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Sorry for the delay with this one. School was a real bitch towards the end of the semester and it totally threw me off the comic-reading game. Anyway, to save time I’ll keep this short. There’re four DC comics and 16 Marvel comics (for a total of 20 books), and two Free Comic Book Day books thrown in that my LCS was nice enough to save for me.
Spoiler Alert
Marvel
-Agents of Atlas #4- This is getting increasingly amazing, as the layers of story are being peeled away to create something as memorable as the first Agents mini-series. This combines the events of the past, with secret portals giving way to secret missions, including the frozen bodies of Bucky and Captain America. The past comes back to the present, with the Agents taking on Captain America, who gets his pals the New Avengers at issues end. This is a great story so far. 1/1.
-Amazing Spider-Man #593- Parker deals with his Aunt and Jonah, and then deals with going back to tormenting JJJ. He also comes upon the new Vulture and is blinded by the beast. This was a solid story, and I am interested in seeing the origin of this Vulture. 2/2.
-Astonishing Tales #4- I’m coming to appreciate this title a bit more. The Wolverine/Punisher story got interesting with the addition of two Predator’s, Iron Man 2020 dealing with a whole fleet of enemies, and Sam and Roberto making a Wedding Crasher’s type spoof. The three ongoings were all interesting. The Daredevil story was confusing but it isn’t enough to bring the title down. 3/3.
-Cable #14- Angel flies to Apocalypse but doesn’t help him. Bishop tries to double-cross Stryfe and kill Hope, but Stryfe finds out and uses this to his advantage, gaining the trust of Hope. Meanwhile, X-Force and Cable attempt to break into Stryfe’s headquarters. I didn’t like the payoff to Apocalypse/Angel, but the Stryfe/Hope thing makes me want to find out what will happen next. 4/4.
-Daredevil: Noir #2- DD gets immersed in Halloran’s mess, especially when Eliza tells him that Halloran killed his father. The bulls eye killer seems to be on Halloran’s side as DD teams up with the Kingpin to take out Halloran. This doesn’t change the mythology of the character like Spider-Man or X-Men did, though Daredevil was always noir-ish anyways (at least when Brubaker was writing it). This is a good, albeit not great, story thus far. 5/5.
-Deadpool #10- Bullseye/Hawkeye gets sent after Deadpool, who is getting hired for kills now on Craigslist. Bullseye finds him and shoots an arrow through his head. I really like how Way is handling Deadpool so far, writing him really well. 6/6.
-Exiles #2- The Exiles get deep into Magneto’s kingdom and discover more about this world where Magneto rules (but isn’t the House of M). They are discovered by their version of Jean Grey and are captured. We learn more about some of our Exiles, like Forge is married to Storm on his world and Black Panther is the son of Storm and T’Challa on his world. We have some good characters so far and I actually like this group. 7/7.
-Hulk: Broken Worlds #2-This is an interesting concept, taking the Hulk from four different Marvel universes and presenting short tales of them. We look at the Hulk from the Age of Apocalypse, the Mangaverse, and the 1602 Universe and from Days of the Future Past. This doesn’t add anything to the character or to the current series, but looking in at these alternate realities is always fun. 8/8.
-Human Torch Comics– Marvel 70th Anniversary #1- Human Torch, the original one from the 40’s, has a run-in with some humans after losing his skin in a recent battle. It reveals a lot about people and how their perception of things change depending on how things look. There’re some interesting cameos here, including Howard Stark and Warren Worthington. There’s a reprint from Human Torch #2 as well. I love these 70th anniversary tie-ins, as it really honors the history of Marvel. 9/9.
-Invincible Iron Man #13- Pepper is captured by Norman but won’t reveal any information. He lets her go but with restrictions on how she can use her armor. She immediately disobeys, too. Meanwhile, Tony is trying to rebuild his armor before his impressive intellect fails. Maria Hill also escapes from the Controller and grabs something Stark wanted her to get. This title has been reborn in the wake of Secret Invasion, combining three different characters into one storyline. 10/10.
-Marvel Zombies 4 #2-The Hood is working under the control of Dormammu, who wants to unleash the Zombie virus on the world to fit his own psychotic musings. Morbius and the rest of the Midnight Sons are there with a serum that only makes the virus airborne. Looks like we’re screwed. This is another twist on the Zombie epic where you’d think no more twists existed. 11/11.
-New Avengers: The Reunion #3- Bobbi and Clint’s rocky relationship continues as they search for the scientists that AIM is kidnapping. Bobbi remembers being captured by the Skrulls and the nightmarish times of the Skrull Hawkeye pestering her, then witnesses the place they are in explode with Clint missing and the AIM scientist supreme ready to challenge Bobbi. I flip-flop with this. I liked the second issue but hated the first, and I am leaning towards not liking this, either. I think the looks at Bobbi in the throes of the Skrulls makes this an interesting title. 12/12.
-New Mutants #1- Magik shows up to the new X-Mansion to the dismay of the youngsters there. Cannonball and Sunspot accept her with open arms, though she seems a bit more devious than before. They head off to find Shan and Dani Moonstar, who have gone missing in a small anti-mutant town. The New Mutants have costumes similar to the ones in Astonishing X-Men. The New Mutants think they have found their fallen friend only to realize they have unlocked Legion from his cage. Whoops. If you don’t know who Legion is you should check out wikipedia. He was the one who started the Age of Apocalypse. Great first issue. 13/13.
-Universal War One Book 2 #2- Speaking of great, Universal War One has been one of the best things I ever committed to purchasing. It is just epic in nature and I am surprised no one has optioned this to make a film. The saga continues. Earth has been destroyed and the gang of four have been sent out of the Milky Way. Kalish finds a way back into the galaxy but they arrive 30 years in the future with the evil CIC controlling everything. June is killed while trying to escape which just angers Mario. He destroys the CIC base where Kalish and Kate are imprisoned. They are freed and escape on the ship with their old friends, Amina and Milorad, who are thirty years older and sleeping with the enemy. Kalish, who blames himself for the Earth being destroyed, hangs himself. I love this book. 14/14.
-War of Kings #3- Oh man, this is getting better by the issue. The Starjammers and the Guardians try and free Lilandra, and the shocking turn of the Gladiator to the side of Lilandra poses huge problems for Vulcan in the near-future. Just a fabulous issue. 15/15.
-X-Men First Class #4- The X-Men journey through Jean’s mind to try and stop her psychic manifestations from causing real harm. Scott cures Jean with a kiss and the X-Men officially graduate. They go off on their next mission right after that, something about Krakoa? This neatly tied up the time between the end of the X-Men series, the Hidden Years series and right up to the X-Men falling to Krakoa. This leads way to an Uncanny X-Men first class. I really like these original X-Men together and the stories have just been fun. 16/16.
DC
-Batman: Battle for the Cowl – The Network #1- This is a tale of Oracle running a network of heroes to try and make-up for the disappearance of Batman. I don’t know if this told anything new, but it was enjoyable. 1/1.
-Final Crisis: Run #1- This is the first of four mini-series stemming from the end of Final Crisis. I think it is a bit of overkill but I will reserve judgment until they are all finished. This focuses on the Human Flame, who gets caught up in killing some mobsters for money and now on the run from them and his past. The rebirth of the Human Flame was one of the things I liked about Final Crisis so it is nice to see him get more face time. 2/2.
-Superman: World of New Krypton #3- Superman negotiates a peaceful treaty between the Labor and the Science guild while one of Zod’s men tries to undermine him. Superman ends up defeating him in a duel when the Green Lanterns show up to talk to Supes. This has been quite good thus far. 3/3.
-Trinity #49- Kronas escapes from his prison and rips the Earth apart. We see the effects of that epic event in the second story. What a great mini-series so far. This is definitely the best weekly series DC has done. 4/4.
Free Comic Book Day 2009
We can’t forget the Free Comic Book Day books! My LCS was nice enough to save these for me as I didn’t even show up on FCBD Saturday. I should say that the FCBD issues were much smaller than the standard sized issues. I don’t know if other company’s did the same, but it is obvious that the economy necessitated these changes.
-Wolverine: Origin of An X-Man #1- It’s not really an origin but an early Department H mission. Basically, Wolvie uses his wit to stop a mutant from tormenting a town. This was very similar to a First Class type story.
-The Avengers #1- This is a New Avengers/Dark Avengers team-up with Thor to battle a Frost Giant. Bendis wrote this so you can expect a whole bunch of his corny dialogue in here. Jim Cheung drew this and it looks great. Spider-Man narrated this and he doesn’t mention he unmasked to his team yet, so I don’t know if it’ll hold up in the New Avengers title. As a first confrontation between the two teams it was good, though the ending left a lot to be desired (Norman letting the New Avengers go because Thor said so).
Awards
-Book of the Week- Universal War Book Two #2 was by far the best title I read this week. It is just an epic comic and is just begging to be translated into the big screen. It is just so different than anything that is out on the stands which is probably why I like it so much.
-Disappointment of the Week- I didn’t have a problem with any of these books, so there won’t be one awarded.
-Cover of the Week- The New Mutants #1 mash-up gatefold cover, drawn by Adam Kubert, Alex Ross and Bob McLeod, was the clear winner this week. It was just kick-ass.
-The Bottom Line- Any week you have no duds is always a strong week. Again, sorry for the delays but when you get a combined 20/20, I don’t mind the wait.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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