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It’s the final week of October and as you know, this is always the heaviest week in terms of actual comics shipped and ones I pick up. Luckily October had 5 Wednesdays which lessened the load somewhat. This week I picked up 2 Wildstorm comics, 1 Vertigo title, 2 Dynamite titles, 6 DC’s and 18 Marvels for a grand total of 29 comics. I can usually pump out 30 comics in a 7-day span, but as the old saying goes, “when it rains, it pours.” That saying couldn’t be more true than this week, as it’s been crazy at work (with grades being due at the end of the week), a whole load of class work to be completed by the weekend that I need to finish for the final class, and other issues I don’t want to get into at this point. It’s been a crazy week and I apologize for more delays, but that’s life.
Spoiler Alert
The Main Event
-Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns #1- Remember the Sinestro Corps and the revelation that were more than just the green and yellow rings? Well, here’s the Red Rings! Some guy named Atrocitus (who Wikipedia tells me is an old GL villain) wields the power and attacks as the GLC prep for the execution of Sinestro. This wasn’t really FC tie-in (I think the deocide thing was mentioned on like one page) but was a good jump-start to the Blackest Night tie-ins. 1/1.
-Captain America: Theater of War #1- This was really just a cool look at Cap in his glory days, back in World War II, stopping a German plot to use UFO’s with the help of a scientist who wants to do the right thing. I don’t know how much mileage this would get with newer fans, as the $4.00 price tag was a little high, especially for a story not in current continuity, but I eat up all these old Cap stories and this was an enjoyable tale if you could get your hands on it. 1/1.
Marvel
-Amazing Spider-Man #575- Spider-Man comes into contact with the new Hammerhead, who really takes it to Spidey. Hammerhead goes after young kids and gangs to rally behind Mr. Negative. I really like the Bachalo art, and this is a fun start to a two-parter where Spidey gets his arse handed to him. 2/2.
-Amazing Spider-Man Annual #35- This reveals a look into the past of Jackpot. She’s a real hero who didn’t want to be a hero and thus gave up. Her friend wanted to be a hero, though, and took over the mantle by taking MGH and other drugs. Kids, don’t do drugs! Jackpot ends up dying at the end, and Spidey tells Sara how it is all her fault. This annual served its purpose, it gives key information for BND Spider-Man, without eating up any time in the regular title. 3/3.
-Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1- This was a little confusing. A Ghost Box looks at other timelines, and it appears this is 616 Earth? The Earth is taken over by Sentinels in the first part, and we see Victorian X-Men in the second part. I have to say, the way Adi drew Emma Frost, you could swear it was influenced by Ali Larter. This gives us a good indication that the Ghost Box is a device we’ll be hearing more of. 4/4.
-Avengers: The Initiative #18- This is another SI tie-in (I wonder how much longer this will go on, with all these damned tie-ins) and this is more of the same, the Skrull Kill Crew killing Skrulls and the guys splitting up with the heads of the other SKC members with them, in something reminiscent of Futurama. Eh, take a pass my friends. 4/5.
-Incredible Hercules #122- Hercules battles Sub-Mariner, Cho gets in with the Themyscirians and the big plot is revealed. It seems the Amazons have Poseidon hostage and Namor and Hercules need to make them pay. This is similar to the popcorn movies. It may not have the most substance, but damn if it isn’t fun to read. I love the mythical aspects this title has, too. 5/6.
-Marvel 1985 #6- So Toby brings the heroes back to his time to stop all the villains, and it turns out that this was all the work of Clyde Wyncham, the first mutant in that time that is basically a telepath. I didn’t see that ending coming. This was fun for what it was. I don’t think it was the insta-classic that many people thought it was, but it was a good read and I can’t fault it for any reason. 6/7.
-Marvel Apes #4- Another interesting Marvel mini-series comes to a close. If you couldn’t figure it out, Gibbon does defeat the evil Cap vampire and returns to the 616-Earth with Ape Speedball in hand, and he wants to join the Avengers! This was as silly as people thought it was going to be, but not as stupid as many thought. It was different, and it was enjoyable, and that’s what I want from my comic books. 7/8.
-Nova #18- Nova, Darkhawk and Quasar put an ass-whooping on the Skrulls, until they see a huge warship flying o’er head. Luckily, some Nova Centurions show up to destroy the plane and Nova, like myself, are very surprised that there are still Nova’s out there. Another awesome Abnett/Lanning issue, were you expecting any less? 8/9.
-Secret Invasion: Thor #3- Thor and Beta Ray Bill kill a fat Super-Skrull and Oklahoma is happy. The art was nice, but this story wasn’t needed at all. 8/10.
-Secret Invasion: X-Men #3- Emma breaks through the Skrull psi-blockade, Beast finds a way to fight off the Skrulls, and Nightcrawler still has to deal with the mystical orb. Beast says that since Skrulls are sort of mutants, the Legacy Virus will wipe them out, so are they planning genocide? I don’t know what I feel about this, is it an essential SI tie-in? Not really. Does it have an interesting theme and plot? Kind of. The X-Men knows what its like to have a species wiped out, so will they stoop to those levels to stop an invading alien force? That’s some real interesting questions to ask there. We’ll give it the point. 9/11.
-Skaar: Son of Hulk #4- Skaar fights a monster and the residents of Sakaar think he’s a savior. The back-up has the origin of the guy Skaar was fighting at the end of the main story. It’s great action and this is a fun story to read to get your action fix. 10/12.
-Ultimate Captain America Annual #1- This is the origin of Ultimate Black Panther. Basically it’s the king (T’Chaka) forcing his son (T’Challa) to try and become Black Panther but he dies in the process, or is severely incapacitated, one of the two. So the other son, M’Baku, is turned over to the Weapon X program and becomes the Black Panther. Cap fights him, finds out that M’Baku is not there of his own accord, and sends him home, impersonating him in the process (as seen in Ultimates 3). It keeps the spirit of what the Black Panther was but with enough changes to make it new and fresh and relevant in the Ultimate Universe. 11/13.
-Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3- Peter doesn’t want to go all the way with MJ, causing a rift between the two. MJ works for her paper as Spider-Man battles a new foe in the Ultimate U, Mysterio. Peter and MJ make up in the end. This introduced Mysterio told around a coming of age story for Peter and MJ. 12/14.
-Wolverine: First Class #8- The Russian team tries to tell Wolverine that Kitty helped of her own accord but when they all discover that the plant the Russians are trying to save is harvesting mutants, they know they need to put a stop to it. Kitty becomes part of the collective there and helps destroy the facility and restore order. This was decent enough. 13/15.
-Wolverine: Origins #29- Original Sin continues, Wolverine knows that Shaw set him up but he doesn’t care, as Wolverine just wants his son back. He knows that Shaw wants to use Daken as a weapon, much like Xavier used Wolverine as we see in the flashbacks. This is an interesting concept that has a whole new spin on the Wolverine/Xavier relationship that explains a lot as to how Wolvie came to join the X-Men in the first place. Also, Deodato did a pretty cool cover homage to UXM #100. 14/16.
-X-Force #8- X-Force goes after Vanisher as Angel starts giving in to his Apoclayptian way of thinking as Death, the Archangel. X-Force do end up capturing Vanisher. Domino shows up, and Warpath has to fight a big bear. The Warpath stuff is crap, but the inclusion of Domino, Vanisher and the business-like attitude of X-23 is really fit. 15/17.
-X-Men: First Class Giant-Sized Special #1- This is like the Halloween version of the X-Men FC. These stories are all good fun, with Beast and the rest investigating some alien mysteries, a cool Xavier black and white bit, and a reprint of X-Men #40 featuring Frankenstein. Just a really fun title. 16/18.
DC
-DC Universe: Decisions #4- This was an appropriate time for this to end, as elections were just this Tuesday. The story kind of ended, with Jericho being defeated and the heroes saying they won’t interfere in politics again. Good enough for what it was, to get ya’ll interested in the election, which ended with Obama winning. 2/2.
-Justice League of America #26- Vixen takes a romp through an alternate universe thanks to Anansi then forces him to make it normal again. Yeah, this doesn’t make me care about Vixen at all. 2/3.
-Superman #681- The world knows about the new Kryptonians and are a little leery, Krypto goes home to Ma Kent, and when the Kryptonian ambassador plans to meet the president, everyone is shocked when Doomsday falls from the sky. Well, it’s Doomsday! With all these Kryptonians though, I don’t see where he has a hope in hell of doing anything. Good enough. 3/4.
-Superman/Batman #53- This is an interesting concept where Superman patrols Gotham while Bruce is in business in Metropolis. Even more interesting, Superman loses his powers and Batman gains them. Very interesting concept and I think this should be a good story arc. 4/5.
-Trinity #22- The McDaniel story is the lead story here, as we get a history of the scroll that Freddie gave to Tarot. Meanwhile, we see more of this new Earth. I think in terms of story progression this was the weakest of the issues thus far, but it still was worth the $3.00 and gets an easy point. 5/6.
Dynamite
-Project Superpowers #7- This had a nice and tidy ending, as the released heroes defeat a group of undead soldiers and this ushers in what appears to be a utopia, with the Fighting Yank redeeming himself in the process. What was great about this first arc is that we have characters most of us have never heard of or even care about, and made us invested in them and their story. We have Fighting Yank as the crux of the story, the flawed hero who thinks he’s doing right by imprisoning his fellow heroes and the tale of his redemption once those heroes are freed. 1/1.
-Project Superpowers Chapter Two Prelude- This is just a look at what Vol. 2 of PS will bring, as well as little glimpses at the three mini-series spinoffs they will have. It was only a buck and worth it for the Ross art. I don’t know how much momentum they have, though, and if telling now four stories will hurt the quality at all. 2/2.
Vertigo
-Northlanders #11- This is becoming one of my favorite books on the stands, as there’s nothing cooler than angry Vikings, no matter from where or whence they came. This is just as cool as the first two arcs. Basically a man takes his daughter around with him and kills all the kings men. He starts gaining some notice and now the king has dispatched some of the big guns after him. His daughter and him are now on the run. It has the great violence we like from Vikings, but told in a completely different story than the previous two arcs. 1/1.
Wildstorm
-World of Warcraft #12- This was a solid tale of Lo’Gosh heading into the land he rules, confronting his fake, and having his faux-mistress turn into a dragon. They fight the dragon and agree to team up to save their son, and then figure out which one is the real Lo’Gosh. 1/1.
-World of Warcraft: Ashbringer #2- I can’t say I liked this as much as the first one, mainly because I didn’t remember it. It appears that the Ashbringer (the “one sword,” basically) kills the owner during the fight but its really a plot by one of his son’s who wants control of the sword. This is very heavy in the mythology of the genre as opposed to the straightforward regular WoW series. Still, a fun tale. 2/2.
Awards
-Book of the Week- I have to go with Northlanders #11. It just kicked ass, no questions asked.
-Disappointment of the Week- Secret Invasion Thor #3 was the biggest waste of paper this week, as the whole SI tie-in was poorly executed. Take a pass.
-Cover of the Week- Action Comics #681, with the falling Supermans, ruled all this week, as does cover artist extraordinaire, Alex Ross. Wolverine Origins was also an awesome cover.
-The Bottom Line- Well, if it seemed abbreviated and rushed, it’s because it was. Like I said, I had a terrible week and unfortunately things take precedence over my reviews. Still, here it is, and expect the next TPL to be slightly delayed as well. In terms of comics, I enjoyed them, and it did make my tough week a little better, since it provided some sort of escape.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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