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One weekly ends as another begins. DC rolls the dice again with another weekly book, this one being called Countdown since it is counting down to some major event. I wonder what it could be!? There are a bunch of Initiative tie-ins from Marvel this week, too. Overall, I picked up 21 books this week (1 Wildstorm, 6 DC and 14 Marvels) so there are a bunch of possible contenders for the awards this week.
Spoiler Warning
-Countdown 51- We’re in the DCU where Red Hood meets a Deula from another world! A Monitor shows up to get rid of irregularties and guns down Deula but is stopped by another Monitor before taking out Red Hood. In a secret villains lair, a whole bunch of Flash rogues gather together to plan something big. Mary Marvel awakens from her coma to learn everyone, including Freedy Freeman, have abandoned her, and her magic word doesn’t work anymore. The Monitors end by asking the Source Wall how to save the multiverse. Their answer? Ray Palmer. Awesome opener, I actually liked it better than 52 #1 and seeing some evil Monitors, a big mystery developing (where is Ray Palmer) and I’m amped for the next 51 issues.
-Marvel Zombie: Dead Days #1- Who doesn’t love the Marvel Zombies? They may be the most popular Marvel Characters right now and their books sell like hot cakes. Their success led to this one shot, basically a look at how the Zombies got the way they did. The Zombies were just infected (the Avengers for now) and they think they should find a cure before all is lost. They get to the mansion and eat Jarvis so so much for that idea. The Fantastic Four gathers with the non-infected Marvel heroes on the SHIELD Heli-carrier to plan a response. Of course, Mr. Fantastic is in awe of the Zombie infection, then willingly infects his teammates and sees it as the next evolutionary step. What a crazy scientist! I love me the Zombies and this book was awesome, with a great X-Men #1 spoof cover.
TPL Quickies
Marvel
-Amazing Spider-Girl #8 – May deals with a classmate who is a mutant while Mary-Jane deals with the classmate’s father. In the end, Mary-Jane gives May the spider costume back. Definitely an enjoyable book.
-Amazing Spider-Man #540- Peter finds the sniper who shot his aunt is prepared to kill him if he doesn’t tell him who ordered the hit. Some sniper killed to prevent him from talking but Spidey finds him and grabs his cell phone, with Wilson Fisk on the other line. Aunt May is also dangerously near death. A pissed off (and darker) Spidey is awesome and JMS writes how he should be written now, an angry man hellbent on revenge, instead of his more jovial self in FNSM and New Avengers.
-Annihilation Saga #1 – This is a perfect recap of the events of Annihilation, from the Drax mini-series to the prologue books to the mini itself. If you want to get in on Annihilation: Conquest but didn’t read the original, this has all you need.
-Ghost Rider #11- Ghost Rider and the good sheriff of Sleepy Hollow battle Satan O’Lantern and his zombies. The battle was pretty decent and the issue flew by. It ends with Ghost Rider leaving town making it the perfect ending for a TPB.
-Hulk & Power Park #3- Hulk and Power Pack team up against the Abomination and after defeating him the whole MU universe show up to question the Pack’s association with Hulk and their possible criminal ways.
-Iron Fist #5- The Iron Fists fight Hydra as Danny receives a book with the Iron Fist history. Some guy asks the Heroes for Hire (with Luke Cage? Isn’t he wanted?) for help and the two Iron Fists run into Steel Serpent at the end. This has been a very interesting comic that really adds a lot of depth to an Iron Fist character who has become complacent in the MU.
-New Avengers #30- We learn that Ronin is actually Clint Barton (Hawkeye). The New Avengers hide from the Mighty Avengers as Doctor Strange’s magic is better than Brother Voodoo’s. They head to Japan where Maya, under the control of the Hand, stabs Doctor Strange as the rest of the NA crack jokes during battle. I don’t know where this is going and I think Bendis isn’t nailing the characters as well as he did before Civil War. This may be a book on the decline.
-Nova #2 – Nova returns home, where his father is acting very weird towards him. He is met by SHIELD and Tony Stark where he learns all about the Civil War but is incensed the heroes didn’t know about Annihilation. He gives 24 hours to think about registering and to remember his dead friends when he runs into Diamonhead. He quickly takes him down but is shocked to see the Thunderbolts waiting for him after he drops Diamondhead off at jail.
-Punisher War Journal #7 – We see how Frank gets in the company of the Hate-Monger and crew, but not how he was discovered to be the Punisher. He is tied up and about to be fired on at book’s close. The first 4 issues were really good but the quality of the book has gone down with this arc.
-Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #2- Spidey & FF team up to take over an invasion of symbiote aliens who takeover human, adult, non-blind bodies, becoming a silver tentacle-headed alien. Mr. Fantastic goes to search what happened to past civilizations they colonized as the FF (including Spidey for now) are about to be attacked by big bugs. I like Wieringo’s art and this is one fun (out of continuity) title.
-Thunderbolts #114 – Superhero non-registrants Steel Spider, Sepulchre, and American Eagle battle the Thunderbolts and its actually a draw after round one. They square off at book’s end for round two, and I have a feeling Bullseye will play a part. Moondragon gets her wrist sliced open by American Eagle. Good build with a good fight, though Penance was a non-factor.
-Ultimate Power #5 – The Invisible Woman, Human Torch and Thor take on Hyperion, and lose badly. Spider-Man and Captain America suspect Fury is keeping something secret as the heroes key in on Mr. Fantastic. The middle arc has been one big fight so far and I think could be paced a bit quicker, but the art is beautiful.
-Wolverine: Origins #14- Damien battles Cyber and Wolverine saves his kid. Cyber and Wolvie battle but the body Cyber stole has a bad ticker and Wolvie takes him out, and gets information. Turns out, Cyber was rescued by Sabretooth in 1912 from a hanging and brought him to a Hudson in Canada. Hmmm. The book was pretty bad when it first started but the story has finally gotten along and has been solid.
DC
-Green Arrow #74- Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Speedy battle Brick, Merlyn and his posse. The villains flee as Arrow and Canary fight, then make love for 40 hours. No joke. They think they have the drop on Merlyn and Brick at book’s end but its really Deathstroke. Uh-oh. Leading to next month’s big finale and makes me itching for #75.
-Mystery In Space #8 – Comet and Weird battle at the end, then team up to defeat the ELC. It is a good battle and I guess the mini-series was alright on a whole. The Weird if off the US at the end.
-Nightwing #132- Nightwing and 5 villains take on the Bride and Groom which ends with the Bride and Groom being trapped in a cave at the end. The arc started off well but the ending seemed too predictable.
-Outsiders #47- Nightwing takes Sasha’s ID card, frees Knock-out and the two go to free their teammates. They see them alive and well in a Checkmate briefing room. Checkmate basically blackmails the Outsiders to head to Oolong Island to cause wanton destruction. A Fin Fang Foom type creature attacks the ship. I think the next three parts of this will be very good as two covert operation teams, one being legal and the other illegal try to manipulate each other to further their own goals.
-Tales of the Unexpected #8– The Spectre basically goes buck wild on the apartment building he’s been hanging out at. This new Spectre is pretty awesome. The Dr. 13 story was trying to be too smart than what it was and didn’t enjoy reading it. The Spectre stuff was awesome all around and recommended.
Wildstorm
-Gen13 #8- Caitlain narrates this issue where she battles the cops and The Authority. She actually convinces the authority to admit defeat but we learn that Gen13 is not supposed to exist and the multiverse is possibly threatened by their existence. Moving along nicely as we are firmly re-introduced to the characters and their nuances and now the real fun can begin.
The Awards
-Book of the Week- Countdown #51 blasted off to a great start and is counting down to something big. This book had high expectations and delivered the whole way around. It sets the tone of the book, sets up a big story and was just awesome. If you missed 52, try this out, it’s a different take, is in DC real time and will feature all the best characters.
-Dissappointment of the Week- This was a tough one as all the books were pretty good. Looking back, the clear winner is actually New Avengers #30 (missed it on the first run through of titles this month!), not in really the story but I thought it was weird how Spidey and the rest of the characters are cracking jokes despite a) Doctor Stranges was just impaled with a sword and b) they are on the run from the law. It definitely seemed out of place and these characters should be darker, more business, less-talk (see Amazing Spider-Man for a perfect example of this).
-Best Cover- Marvel Zombies: Dead Days hits one right out of the park and it still hasn’t landed yet. There are a wealth of Marvel classic covers they can lampoon and using the gatefold for X-Men (1991) #1 was genius. Suydam wins it a second week in a row! Honorable mention goes to Andy Kubert’s Countdown 51 cover.
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