19.
-Wolverine: Origins #26- We delve deeper into Wolvie’s past, as he worked for the government during WW2 to create creatures in an underground bunker from the Japanese internment camps. When the government pulled the plug, Wolvie killed everyone associated with it. The bunker is now known only to him and that’s where he’s keeping Daken for now. Daken, in his dreamlike state, recounts his origin. He was found by a Japanese couple and misery just follows these Howletts. He ends up killing a kid, getting shunned by his mother, who ends up dead after he first pops his claws and is warned he would become like Wolverine. Getting back to Wolvie, he is captured by those supposedly dead experiments we talked about in the beginning of the review. The title is going in a new direction, and these monsters should be interesting to battle, and the stuff with Daken is actually interesting. I am enjoying this more and more as the months go on. 16/20.
-Uncanny X-Men #499- Another Brubaker title! Unfortunately, this was his weak one of the week, though it was still a fun ride. Both storylines are tied up nicely (Emma and Cyclops knock out Lady Mastermind to end the charade, orchestrated by a burnt-out hippy trying to relive his glory days) and Colossus, Nightcrawler and Wolverine stop Omega Red pretty handily. They return to their new home, as the mayor of San Francisco (saved by the X-Men) offers them a place to stay. The X-Men have a new home, and we are ready for #500 and that landmark issue. This was nothing groundbreaking, but the necessary stories were tied up, and things are as they should be. 17/21.
-X-Men: First Class #13- In nice continuity, Angel is still absent from the team. The X-Men have a visitor, a scientist showing off a new invention. Of course, it is Machine Man, as snarky as he has been in Ms. Marvel and Nextwave. He and the X-Men (sans Angel) investigate strange patterns near Mt. Helena and learn it is the Lava Men that Thor battled earlier. Good opener, and Machine Man is always fun (except in poorly written MCP tales). 18/22.
-X-Men: Legacy #213- The plans of Sinister are coming into play. He had implanted his DNA in the previously mentioned characters (including Charles) so that he can be reborn if he ever died. However, a woman is trying to prevent him from being reborn into those people since she wants Sinister reborn in her. She’s a bit of a freak, for sure. So Gambit and Shaw try and stop this from happening, but Charles already let Sinister take over his body to stop this woman. So it’s Charles Sinister now, and even though it seems like a silly story, I like where it is going. Charles is a mess right now and I could see him doing this. 19/23.
-Young Avengers Presents: #6- The closing issue was another grand one, as it focuses on Hawkeye and the problems she faces, from dating Eli to not wanting it to be serious, to a chance meeting with Ronin (the original Hawkeye) and his schooling of her, to trying to get back at Eli by dating the speedster, to learning a lesson from Ronin about wanting to be a hero and how to prevail in the face of triumph. It was the best written of all the Young Avengers Presents titles, and drawn beautifully by Alan Davis (of Clan Destine fame). 20/24.
DC
-Batman: Gotham After Midnight #2- This may be my favorite bat title on the stands now, as the team of Niles and Jones craft a spooky Bat tale. Batman is brought to the lair of the men who want to kill him. Bats was playing possum and wakes up, takes out all the crappy villains and questions the man in charge. He has no info and Batman lets him leave as a message. The man leaves and is killed by the mystery villain, named Midnight. Bats then finds and battles Man-Bat, who is acting out of character like Scarecrow did last issue and Bats doesn’t know why. Finally, Bats talks to the police woman who has been taking credit for his arrests and they share a smile. Another spooky issue as Jones just has a certain look that brings out a great tone in the Bat books. 2/2.
-Huntress Year One #4- Huntress confronts Mandragora and actually kills him. She escapes the mansion and even goes to ths man’s funeral, where she sees the man who pulled the trigger and killed her family. She follows him to a carnival where he dresses as a devil. He knew he was being followed and told her to go to Gotham where their final meeting will occur, if she’s up to it. Huntress also has an encounter with Barbara Gordon. Huntress finally goes to Gotham and crashes a party where the man is hiding, at Wayne Manor, where Bruce is entertaining the mafia to get information. I think we know what is going to happen next! Another solid issue, and the Huntress mini-series has been very good thus far. 3/3.
-Superman #677- Superman and Green Lantern share a moment in space playing fetch with Krypto. Meanwhile, some big monster attacks Metropolis (again) and the Metropolis Science Police try to handle it, all secretly hoping for Superman. Well, Superman doesn’t show up but a character named Atlas does, and he wants Superman! Of course, they need to show Atlas holding up the Daily Planet globe after it fell. Superman finally shows up. Well, I don’t want to be an ass, but in Trials of Shazam we saw Atlas die. So is this just a different version of the same Greek god? I don’t know if I will stick with this story based on the first issue. It didn’t really jump out at me. I wouldn’t call it bad but it seemed like a little too long to get to the confrontation with Superman and Atlas because honestly, the Krypto segment was sort of worthless. It was passable, though. 4/4.
-Teen Titans #60- This concludes the whole Terror Titans thing, at least until their spin-off title (which I won’t be buying, sorry). So Kid Devil escapes from the mind control thanks to Miss Martian while Robin and the rest of the Titans deal with Clock King. He was able to evade all attacks since he was actually out of time. He tries to recruit Ravager but she doesn’t join. The day is saved, the Titans rebuild, and Ravager leaves the team. There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with the comic, but I thought the Clock King was a lame villain, especially one to give the Titans a run for their money. It seems that yet again we are going to have another variation of the team as the direction changes again. I won’t be keeping up with the title since it hasn’t really been working for me. It gets a point on the value of the story, and in the context it worked, and bias aside, it was a decent story. 5/5.
-Trinity #4- The Trinity continues to battle Convikt and Graak as Enigma and Morgaine look on. I think I started this with the same sentence last week? Anyway, Batman sneaks off to find Convikts ship but isn’t aware Graak is wating for him. In the back-up, the tarot reader has a crazy dream with Despero finding a portal of some sort. Finally, a guy hires three super villains (d-list here) to find this tarot reader. This title is definitely weird for me, and I can say that now that we are a month in. With Bagley handling the art, the main stories are shorter than usual, and it is tough in this day and age of storytelling to write a good story in 10-12 pages. I am reading the Iron Man Omnibus and there are great stories that are 13 pages long, but maybe it’s a lost art. I do like the direction this is heading and I love Bagley’s art. I do like the back-up stories and this is all going to come to a head as the title moves on. 6/6.
Wildstorm
-Number of the Beast #6- This yawner continues with the heroes waking up and learning they are actually 62 years in the future which is our present. So this Number of the Beast thing was just a way to keep hold heroes in stasis until the government needed them but now the heroes found out and want revenge? Somehow the High is involved in this more than we think and after 6 issues of this, 6 issues of Revelations and the whole Armageddon thing, I am officially sick and tired of this, and I don’t even care how it ends. I will probably read the last two, but don’t look for this title in TPL next month. 0/1.
-The Programme #12- This mini-series has finally come to a close and I still have no clue what the hell even happened. I have to say, I was stoked to see this come out but now it looks like it will be sold on E-bay by me in the coming weeks. My enjoyment waned the longer and more convoluted the story got, and in the end, you have no real conclusion (oh, the Russians escaped and some were killed but maybe they won because the US is under martial law now, whoopee) but it just didn’t do it for me as a story. This may be the end of Wildstorm and the TPL for a long time, as Gen13 has been axed, Number of the Beast and the whole Armageddon thing has been a huge letdown, and I really don’t care about the world’s end title that is coming down the pike in the coming months. 0/2.
Awards
-Book of the Week- Mythos: Captain America was a comic that was different than any I have read in a while, actually touching me emotionally in a way I didn’t possible. Maybe it is because both of my grandfather’s were veterans (one from WW2) and I am thinking about him and my memories of him. It was the greatest generation but unfortunately, time is taking them away and their glory, while still present, is severely lessened in this day and age of anti-nationalism. It was just a fantastic story and one I will be giving my father to read, as I know he will be touched by it as well.
-Disappointment of the Week- New Warriors #13 continues to tarnish the legacy of the original New Warriors, and its original intent of having them be rogue heroes has been pretty much forgotten. They have way too much tech to be even believable in a comic book, and the stories haven’t been compelling. In a week of highlights, this was the most noticeable lowlight.
-Cover of the Week- Superman #677 wins this week, hands down. Alex Ross just paints an amazing image of Supes, down on his knee holding up the Daily Planet, an homage to the character he must battle in this title, Atlas. For the record, this is the third straight Superman cover to make the list, and the seventh time Ross has taken the honor, beating out Suydam by one.
-The Bottom Line- DC has really benefitted from the drastic cut in titles, as I am only picking up what I want to read and usually what I want to read I enjoy. Wildstorm had just a brutal week and I may be done with them for a while, save for a cool looking mini that comes out next month. Marvel went 20/24, which is quite an impressive number considering the amount of titles. As I mentioned in the opening, the big news of the week, a convention week mind you, was the untimely passing of Michael Turner. He wasn’t mentioned too much in TPL but I had respect for him and he will be sorely missed.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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