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This was a very light week this time around, probably due to there being 5 Wednesday this month. There were only 7 DC titles and 8 Marvel titles so it added up to only 15 comics, the lightest week I’ve had since the first Wednesday of 2008. I’m off on Thursday and Friday so I am refreshed while writing this.
Spoilers Ahead
The Main Event:
-DC Universe 0- This 50 cent issue is a bridge between Countdown and Final Crisis and I have to say it did give a very nice (though ominous) introduction to the third Crisis in DC’s recent history. We have a narrator who we can’t see talking about events in the DCU that happened since the last Crisis, an old villain named Libra bringing together a whole bunch of Flash rogues, and a bolt of lightning reminiscent of the Flash striking at the end with the narrator saying he has returned. Popular speculation (including by the New York Daily News) says this is Barry Allen which I guess would make sense, though his return will probably split the comic book readers who want him to stay dead and those who want him back. Whatever the speculation, this was a huge improvement over what Countdown was and for fifty cents should be in your collection. 1/1.
-New Avengers #40- This has nothing to do with the Avengers at all and is firmly a Skrull story. It probably should’ve been released as a SI tie-in as none of the NA are in the title. Anyway, we see some history on the Skrulls, how a princess based on religion was banished by one dealing with science and the aftermath of the Kree Skrull war. Thing progress, Galactus destroys the homeworld, the princess comes back into power and we learn how they created the new Super-Skrulls (DNA from our heroes) and created a way to be undetectable on Earth. We see the Elektra one show up and the princess wants to go to Earth herself, as Spider-Woman! This was a good issue and good history of the Skrulls but the only gripe is that it shouldn’t take place in this issue! I want to see the New Avengers, not just one panel of someone who was in the group (Spider-Woman). It was a good story and a good cog in the machine that is Secret Invasion. 1/1.
Marvel
-Avengers: The Initiative #12- The Avengers Initiative are graduating today but under difficult circumstances. One of their own, Trauma, is dead. They prepare for graduation as Tony Stark interviews a very tight-lipped Henry Gyrich about the MVP incident. The New Warriors thing comes up, as Justice, Rage and the others have left and Tony allowed it, but since they didn’t do anything illegal it is fine. The Initiative kids get a shock when Trauma rises from the dead! Gyrich is forced out of his position by Stark and the kids graduate and head out to their posts. I liked this issue with the cutting between the Initiative members and the interrogation and Stark was just awesome in questioning Gyrich. 2/2.
-Giant-Size Avengers/Invaders #1- This reprints four Invaders/Avengers stories. The first is from Avengers #71, where the Avengers battle the Invaders thanks to a duel between Gamemaster and Kang. An odd inclusion is the reprint of Invaders #10 which in it reprints Captain America (1941 series) #22, an awesome Invaders Annual #1 which describes how the Invaders showed up in Avengers #71 and finally a not-so-decent Giant-Size Invaders #2. Overall, it was a great collection of issues here. 3/3.
-Immortal Iron Fist #14- This is an epic final battle between Iron Fist, his fellow warriors from the other capital cities, and his friends on Earth. They all band together to fight Xao and the Hydra agents there and it was a very well-drawn battle. We see Davos finally realizing the error of his ways and helping stop Nu-An from opening the other hidden portal. Xao knows he is beaten and jumps off a cliff, but not before revealing to Iron Fist that there is an 8th city. That is a surprise. We bookend the whole Wendall/Orson story with Orson telling Wendall that the Iron Fist is a curse and his son will be the next Iron Fist. The other warriors of the seven cities decide to stay on Earth for the time being. This was a fantastic ending to a great Fraction storyline. Iron Fist may just be one of the 10 best comics on the stands right now. 4/4.
-Marvel Comics Presents #8- In Vanguard we learn that Stacy Dolan has no memory of shooting the man she shot. It turns out he was the most powerful man alive, capable of blowing up anything. Thing shows up at the end and he’s pissed. Machine Man has a three-parter starting here and he remembers a time when he fought Ultron and Spider-Man and Machine Man says his past is catching up to him. There’s a single tale featuring Cyclops letting off some steam after his father died with Wolverine. Finally, Weapon Omega is testing his powers against USAgent, and culling more powers from the captured villains in the area. USAgent realizes this but it may be too late for him as WO is standing over them with Raptore’s powers. I thought the two 12-parters were well-done, the Machine Man story seems interesting and its always fun to see Cyclops and Wolverine together. 5/5.
-New Warriors #11- We start with the Old New Warriors being questioned about the new ones and Sophia being questioned about them, as well. Jubilee comes around to the rest of the New Warriors and apologizes for her behavior. So the NW investigate a techno-organic virus and end up battling a robotic villain. Night Thrasher gets the information he needs but when half the NW get cut off from him, he and the ones not trapped bail and the leftover NW are on their own with the robot villain. This was probably one of the best issues of NW to date so far. 6/6.
-Order #10- The Order is over. Pepper is interviewed by Stark about the proceedings of last issue and the death of Heavy. The Order are powerless but steal a SHIELD car and head out to stop Zeke Stane (son of Obidiah) who is using Mulholland to destroy the city. They eventually catch up to Zeke, and Mulholland dies to stop the threat. Zeke escapes and Henry tells Stark that Stane did what he did just to show Stark he could and to get at Stark. The Order fly on but their series is over. It took a long time to develop but damn if that last issue wasn’t great. 7/7.
-Ultimate Human #4- Stark and Banner are trapped until Stark causes the Hulk to be unleashed. Stark convinces Hulk to go out to get Leader. Hulk takes out a lot of Leader’s men and gets to Leader but Leader uses his mind control to stop Hulk. So Iron Man flies a suit of armor into the Leader and Hulk starts punching him. A plane lands on Hulk, destroying the threat, and Hulk jumps off into the horizon. This was a rather anti-climactic ending. 7/8.
DC
-Action Comics #864- Superman returns from the past with Lightning Lad as Batman arrives to the Fortress. He tells Superman about the dead Legionnaires he finds (Karate Kid and one-third of Triplicate Girl) and Superman sees that a dead virus is inside of KK. Lightning Lad shows up (despite being told to stay at the Fortress) and blasts away at some cops in anger. Superman calms him down and they visit the other LSH member in the present, Starman. Starman tells Supes why KK died but is as crazy as ever. They return home, LL has tension with Batman, LL returns home and we find out that Superman was being watched by The Time Trapper! I don’t know if he’s been around before or if this is a first appearance but it may play into the Crisis. I enjoyed this issue. 2/2.
-Blue Beetle #26- DC took a huge shot in the dark with this issue and this easily could’ve been a massive failure. They decided to go with an almost-all Spanish issue. Jaime brings Traci meet one side of his family who speak only Spanish. We see Jaime speaking to them and he finds out his grandmother knows his identity. There is a disturbance and Jaime goes to investigate, running into the Parasite! They fight, Jaime takes out the monster, and returns home where his grandmother says what a great hero Blue Beetle is. Like I said, most of the issue is in Spanish but penciller Mike Norton did a great job telling the story through his images and there is a full script after the story that translates the whole thing. It was a daring experiment and it worked. 3/3.
-Legion of Super-Heroes #41- The LSH are in trouble, the government is trying to tie them down, and they won’t let Brainiac look at the dead monsters that have been terrorizing the galaxy lately. The LSH are in dire straits. So Brainy sends Invisible Kid to spy on the monster, who is not really dead, and after IK kills it, he gets captured. The LSH are then shipped out to fight by the people who had tied them down. There are a lot of character to keep track of but Shooter effortlessly keeps all of them on track and makes the story interesting. Good stuff here, as the title is even better than when Supergirl was on it. 4/4.
-Teen Titans #58- Miss Martian is started to fall into despair, as her white martian side is slowly taking over. She just wants a normal life but it may not be possible. After the White Martian took over and got her illegal document, MM goes to school. She is attacked there and captured and put in a cell with a meaner Kid Devil, who is being brainwashed by the evil Titans to be a killing machine. I wasn’t too crazy about this, but this title was meant to show the duality of Miss Martian and how she is losing to her darker side. There was a scene in a bathroom stall with a note written on the wall that said, “Vote Petrelli,” which made me think this may have been a little nod to the Niki/Jessica character. I wasn’t crazy about it but it built a foundation that can be used later. 5/5.
-Teen Titans Year One #4- Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Aqualad appear on a TV segment when they are attacked. Robin comes and saves the day which deflates the ego of Kid Flash a bit. It was a light-hearted tale but what did it prove? At least the first few stories were origin tales. This should’ve been marketed as an all-ages title, as Year One was really done in the first three origin issues, unless I am missing something. It was fun, so it gets a point, but I wonder what the next two stories will be. 6/6.
-Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #8- The cover rips off the classic Crisis with Superman holding Supergirl, only this time it is Uncle Sam holding the American Flag. So the Freedom Fighters attack one of the bee ships, then Miss America is reborn as Miss Cosmos and destroys the other one. The threat is over, the Freedom Fighters go on with their lives and I go on with mine. Did the FF really need 16 issues these past two years? No, they didn’t. This was marginal, and really just wasted my money. 6/7.
The Awards
-Book of the Week- This was a hard one to award seeing as there were only 15 titles and really none of them blew me away. There has to be a winner and that winner is going to be Iron Fist #14. It was a great conclusion to the Capital Cities fight, where villains died, villains were redeemed, and things changed for the better in the title and a new thread was put into the story with just one little word balloon. Great stuff here, like I said, one of the best series on the stands right now.
-Disappointment of the Week- Uncle Sam and the Freedom fighters, while not a bad mini-series, ultimately didn’t serve any purpose. I didn’t really like the conclusion (the bugs were taken out in like 3 pages) and it just didn’t leave me fulfilled in any way.
-Cover of the Week- New Avengers #40 was my favorite of the week, as the new fad in Marvel is Skrullifying covers instead of zombifying them. This is a rip of Avengers #1 and its just a job well done.
-The Bottom Line- This was a very slow week but luckily the small amount of titles, coupled with the two days off I had, made this a breeze to read. Blue Beetle was a favorite as DC did something very daring with the all-Spanish issue. DC Universe #0 was a solid story and there were only two titles that didn’t gel with me. Both were conclusions to mini-series so it wasn’t even like it had lasting ramifications with what’s going on in the MU or the DCU. Overall, a good week. Next week I am really looking forward to Secret Invasion #2. The best thing this week, though, for comics, was Iron Man the movie, which kicked about 30 different kinds of ass. Great **** movie without a doubt. Go See It!
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