|
|
 |
Well, SJU classes are over, for about 5 days until mini-session starts. Luckily it is only 10 days long. So the rundown is as follows, 1 Dynamite, 2 Wildstorms, 10 DC’s and 14 Marvels add up to 27 titles. Not a bad haul. Yeah, I don’t have time to write anything else as an intro so here we go.
Spoiler Alert
The Main Event
-Guardians of the Galaxy #1- The Guardians were formed out of the second Annihilation event and this features the team coming together, interviews with the team after their first mission and some great reveals. It seems that the two Annihilation events has made the universe weak and something is trying to break through. Warlock knows this is why he is back in this universe. Mantis warns us readers that in 9 months one of the team members will betray them and kill them. I for one can’t wait to read. Abnett and Lanning have full reign over Marvel’s Universe stories since they have been hitting them out of the park. Add in Pelletier’s art and this is a winner. 1/1.
-Finals Crisis Sketchbook #1- This is a sketchbook of JG Jones showing new concepts and ideas for characters what will appear in the title, ranging from the New Gods, Kamandi, Libra, and interestingly enough a horde of Japanese heroes. I don’t know how the Japanese heroes will tie into this whole Final Crisis but in the hands of Morrison I am sure it will be fine. The price was steep for a sketchbook but the explanations were a nice addition and it gets you pumped for the epic DC storyline, so, 1/1.
Marvel
-All-New Iron Manual #1- This is a handbook style comic dealing with a horde of characters in Iron Man’s history. The best part of the book is they show all the variations of armor he has used through the years. It’s a little steep ($5.00) but you know it is a Handbook style book so you know what you’re getting into. The versions of Tony’s armor was enough for me to keep it. 2/2.
-Amazing Spider-Girl #20- This is cleverly titled, Brand New May. May is intent on changing her life, making more time for Gene, maybe even cheerleading. Things aren’t all roses as a new group (Humanity First) revives the whole anti-mutant thing and their target is May’s classmate Sara Hingle, who it is revealed has been following May. May has to deal with this new group now but her father, Peter, has something even bigger on his sleeve. He gets a call from Normie Osborne and shocking news. The May we know and love is just a clone and the real one was hidden in one of Norman’s old hideouts. I read this and immediately thought of the Clone Wars and a shiver went up my spine with how bad this could be. But, in the hands of Defalco, who lived through the original, and without a huge cache of books to coordinate, this should be great. 3/3.
-Amazing Spider-Man #559- Spider-Man encounters Screwball, who tapes everything for the internet. When Spidey puts a tracer on her she gets scared and turns herself in, since Spidey is accused of following people and killing them when they had the tracer on them. Spidey escapes and Peter goes to work. He gets a new job, taking paparazzi pictures. He takes on and has to escape from the celebrities posse and runs into Norman, who refuses to help him (!). The celeb he took pictures of seems to have a stalker named Paper Doll who can blend into walls. Everyone questions Peter’s new paparazzi job. The art reminded me a lot of Mike Allred. This was a good opening issue, with Peter getting a new job for more money but possibly throwing away his morals and a new villain (Paper Doll) being introduced. 4/4.
-Captain Britain and MI13 #1- UK is also being attacked by Skrulls and the MI13 has no qualms about killing them. Captain Britain, Spitfire, Pete Wisdom and seem to be the main stars here, as well as a Skrull who looks like John Lennon in the MI13. They stop a bunch of Skrulls but find their true motives. They are planning to drop a bomb on The Seige Perilous, the magic epicenter of thje UK. Capt. Britain flies up to stop the bomb as it explodes, possibly killing him? Very good opening issue, as it ties in perfectly to Secret Invasion but from a different viewpoint and I can see this being the best of the complimentary Secret Invasion stories. 5/5.
-Giant-Size Incredible Hulk #1- The original story pertains to a writer interviewing a whole bunch of people who have had encounters with Hulk and trying to delve a little deeper into his legacy and what makes him who he is. In the end, the writer hopes that the hell Hulk and Banner go through, will finally end. The real star of this story is a reprint of Hulk Annual #7, featuring Hulk teaming up with Angel and Iceman to defeat the Master Mold. The original story was decent, but if you don’t have the original Hulk Annual, you need this. It is just an awesome Stern/Byrne story. Well-worth the $4. 6/6.
-Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #2- Iron Man finds out that he was sold out to Mephisto so he could steal a piece of the Excalibur from Morgana La Fey. Doom is still bitter about her double-cross and so he sends La Fey back to the past to her tower where she can’t escape. Iron Man must deal with a monster version of his father in hell. He eventually defeats him and steals some of the tech he had to transport him back to Doom’s castle. Doom, powered by Excalibur, actually cuts Tony with the sword and it doesn’t bode well for Stark. I love that Michilenie and Layton are revisiting this classic match-up and the art of Lim is keeping up with the story to a T. 7/7.
-Last Defenders, The #3- She-Hulk, Nighthawk, and the SHIELD agent escape from the Serpent Society and stop their madbomb from exploding. The Madbomb was meant to restore white supremecy. Nighthawk finds the Defenders are disbanded but when he sees an alert for an Initiative team, he gathers some mercenaries (Atlas, Paladin, and Junta) and goes to a huge oil drill where an Atlantean is helping a corporate exec drill. The Defenders show up to stop it as Krang shows up wanting revenge. The cover was done by Yu, possibly as fill-in but even he can’t save this story. There is way too much going on (first the Serpents, then Krang), too many members, some mysterious guy (who looks like Lex Luthor) after Nighthawk and just a story that is heading down the drain quickly with no means of being stopped. 7/8.
-Marvel Spotlight: Incredible Hulk #1- This is actually one of the better Spotlights I have read in a while, and it all focuses on the Incredible Hulk movie. First up is an interview with Hulk director Louis Leterrier, and his explanations on why the first movie failed and how he planned to make it different was great. Tim Roth is interviewed but it was the only dull part of the issue. Greg Pak talks about the third part of his Hulk trilogy, Skaar, Hulk’s son. Jeph Loeb is interviewed about his work on Hulk Red and it is a fascinating interview. Ed McGuinness chimes in on the same title, Hulk: Gray has a few pages devoted to it, Marvel Adventures Hulk artist Steve Scott is interviewed, Bruce Jones talks about his high-profile run on the title and pulls no punches and finally Larry David is interviewed about She-Hulk. This was just a fantastic issue. 8/9.
-Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1- We see a Skrull impersonate Reed (which I don’t think Sue would ever buy but I digress) and take out Sue and then another Skrull invades the Baxter Building and send them into the Negative Zone. At first Thing and Torch are confused and Torch starts believing that this Sue is really his sister and she did this as per Reed’s orders. Thing fends off some Negative Zone monsters to protect the Richards kids. So we go back to Torch as he realizes this Sue is a fake and its really a Skrull and that she trapped the FF in the Negative Zone to keep them out of the Secret Invasion. That’s all fine and dandy but then the knockout punch, Sue is being impersonated by Lyja! (If you don’t know who she is, you didn’t read comics in the 90’s). Awesome issue. 9/10.
-Thunderbolts #120- Norman goes crazy, dons the Goblin suit and crucifies Swordsman. The captured villains continue influencing the Thunderbolts minds by sending Moonstone to kill Penance and Samson and start having the Tbolts kill innocents to tarnish their name. It may seem like a lot didn’t go on, but the dark art of Deodato, the absolute perfect writing of a clearly insane Norman Osborn was just a great way to spend $3.00 10/11.
-The Twelve #5- The best mini-series on the stands, bar none, continues, as we see the Witness making sure those who should be punished, are and this time it is an old man who was involved in Auschwitz and he gets hit by a bus. Dynamic Man signs with the FBI and returns to the mansion to try and get Captain Wonder to fight with him, but they end up fighting themselves. Captain Wonder still doesn’t know about how life is and tries to give a speech to a bunch of students who are in gangs, have been shot at, and Captain Wonder just can’t understand this world. Dynamic Man shows up but Wonder is not ready yet. He dons the suit at the end. The daughter of Professor Zog tries to get Electro back but the government won’t budge. Blue Blade gets a TV deal, and Laughing Mask is arrested at the end for a murder he committed in 1940, in a very surprising twist. Awesome stuff all around, as usual. 11/12.
-Wolverine #65- Wolverine and Mystique have their fateful confrontation and we a little more of Wolvie and Mysty’s past, where it was actually Logan who sold out Mystique in Kansas in the twenties. They fight, Logan says he is trying to redeem himself while Mystique just doesn’t care. Wolvie ends up brain dead but recovers as Mystique bleeds out in the desert. Wolvie walks away and leaves a gun for Mystique, probably to kill herself, and its ovah. I don’t know, was anything settled? Wolverine found Mystique but we know she isn’t going to die. It still shed a little light on the Logan/Mystique relationship and was good enough for a point. 12/13.
-Wolverine: The Amazing Immortal Man and Other Bloody Tales #1- This was just a collection of three tales, two where people give an account of seeing Wolverine (one at a circus show, where guess what, one of Logan’s woman friends gets killed and another of a bus driver who goes crazy) and finally Wolverine battling some crazy demon sucking baby. I wasn’t crazy about this at all. I ended the week with this, and it ended on a downer, and I would not recommend shelling out $4.00 for this. 12/14.
DC
-Bat Lash #6- Bat follows Brubaker. Bat eventually catches up to Brubaker. Bat kills Brubaker. Bat comes home but Dominique is not there. Bat finds Dominique at a convent and she is a woman of prayer now. Bat is sad but understands, both their families were ravaged by the war and can never be the same. This was a pretty good ending. I thought it was a bit anti-climactic but in retrospect it was what it was. One man looking for the love of his life, the trials he goes through, and ultimately why it wouldn’t work. It is like a Greek tragedy but a good one. 2/2.
-Batman Confidential #17- Instead of All-Star Batgirl and Catwoman titles we were promised we have this. Batgirl has her first encounter with Catwoman. Catwoman steals a book Babs had with Gotham PD stuff in it which leads to a chase. Catwoman hides out in a Hedonist society where Batgirl needs to drop trou to enter. It was just a fun story, taking a Silver Age feel and upping it a bit for modern times. 3/3.
-Booster Gold #9- Booster and Beetle round up all the old JLI buddies and storm Max Lord’s space complex. Lord is eventually killed by Dr. Light (the good one) but the fight is just beginning for Booster as the Time Stealers show up. Rip and his gang have no clue what the Time Stealers are after and that worries him. Still great stuff from Johns and Jurgens, as Booster is definitely one of the top DC titles on the stands now, perfectly set in its own little niche where stories can develop free of any continuity issues. 4/4.
-Gotham Underground #8- Penguins crew vacates him when Jigsaw, I mean Johnny Stitches threatens their families with certain death. He orders Penguin out of Gotham. Meanwhile, Batman shows up and opens a can of whoop-ass on Vigilante and says he wants to take his city back. There is going to be one huge gang battle next issue. I don’t have any problems with this issue. It wasn’t great but there was nothing that made it bad enough not to warrant a point. 5/5.
-Green Arrow and Black Canary #8- This may be one of my favorite titles out there. GA/BC and Speedy invade a British Castle that Dodger tells them he traced some suspicious calls to. They storm the castle, (including Dodger) and find a sealed case they think Connor may be in. They open the case and find Plastic Man (who is definitely not in Countdown to Mystery right now)! Mike Norton did an awesome jobe on this issue, as his art was very similar to Cliff Chiang, and the art is really what makes this a fun title for me. 6/6.
-Huntress #1- I only know Huntress from her tenure in Birds of Prey and I hope this will shed some light on her character. We see a young Huntress whose family is involved in the mob get gunned down in front of her. She moves with her cousins in Italy and trains there. Old friends from the past show up and she is determined to break her cousin out of jail. This issue is a fine opening, as we see how heartache in her young life made her disconnected and how it lead to her abilities in fighting. Will it work as 6-issue series? I don’t know, but this was an acceptable opener. 7/7.
-Superman #676- This standalone tale features Superman remembering his first Memorial Day in Metropolis and teaming up with the original Green Lantern to stop Solomon Grundy. It features a great Alex Ross cover, as a standalone issue you don’t need any background knowledge, and it is just a solid issue. 8/8.
-Titans #2- The Titans search for other Titans who are being knocked off and save them as Raven looks for and finds her father. It seems her father has had other children besides Raven and they are the ones helping him. That does not pose well for the Titans. What didn’t pose well for me was the art. Churchill was awesome on the first issue and we get a joe named Joe Benitez and I have to be honest, the art just didn’t work for me for this issue. Every expression was over played, and Raven’s hood was way annoying. 8/9, the lone miss for DC this week.
-Wonder Woman #20- Wonder Woman meets a man called the Stalker and when she lassos him she finds the man has no soul and puts her in a trance. When she awakes she has little control to stop her anger and rage and her desire to kill her enemies. She goes off and meets Beowulf (!) who is looking for Grendel. She wants the taste for war. A darker Wonder Woman? That sounds pretty good, considering she killed Max Lord and this was just a path she was bound to go down. 9/10.
Wildstorm
-Gen13 #20- The Gen kids are being chased by the enemies from last issue. The Gen’s manage to defeat them then head to the director of the film they were recorded for. Sarah’s woman friend sacrifices her life to save the Gen’s to Sarah’s sorrow. The Gens take out the rest of the villains and decide they’ve had enough of New York. Now, here is what the problem was with this. The artist changed for the final story, creating a jarring departure from what the pace of the story was, and although the story ended well enough, it seemed very basic and by the numbers and I don’t think the Gen kids progressed at all this mini-series. I have to say that this title misses some of its punch that Gail Simone brought it. 0/1.
-Number of the Beast #3- Things are going bad for the Wildstorm universe. The seas are turning into blood, and a superpowered beast called, The High is awake. He was the mass of good we saw in earlier issues. He returns to where Dr. Sin was and after crushing his legs last issue, then chucks him away when he’s done with him. The High says he was not the same hero he was back in the 40’s. Meanwhile, the heroes we have seen are dealing with looters, the cavewoman is not all she seems, and The High is fading in and out of reality. This was a very good structured story, showing a new hero (The High) who is not what he was in the 40’s and a whole plague of sorts going on in the world. Just how the High ties into it will be seen. 1/2.
Dynamite Studios
-Project Superpowers #3- Masquerade (paper faces on parade) and Samson appear on the cover of this issue. We see the two of the superpowers (Fighting Yank and Black Terror) fighting in Shangri-La against some evil men wearing US flag outfits. We also see how Sampson lost his eyesight (trying to stop one of the atom bombs). Devil is in Paris, Hydro shows up, Masquerade doesn’t know who she is but meets up with V-Man, who does. Masquerade has red spots on her face, which probably isn’t good. Mr. Face scares some people in a bar, and Fighting Yank falls in battle with the American Spirit draped over him. This had a lot of things going on and if you read it quickly you don’t get the story. You need to absorb it and when you do, it is really a well-crafted story of old heroes trying to make right in this world that passed them by. We are at issue 3 and still we have characters introduced. By the end of the first act I would hope all the characters are shown and we can get ready for them to team-up to face a common foe. 1/1.
Awards
-Book of the Week- Really there is only one title that will be considered. I liked Guardians of the Galaxy and SI Fantastic Four, but The Twelve continues to expand on forgotten characters and continues to be surprising. This is how a group of people out of time would react, even down to Electro being fought over in a court of law. For the record, JMS is now tied for first on the BotW count, and Weston is in first. This title has won 4 out of the 5 times it has been read.
-Disappointment of the Week- This was a tough one. I didn’t expect much out of the Wolvie one-shot so that is out of the running, Last Defenders is just a throwaway mini-series, Gen13 was a disappointment but the biggest one was Titans #2. It had such a promising start and we get this, with lazy art and scripts.
-Cover of the Week- Superman #676 by Alex Ross was the winner for me this week, which makes it two in a row for him, only the second time in TPL history that has been done. Solomon is holding Supes underwater and although you can see his outline, the red of his eyes about ready to fire is just visually stunning.
-The Bottom Line- Wildstorm hit 50% this week, Dynamite pulled out another solid effort and DC had its best week since it went 8 for 8 in the second week of April, finally restoring themselves after four off weeks. Marvel hit another homerun, with a great 12 out of 14. I have to say that Secret Invasion FF was great, as was The Twelve and Marvel just keeps being on a roll.
|
|
|
|
|
Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
|
|
|
|