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Well, I was a day late this past week and I will try to get this out on time this week. I don’t know if I’ll be able to since I have to read 70 pages of some crap book for one of my SJU classes and then write a 4-6 page paper for the other one. These teachers have to realize I have a life and I work 40 hours a week at least. 12 Marvels, 11 DCs make up 23 books I picked up this week and throw in a Wizard you get a wallet that is lighter by about $70. Enough complainin’, let’s do this!
Spoilers Ahead
Main Event
-Wonder Woman Annual #1– This finally finishes the Who Is Wonder Woman story started by Allan Heingberg many many moons ago. It wasn’t a bad ending, to be frank, it featured Wonder Woman beating up all her enemies with the help of her friends and eventually takes out Hercules. Circe gives her a “gift” of not being invincible while Diana Prince but still having all her powers as Wonder Woman. There’s also a back-up story featuring the origin of Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, the second Wonder Girl and Nemesis.
-Immortal Iron Fist Annual #1- This is a long story featuring Danny visiting someone who used to travel with Orson and documented his life. This was in between the fighting tournement Iron Fist is fighting in and used to learn more about the history of Iron Fist and all. This wasn’t too spectacular, but it told a good story.
Marvel
-Annihilation Conquest – Starlord #3- Starlord and company are stuck in the Kree world and mourning the loss of Groot, when he appears, albeit in smaller stature. The squad lanquishes in the lower bowels of the city when some Phalanx rats flush them out into the streets. Most of them are caught, except for Mantis and Captain Universe, who is still fighting them.
-Avengers: The Initiative #6- This is a mystery tale featuring the Initiative trying to figure out who assaulted Gauntlet. SHIELD gets involved to the dismay of the Initiative members. They suspect its Rage or Justice but it actually turns out to be Slapstick, though Gauntlet covers it up and says it was an old Iron Man villain. Not too great a mystery thriller.
-Captain America: The Chosen #2- Captain America is dying and still helps a soldier fighting in Iraq. The soldier thinks he’s hallucinating but Cap is always there to help. I don’t know what the point is, yet, but it’s a decent story.
-Crimimal #9- We learn more about Tracy Lawless and his past, his dead mother and father, and spending time with his crime father. Tracy tries to find out how his brother died and questions everyone from his woman to the guy running the big job. Some one is after Tracy, too. Great crime-noir stuff here. This is a must-read.
-Immortal Iron Fist #9- Iron Fist meditates about his upcoming fight when some woman breaks into his apartment and says he must lose the fight. He ends up losing it and the woman he met in his apartment is actually Orson’s daughter who tells him he must go while he waits for the final battle. He leaves and we see his adventures in the Iron Fist Annual #1. Good issue.
-Iron Man #22- Iron Man continues to investigate Gadgets’s death and finds that it was actually Paragon who did it. The government also continues its Extremis testing and starts on human subjects. The mystery behind who killed Gadget was pretty boring and this title is nowhere near as interesting as it was during the Civil War and World War Hulk.
-Marvel Zombies: The Book of Angels, Demons & Various Monstrosities- This is a handbook style book featuring all the angels and demons in the Marvel Universe.
-The Order #3- This is told from the perspective of James Wa, also known as Calamity. He has super speed but has no legs due to being hit by a drunk driver. He helps the Order stop some zombies but is put on the shelf when they attack again. He finds out where the drunk driver lives and apparantly beats him up. This wasn’t great or anything, just alright.
-Punisher (Max) Annual #1- This is a story of the Punisher hunting down some small gang leader and the gang leader gets increasingly paranoid, looking for help, and getting none. He dies at the end, of course. This was a standard Punisher hunt-em-down but told from the eyes of the villain.
-Sub-Mariner #4- Sub-Mariner beats the crap out of Venom and rips out his tongue, in retribution for his wings getting torn off. He goes to Sue for help but she says she can’t help him. Namor is pissed since he helped her in the Civil War. Sue does let him use the Fantasticar so he can fly to Seattle, where his rogue agents have already sucked the oxygen out of a prominent office building. Namor tries to stop it but is attacked.
-Ultimate Spider-Man #114- Peter tells Mary-Jane and Aunt May to leave immediately, which they do, since Norman is back and all. SHIELD is questioned by the president about Norman’s accusations. Peter goes to Norman’s apartment and runs into Electro. They fight and it spills into the streets of Manhattan where SHIELD agents capture both Electro and Spider-Man. Peter wakes up imprisoned.
DC
-52 Aftermath: Four Horseman #2- This was a rather dull issue where the four horseman are building some sort of base in Bialya. Superman and Batman continue to investigate and Superman charges in, only to get taken down by Death. Wonder Woman shows up for the save and the Big Three are ready for the Four Horseman, I guess. Next issue, though.
-All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder #7- The wackiness continues as Frank Miller writes a Batman who beats up some thugs, makes out with Black Canary, brings her and some thug to the Batcave in the “goddamn” Batmobile, and Dick confronts the man who killed his parents. It seems the Joker is behind it. I read this as a comedy piece since it is so off the wall and ridiculous.
-Blue Beetle #19- The Blue Battle battles Giganta, who attacks the home of the La Dama. Brenda finds out that her aunt is the big crime boss and isn’t too pleased with that. This was a good character-driven issue. Next issue looks good with a Sinestro Corps tie-in.
-Countdown to Adventure #2- Adam Strange is stunned to see the new protector of Rann violently attacking some thugs. He makes a reference to believing in her which shocks him. Animal gets the same message after a crazy driver nearly plows into some children near a powerless Starfire. Who could be behind this? Meanwhile, Forerunner recruits an evil Nazi Superman for her army to battle the Monitors. Interesting stuff so far. I am digging the Strange/Animal Man/Starfire stuff more than the Forerunner stuff, though.
-Countdown 31- The Challengers battle the Crime Syndicate and the Jokester shows up. Monitor finds Ray is not there so they leave. Holly writes Selina a letter but it is ripped up. Mxyzptlk is ripped from his universe to parts unknown. Eclipso tells Mary Marvel she has great power while Karate Kid and Una find Buddy Blank. Cadmus runs some tests on Olsen and his body goes haywire. The Monitors vow to stop Bob at issues end. I actually enjoyed this issue more than other ones in the past.
-Green Arrow: Year One #5- Green Arrow’s origin continues as he fights the White women and frees the slaves. He is almost done destroying their set-up when his old friend shows up and electrocutes him. I feel they could’ve done this story in four parts and it is dragging on way too long.
-Justice League of America #13- The Injustice League capture more of the Justice League, leaving only Superman and Black Lightning alone standing against Lex and company. This was a big JLA butt-whoopin’ and it should be interesting to see which way this goes and how the JLA survive.
-Spirit #10- The Spirit tackles a killer who targets cable news anchors. This was missing a lot of the charm of previous issues and the ending was kind of, what happened? This was the first Cooke issue I was disappointed in.
-Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #34- Shadow Lass, Timber Wolf, Atom Girl are on Planet Lollar looking for Cosmic Boy. They are told by Brainiac that someone is there to kill the president and they volunteer to help. Of course, the person looking to kill the prez is former Legionaire, ERG-1. So they try to stop ERG and Timber Wolf is pissed and wants revenge. The story is good, but the art hasn’t been doing it for me since Kitson left. It seemed much too dark.
-Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #1- Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters are off fighting bugs when Red Bee is captured and turned more bug-like. They return to DC and see it was devastated by the Amazonians. The president says they need the Freedom Force to work for the government and half the team is against it and leaves. Not too great and definitely not as good as the original mini-series.
Awards
-Book of the Week- Wow, I was looking through this week’s books and none of them really stuck out as remarkable. I’d have to give the award to Ultimate Spider-Man #114 since it was my favorite one of the week.
-Disappointment of the Week- There were a lot more books that stuck out in my head as unmemorable than memorable this week. I don’t know which one was the biggest disappointment but I feel I have to give the award to Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #1. All-Star Batman is so bad its good but the Freedom Fighters original series was pretty good and this was a very poor follow-up.
-Cover of the Week- I gotta give props again to Arthur Suydam. His Marvel Zombies homage covers are always brilliant and this is chock-full of OhotMU goodness.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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