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8 Marvel, 9 DCs and 1 Vertigo title adds up to a nice, even, 18 comics. I don’t have any other intro because as I write this I am dead sick and tired. Let’s go.
Spoilers Ahead
The Main Event:
-Justice League: The New Frontier Special- Now I will have to check and find out, but I don’t know if these were written for the New Frontier books or if they were written afterwards by Cooke. Either way, everything you loved about New Frontier is evident in this special, especially the first story. The whole thing starts off with a funny introduction from Rip Hunter that pokes fun at the 52 worlds and basically tells us to just enjoy the story. The first story is an awesome battle between Superman and Batman, as Supes wants to bring Bats into the government since he isn’t sanctioned. They fight, Diana shows up and they both realize the error of their ways. Batman reveals his identity to the two and the DC Trinity is standing there, working together, and it fits in perfectly with the issues that came before. The next two stories just featured some team-ups where characters led to some revolutionary development. Robin and Kid Flash team up to save the president who calls them Teen Titans, and Wonder Woman and Black Canary help the women’s right movement when WW’s bra is burned in a sleazy bar. Finally there are a few pages on the animated film which I can’t wait to watch. Excellent stuff here and a must for any Cooke fan, any fan of New Frontier, or any fan of vintage Silver Age DC characters. 1/1.
-The Twelve #3- JMS continues to kill with this mini-series. Heroes out of time is not new to comics. Hell, Stan did it back in 1964 when he brought back Captain America. JMS is taking it to another level, though. He has twelve very different characters returning to a US they are not familiar with. Phantom Reporter is the narrator and here he is offered a job with the Daily Bugle to offer a unique point of view on today’s world. Mastermind Excello can’t deal with all the noise, Fiery Man recounts his origin in a bar that is much different than the one he knew. Black Widow has a secret she is hiding (maybe she’s a vampire?) and finally, we see Mister E return home to a son who despises him and wife who is on her death bed. His son hates him for the fact he left, and for the fact that he abonded his Jewish heritage. Great characters are being given an insight they probably never had before and each issue is better than the one before. 1/1.
Marvel
-Amazing Spider-Man #552- JJJ still doesn’t know he’s not the owner of the Daily Bugle, Spider-Man is the main suspect in the string of murders, Spidey stops a thief who steals money from May’s homeless shelter which he wanted for drugs. He breaks into a lab (Dr. Connor’s lab) and takes the drugs which were actually stem cells and turns into a superfreak. Other plot lines are advanced including one with the bookie and that is that. It wasn’t a bad issue but definitely the weakest one of Brand New Day so far. 2/2.
-Clandestine #2- This is really a history lesson of the Destine’s and a little into the story of Adam Destine and his wife, Djinn. There is still a band of mystery villains tracking them which no one in the Destine family knows except Dominic, who goes mad because of it. He is brought by Newton to another world to heal when he is attacked by another villain. Rory and Pandora go out on patrol with Adam when they are attacked. Rory and Pandora seem fine but Adam seems to have exploded in mid-air! This is very engrossing and entertaining story thus far. 3/3.
-Logan #1- This Brian K. Vaughan Wolverine tale delves bit into Wolvie’s mysterious past. Wolvie has all his memories now and this one takes place in Japan during World War II. Logan meets with a US POW and they both escape from a Japanese prison. They run into a Japanese woman and the US soldier wants to kill her. Logan makes him go away and the woman helps Logan hide from the troops. They have a romance and Logan is in heaven, a heaven called Hiroshima. I think we know how that ends but I wonder how, if at all, the atom bomb plays into this. 4/4.
-Moon Knight #16- Moon Knight is still a registered hero but people are really upset about this, since his methods are very violent. There is a criminal foe that Moon Knight used to battle that is now free on parole. He kills his parole board director after he requests more money and in a big twist he blames Moon Knight, implicating Moon Knight for a murder. MK goes out on patrol with his assistant and is careful not to murder anyone. Someone gets the drop on MK and the assistant, who was told not to interfere, swoops in and kills him dead as the police show up. This should be an interesting twist in the coming issues. This was a title I was not fancy of through the first two arcs but the third one has actually been very entertaining so far, and for the most part it has made sense. 5/5.
-Penance Relentless #5- Penance has his final confrontation with Nitro. Nitro blows up a lot but Penance just methodically takes him out and basically brutalizes him to the point he is near death, then flies him to the US government. Penance is through with the costume and meets with Wolverine of all people at the end of the issue and ends up at the diner he was at in the beginning of the series. This is Robbie at his most deranged self, his most evil and brutal, and I loved every minute of it. 6/6.
-Punisher War Journal #17- More than anything this is a look at Punisher’s technical engineer, an old villain named Rampage. If you want the origin of Rampage, look here. If you want a Punisher story, you may want to pass on this one. I am a fan for delving into the past history of relevent characters, but this was a C-lister at best and I didn’t even know he used to be a villain. I just really didn’t care. I want to see Punisher shooting people, not Rampage. 6/7.
-Secret Invasion Saga- This is narrated by Iron Man as he goes through all the different recent events involving Skrulls and a very good history of the Skrulls in the MU. It uses old art from the stories they were originally told in and for a price tag of zero cents, this is an easy recommendation for those wanting to learn more about the Skrulls or anyone amped up for Secret Invasion. 7/8.
DC
-Countdown to Adventure #7- As usual, there are two stories here. Strange, Animal Man and Starfire are on Rann and a newly repowered Starfire saves the planet from the influence of Styx. They need to return to Earth, where the extermination has already begun. The Forerunner story sees Forerunner and her crew skip to another dimension, be embarrassed by the Monitor and end up in space with no power on their ship. The lead story was the key one here, with Animal Man showing the true extent of his powers (all animals in the universe now) and Starfire telling him they are not in love and he needs to be with his wife. The first story makes the book, and the second one is alright, so this earns a point. 2/2.
-Countdown to Final Crisis #08- The pieces are really moving into place now, as the havoc on Apokolips is being felt by all the heroes on the planet. Atom doesn’t know what to do with Karate Kid and mulls just letting him die! Olsen wants to face Darkseid to see what happened to him but the Monitor, Solomon, that Darkseid has been talking to interferes and tells him he would be stupid to do so. It seems that Darkseid has actually put all these powers into Olsen so he can take them back when his Fifth World (a universe in his eyes) is created. The whole thing ends with the Monitor just sending everyone, including Karate Kid (still with a terrible virus that threatens humanity) back to Earth, seemingly to fulfill his plans, which are still a mystery. No complaints here, the story has been solid, all the storylines have converged, and things are moving along nicely. I guess that Piper really destroyed the planet since it exploded last issue and no mention was made of it. Maybe next week. 3/3.
-Countdown Presents: Lord Havok & the Extremists #5- I think readers know the love I have for this series. The focus in this issue is on Diehard, an Extremist who wants to take down Havok for a reason I forget. We see his history, how he was a peaceful leader who was imprisoned with his followers and when his followers died he broke free and found Havok (or Havok found him). Diehard wants to rally the guys around him to take on Havok but Havok turns them on him! Oh yeah, everyone is pissed at Havok in the outside world and forces converge on his doorstep, including Monarch. Not as bad as other issues but really, they are origin of characters we will never see or hear from again. The Countdown logo is on there to move titles and this is already 3 issues to long. 3/4.
-DC Special: Raven #1- Raven gets her own mini-series written by Marv Wolfman and it starts off very well. Raven has a terrible dream which is too realistic and it involves a murder at her school. She knows she has to stop the murder but while at school finds it very hard to control her powers, causing others to bicker and fight around her. It seems that this is a problem with others as well, as a military operation to move something goes awry and two soldiers end up dead. The shipment eventually reaches its location, a scientist trying to use whatever it is they have to break his daughter out of being brain dead. It is suggested that maybe Raven is affected by this device and may be the killer herself! The real shocker is that this device that was being transported is the mask of Psycho Pirate! One of the main characters of DC’s original crisis! Great ending and an enjoyable tale, one I look forward to reading the rest of. This probably will have an impact in DC. 4/5.
-Infinity Inc. #7- This is another title I have no love lost for. Still, this wasn’t a half bad issue. This villain, who can use TV as a means to influence others, has two of the Infinity girls hostage. Mercy tries to save them but falls under his power as Gerome and Erik(a) show up later on. They too, fall under his influence but a third Gerome shows up to stop him! Another threat is stopped, and Infinity Inc seems even crazier than they were before. Like I said, this wasn’t half bad. It was far from great but it tied up the first part well enough and I give it props, it gets a point. 5/6.
-Nightwing #142- Nightwing takes on a zombie flying guy while the armored troops take KGBeast’s head. Nightwing takes him out and brings him to the JSA headquarters where they discover this zombie is a combination of three different genetic structures. Nightwing traces this back to Talia and he heads off, in one of Bruce’s planes, with Robin no less, to the island where Talia’s old base was. There was some great moments in here, from Nightwing moonlighting as Dick Grayson to Dick and Tim talking about Batman’s latest adventure in his title. I am like the direction this is going, with Nightwing really being out on his own. 6/7.
-Supergirl #27- Supergirl vows to save the boys life from last issue when she is suddenly transported to the future after a man tries to kill her. It turns out that he wanted to kill her since Kara saving that boy’s life completely alters the way the Earth progressed. Kara stops him and a team of Batmen help send her back where she belongs. Kara doesn’t know whether to save the boy or not. I don’t know either. Will this be forgotten? The preview for next issue really doesn’t tell. I was a bit confused when it started but it ended well. 7/8.
-Teen Titans Year One #3- Wonder Girl finds Wonder Woman acting weird and goes to the Titans for help. They decide they need to team up to take down their mentors and they do so! They end with Batman and it seems that some being had been inhabiting them and causing them to be evil. The Titans saved the day but Batman still isn’t pleased with Robin’s progress. That was a really quick ending to the first two issues, and the next three seem to start them actually teaming up. I thought they would show the Titans battling the heroes a little longer than just a few panels but the issue served its purpose. Quick read, but a good one. 8/9.
Veritgo
-Northalanders #4- Sven and the bowster (a spiritual woman named Enna) are holed up for the winter as Sven’s uncle gets more paranoid. Many of his troops end up dead and he wants Sven to pay. He sends some troops to his old home and delivers a gift to Sven, the head of his old lover. Sven’s uncle and aunt are also killed and in the end he turns to Enna for comfort. Great stuff is going on here, as we finally see a human side to Sven and we see the lengths his uncle will go to have Sven go away. 1/1.
The Awards
-Book of the Week- This was a tough call, as besides the two main event books, nothing really blew me away. I am sitting here thinking which one I enjoyed more, New Frontier or The Twelve. New Frontier was awesome, no doubt about it, but Twelve was just a little more enjoyable for me, since it is the third chapter of an ongoing story while New Frontier is just a one-shot that I think is more a commercial for the DVD. Both were awesome but the Twelve wins.
-Disappointment of the Week- Havok would be the easy choice but is it really disappointing if I don’t expect anything from it? No it isn’t. I was thinking about ASM #552 as the winner, too, but it was decent. Punisher War Journal #17 wins easily. I buy this to see Punisher, not some unknown villain named Rampage. I seriously think this was a waste of money.
-Cover of the Week- There are really slim pickings here but I will give this week’s award to Nightwing #142. I just like the spectacular scene of Nightwing battling the winged creature above the city.
-The Bottom Line- When only two issues do not get a point you know you had a good week. But sometimes it can be misleading. Points are for titles that are readable and most of them were. It was hard to find a real big blowaway title but hard to find a really bad one, too.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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