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I decided that the TPL needs to change. No, the format is fine, and the day I post it is fine as well, I am talking about the title that are included in the TPL. With all the X-titles, FF-titles, and other ones that used to be in the CBCU but are no longer there, I can’t be picking up 30-40 titles a month anymore. It just isn’t feasible to read all those a week, as well as the various trades I pick up every so often. So this week starts the beginning of a change. Some 31 titles have been axed from TPL. Some of the titles hadn’t been released yet (I add them as the monthly solicits come out). I am going to try and keep monthly titles to less than 60 a month (or 12-15 a week) and try to keep mini-series to even less than that. Right now it looks like a lot of mini’s due to Final Crisis and Secret Invasion but once the summer is over that will lessen as well. So, don’t be surprised to see a lot of titles normally reviewed absent in the coming weeks and months. The first fatalities are actually from this month, as Tangent: Superman’s Reign was purchased, but I was so disinterested in it that I didn’t even read it. DC Special: Cyborg, Brave and the Bold, The Spirit, Checkmate, Flash, Iron Man, and Ghost Rider are all making their last appearances and even though I read them, I won’t waste space reviewing something I won’t be buying anymore. There was nothing intrinsically wront with the titles, just weighed against the ones I really want and with everything increasing in price except my paycheck, some things had to go. So with those titles being gone (and again, I won’t review them since I would probably be overly negative anyway), we have a final tally of 7 DC’s,
Spoiler Alert
The Main Event
-Guardians of the Galaxy #2- The Guardians teased Captain America’s shield on the cover and although it was Cap’s shield, it wasn’t Cap himself making an appearance but Vance Astrovik of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Vance wanted to get to that point in time and is there. The Guardians already have their hands full with time anomolies and holes they must fix and even get caught in a battle with a strange religion at the end of the issue. Abnett and Lanning were made for the cosmic Marvel as they are transforming the cosmic Marvel landscape in ways Lee and Kirby did in the early days of Marvel. That’s no hyperbole, either. 1/1.
-Kick-Ass Director’s Cut #1- This title was so good I actually re-read it, something I usually don’t do for director’s cuts. It’s just a great, realistic, story of a boy wanting to be a superhero and getting completely fucked up his first time out. The full script is included and you can see how JR Jr. interpreted certain panels from Millar’s instructions. I don’t know why someone wouldn’t be buying this but it is certainly one of the most fun comics on the stands. 2/2.
Marvel
-Amazing Spider-Man #563- Spider-Man finds out where the Bookie lives and meets his father, who tells him the Enforcers have kidnapped his son for money he owes them. It turns out this was one big bet all along, as the Bookie’s father was making bets on Spidey showing up and actually getting the money. It is actually a humurous tale which sees the Enforcers getting beat and Ox deciding not to fight and Spidey getting the bookie to pay his aunt’s food pantry 16 million dollars. I don’t know where to stand on this. I think that the title is fun, but perhaps too much fun, sacrificing funny lines and crazy plots for things that should be a little more serious. The great thing about early Spider-Man was his witty sayings in the face of absolute danger. The title was fun, but the danger was there, and it seems that danger is what is missing from BND right now. Still, this was a good issue and one that pays for itself which is what I want as a reader. 3/3.
-American Dream #4- We find out that Silikong (really, that’s his name) is making these silicone monsters by injecting something into illegal aliens and homeless that no one will miss. American Dream finds this out, frees the prisoners, gets her equipment back and takes out Red Queen and Ion Man but must battle a now enlarged Silikong. This is just a silly MC2 tale, but has heart and I can appreciate it. 4/4.
-Incredible Hercules #118- The gods encounter Nightmare, who tries to take all their fears from them. Hercules’ fear is that he will lose another human like he did with Hylas. After a while, the gods have enough and Hercules fights back, prompting Nightmare to send some nightmares after them. They escape, and Hercules and Snowbird share a kiss with Cho’s pup looking on. Good enough for a point, though not much more. 5/5.
-Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #2- Torch remembers past loves before we see him and Lyja battling it out. During the fight Lyja is threatened by some Negative Zone monsters and Torch actually saves her, reigniting lost love. Thing finds Franklin and Val in a powersuit made for them and Frank’s genius surprises the Torch and Thing, as he proposes going to the Negative Zone prison for help in getting back home, something the two of them didn’t even think of. This is the most fun and interesting of the SI tie-ins thus far. 6/6.
-Ultimate Fantastic Four #55- The FF are psychoanalyzed by SHIELD shrink Agatha Harkness. Torch leaves because of it, and shortly after the meetings Sue breaks it off with Reed. She goes off with Agatha by herself when the new team on the block, The Seven, attack Sue and chuck her in the water. The history behind the Seven still needs to be revealed but its interesting so far. So Sue is about to drown when Namor picks her up on the last page. Namor? I thought it was frickin’ awesome. 7/7.
-Ultimate X-Men #95- Scott remembers first losing control of his power as he is about to inject the Banshee for the first time. The rogue band of mutants are using the drug to enhance their mutant powers to save Northstar from Alpha Flight. They don’t know Cyclops is working for the X-Men, though and fakes the injection. The rogue team encounters Alpha Flight, where Vindicator is someone Rogue knows, and Cyclops must use the drug to save everyone. He uses it and all of a sudden he’s in control of his powers now! Northstar has collapsed in Colossus’ arms at the end of the issue. I picked this up after not reading it for months and it was a very easy story to pick up but very interesting, as Ultimate Alpha Flight is a nice addition to the Ultimate U. 8/8.
-Wolverine #66- This is something that promises to be a little different, almost like Wolverine: The End. We hear of an event that caused all the heroes to vanish and the super-villains to take over the world. Wolverine is dead and in his place is Logan, a man living in the West Coast (in Hulk territory) with his wife and two kids. He is late on rent, gets beat, and has to pay double the next month. Hawkeye (now blinded) offers double the money to drop something off for him on the East Coast and what we will have the pleasure of reading in the coming series is old Logan traveling across country in a post-apocolyptic US. Sign me up. 9/9.
-X-Factor #32- Mutant Town is destroyed thanks to Arcade and X-Factor has to deal with ONE and Val Cooper. Madrox is definitely conflicted but finds out that Theresa is pregnant with his baby. Of course, the seed is laid that maybe Layla didn’t tell Madrox the truth about that. Val gives X-Factor an ultimatum, join them or be in witness protection. Madrox does neither, instead blowing up his building and cutting out of town with his team. They take on a new case and we see Val knows where they are and tells Madrox so. Fascinating read. 10/10.
DC
-Batman and the Outsiders #8- The Outsiders are in deep trouble until Batgirl finally shows up and makes the save. Metamorpho finds out that the station he is on is really a weapon. Remac, Nightwing and Thunder show up to assist the Outsiders as they escape. Metamorpho crases the ship he is on into the station at the end of the issue. I am holding onto this title since Batman is in it, and even though this issue wasn’t deep story-wise, it featured some good ol’fashioned fights and the Remac controller completely getting blown up (tired) was funny. 1/1.
-Birds of Prey #119- I love Birds and their new locale should provide some good stories. Case in point, Huntress stops some lame-o villain but the citizens aren’t happy, they never dealt with this until the Birds showed up! It seems that Babs is finding out more and more corruption and illegal crime than she even first expected. She used the Birds resources to buy a fake company to use as a façade for their actions. These actions even include keeping tabs on Black Canary, who finds Manhunter trailing her at the end of the issue with a big fight about to ensue. It’s tough for females to sell a title, but the Birds have been going strong and no end is in sight to strong storytelling. 2/2.
-Catwoman #80- Man, what a bummer that #82 is the last issue. Catwoman was a strong female character but like I just mentioned above, it is hard for women to carry a title. So Catwoman finally comes face to face with the one who ruined her life and Catwoman completely wrecks this guys life the same way. She beats the crap out of him and gets him to his lowest point. Just when he thinks it can’t get any worse, he heads home only to have Selina destroy it like hers was destroyed, as the police are showing up to arrest him. Just a fantastic story, showing Catwoman getting her final revenge in what will be her last hurrah for the title. 3/3.
-Justice League of America #22- The JLA are preparing Red Tornado’s soul to be transferred to a new body when there’s a little glitch. Amazo reawakens and takes the new body. Vixen is also fired from the group. There was not too much going on that couldn’t be done in about 10 pages less, and with no real fighting or confrontation, it kind of hurt the title. Maybe I am old school that way and don’t like how everything has been stretched out over 6 issues all the time, often at the sake of monthly comics. I wasn’t terribly impressed with this, it lacked the emotional punch it needed to make us care about Red Tornado, and haven’t we seen Amazo enough in the early part of the title? 3/4. It’s weird, but this is on the fence for titles I will keep buying.
-Superman/Batman #49- Superman finds out that Lana Lang and Lexcorp house the huge cache of Kryptonite. That doesn’t shock him, what shocks him is that Lana actually destroys all the caches they have, releasing a plume of kryptonite cloud that covers the world, making it unihabitable for Clark and all Kryptonians. Luckily, the new Toyman has little bugs that eat the kryptonite (a little Deus ex machina there). Superman is shocked that Lana would do this, but tells her that he didn’t choose her since Lois would have never done that. Supes destorys all the rest of the Kryptonite except a little, which he gives to Batman just in case. Supes leaves and Batman and we see Batman putting it away, in his own little cache of Kryptonite. That was something everyone saw coming, as Batman is the most untrusting person ever. This was a very good issue, and a really entertaining arc. 4/5.
-Teen Titans Year One #5- This piece of tripe is here because I just wanted the whole mini to make it easier to sell on E-bay. Anyway, we focus on a date with Wonder Girl and Speedy which leads to Speedy’s borrowed car getting wrecked and Wonder Girl getting dumped. Just a terrible waste of time. Why make a 6-issue mini-series when the first arc was finished in three issues? The last two issues were just boring as hell and had no value. 4/6.
-Trinity #3- Convikt and Graak continue wreaking havoc as Morgaine and Enigma look on. The JLA gets beat, pretty handily actually, but things may take a turn when the Trinity show up. Of course, Convikt takes out Superman with one blow. Looks like trouble for the Trinity. The back-up features a tarot reader getting saved from a gang by a wolf-man. I wonder who she will play into the Trinity, since it is told that she will. This hasn’t been the blowaway success that 52 was, but it hasn’t been the disappointment that Countdown was, either, so it’s doing well. 5/7.
Awards
-Book of the Week- Wolverine #66 is probably the title I was most into, though it was a week devoid of any real standouts. Wolverine: The End is interesting, as it could take place any time. He’s already well over a hundred years old and you know he won’t be going out quietly. Millar and McNiven did a great job on an intro story.
-Disappointment of the Week- Teen Titans Year One was just horrific. It was a complete waste of time and I probably won’t even read the last one because of it and just put it on E-bay right away. It was beyond bad and didn’t even tell a hearty enough story to make it sweet or cute. It was just beyond disappointing.
-Cover of the Week- Wolverine #66 by Steve McNiven wins this week, though there were no close competitors for the title. I just like the magazine style cover and the old Wolverine is just scary looking.
-The Bottom Line- DC was very trimlined this week, with only 7 titles, and besides the terrible Teen Titans Year One, most of it was pretty enjoyable. Marvel was a perfect 10 for 10 as some of the dead weight it lost really helped it out.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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