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This was a very long week for me. It actually started last week, with classes on Friday night and Saturday morning, then leaving class on Saturday morning for my school’s open house, and that was a long Saturday let me tell you. Sunday was okay, Monday night I had class and found out that one of my co-worker’s friends died at a young age which kind of bummed us all out. One of the old teacher’s there died, too, putting more of a damper on the week. Tuesday and Wednesday came and went, Thursday was a funeral followed by parent/teacher night, Friday was a test day, Saturday and Sunday I went upstate, and then I came back home for Columbus Day. Throw in the fact that I’m sick and my wife was present at a bank robbery on Thursday and this was a crazy week. Luckily I have some comic books to get me through it, 10 Marvels, 6 DC’s, and 2 IDW’s add up to 18 total comics, which is double last week’s total, and probably half as much as the next three weeks. I better enjoy these slow weeks while I can!
Spoilers Ahead
The Main Event:
-Marvel Zombies 3 #1- This one was interesting, as now the Marvel Zombies are part of the 616 Universe (or so we are led to believe) through a temporal portal that is in Florida of all places. So the weak initiative team (Aquarian, Conquistador, Siege, and Jennifer Kale) are destroyed looking into this. A new super-secret organization (ARMOR) that deals only with dimension hopping threats like this send Machine Man and Jacosta to the Zombie world to find human blood to create a serum to the Zombie plague. Of course, one of the guys working on this serum (Morbius) is in fact a Zombie himself. I didn’t think the Zombies thing had any gas left in the tank, from the Ultimate FF beginnings to the mini-series and one-shots, to the Ash tie-ins with Army of Darkness, but Van Lente has breathed a fresh breath into the undead mouths of the Zombie franchise, sending robots who theoretically can’t get infected to their world to find a cure. 1/1.
-The Stand #2- The Stand was just awesome again, as we see the disease slowly spreading, we see new characters introduced named Nick Andros who can’t speak or hear, Stuart Redman is held captive by the government since he isn’t affected by the super-flu, and Larry Underwood is thrown out of a room by a fan he just slept with. This is just an epic tale in the making, with great characters and a disease that is spreading like wildfire without anyone really knowing it. 2/2.
Marvel
-Amazing Spider-Girl #25- I am actually a bit saddened by this issue, as we have now learned this title is being cancelled (again) with issue #30, thus ending a title that debuted over 10 years ago. Well, all good things and all. Anyway, this is another awesome issue that sees Arana taking over body of the May we have read all these years, and the faux May taking over in May’s place. We also see how Norman Osborne created the clone, how Kaine saved her, a cover gallery, and a Lil Benjy story. 3/3.
-Avengers/Invaders #5- The Avengers/Invaders/New Avengers continue to fight, Bucky meets his future self who tells him not to try and stop Zemo, Strange learns that this seems to the workings of the cosmic cube and that Bucky, Namor and the soldier brought along with the Invaders are the key to getting the Invaders back and fixing the timeline, which is slowly crumbling around them. Finally, the original Torch goes mad, thinking that the LMD’s of SHIELD are like the Nazi’s and the Jews in Germany and goes to the Helicarrier for revenge. Not as great as the first four, but still a fun issue and I am interested to see where it goes. 4/4.
-Darktower: Treachery #2- This was a bit of a slower issue, as the adult gunslingers tend to their fallen friend and a female tries to join the young gunslingers. No Roland to be found, either. The back-up story on the woman of the realm of the Darktower was quite good. Slow issue, but it is good enough to set things up for our next four issues and introducing us to a new character. 5/5.
-Deadpool #3- Deadpool fights off the Skrulls, he actually outsmarts them with the Skrulls they engineered from him, and when he sends the final info to Fury, it is mysteriously stolen by Norman Osborne. Way has done a great job writing the snarkiness of Deadpool. I wonder how Norman will play into this, if at all. 6/6.
-Secret Invasion: Inhumans #3- The Royal Family of the Inhumans make a pact with the Kree to take out the Skrulls and attempt to exploit a weak point. Unfortunately, all three attempts are stopped and it seems quite certain that the Skrulls will succeed in using Black Bolt’s own voice to destroy Attilan. I like the Inhumans fighting back against those who wronged them, and shows how long Black Bolt was a Skrull. One of the better tie-ins of SI. 7/7.
-The Twelve #8- Phantom Reporter finds out all about Black Widow, that she can kill wicked people with but a touch, but she wasn’t responsible for the murders. Fiery Mask is also questioned, and we see his true origin (different from the one in the original Golden Age comic), Blue Blade makes a connection with Electro and gets a stunning revelation which we don’t know about. Mastermind Excello learns that something is coming and writes Phantom Reporter to tell him, even breaking out Laughing Mask and telling Rockman he will be reunited with his family soon. Finally, Blue Blade meets with Dynamic Man at issue’s end. Things are coming together quite nicely. 8/8.
-X-Men: Magneto Testament #2- This continues what is an amazing look at Magneto’s early days, set in the very turbulent time of 1930’s Germany, as Nazism was beginning to take form. This shows the Olympics that took place there, the Jews really being harassed and gathered up as well as what shotgunned this into happening, and finally Magneto and his family make a retreat to Poland, only to see the German’s invade. Just a stunning history of the early days of Nazi Germany, as WWII was beginning to take shape, and putting Magneto in the middle of it all. 9/9.
-X-Men: Manifest Destiny #2- This was much better than the first one, as Iceman is attacked by Mystique and given a deadly nerve gas, Juggernaut uses a small town’s help to decide if he’s good or evil, and Emma has conflicts as to her standing on the team and if she’s accepted or not. Only Wolverine telling her like it is makes her feel any better. This was leaps and bounds better than #1. 10/10.
-X-Men Original Sin #1- Wolverine sends Daken to a friend so he can be protected, but he’s attacked by Shaw and his minions later on. Wolverine meets with Xavier for his help with Daken. It seems that Wolvie was originally sent to the X-Men to kill Xavier and maybe Xavier helped his memory with that. There’s also a cool back-up from Classic X-Men #1. 11/11.
DC
-Action Comics #870- Superman and Supergirl team-up to stop Brainiac, as Superman sends him to the muck of Earth to really humble him and Supergirl stops a ray headed to the sun. Brainiac is none too pleased and sends a weapon towards Superman’s parents. Jonathan saves Martha, but he suffers a heart attack in the process. Superman can’t hear his mother’s cries for help as he unbottles both Kandor and Metropolis back on Earth. Superman finally hears it and heads home to Smallville, but it is too late. I know this is a status-quo changing moment for Clark, as his old home of Kandor is on Earth, with Kara’s parents I think, and Pa Kent is now dead. However, I think the impact was lessened due to the awesome death story in All-Star Superman just a few months ago. Having Kandor on Earth should lead to some interesting stories, though I think Brainiac was dealt with a bit too quickly. This was a solid issue, but nothing that warrants it being written about in the New York Daily News. 1/1.
-Batman Confidential #22- This is actually a very cool premise. It’s the first time Joker gets sent to prison, and he uses his evil genius to kill the wife of a cop who beat on him over the phone. It shows how psycho the Joker is and how demented he is. It’s Joker being Joker, and no matter where he goes, he brings death and chaos with him. 2/2.
-Detective Comics #849- Batman confronts Hush about the condition of Selina Kyle. See, Hush wasn’t too happy with Batman so he took Selina’s heart, he hit Batman where it would hurt the most. Hush’s hatred towards Batman runs deep, stemming from his mother always wanting him to be like Bruce. Hush’s true purpose is revealed. He has had plastic surgery so he can look like Bruce, then take over in Bruce’s place. Oh the horror! Hush is actually a sadistic guy bent on vengeance, and it looks like he has all the tools to get it, too. In some ways I think this is the best RIP storyline. 3/3.
-Final Crisis: Revelations #3- I thought the first two issues of this was pretty good, but this issue was actually great. Revelations is a very biblical term and this issue is very heavy into the biblical epic story. We have Mercy narrating a tale about the followers of Darkseid having no life, an anti-life, where there is no free will. The Spectre, who is really God’s vengeance, must battle the first person he ever dealt with, Cain, who introduced murder into the world. Cain is revealed to be Vandal Savage, and he has the mark the Spectre first gave him at the beginning of time. Cain Savage takes the great spear and impales Spectre with it at issues end. This was just a great story with old testament overtones, that really shows the apocalyptic overtones of the book of the bible it references, Revelations. 4/4.
-Secret Six #2- Batman battles Catman, and Batman tells him he shouldn’t go out on this mission, but the Secret Six are already out there already, breaking out Tarantula. The crazy man in the box (does he have the Alice in Chains theme song?) puts a hit on the Secret Six where every D-list super-villain is planning to go after them. This was good enough, and I like the interaction between the members of the Six. 5/5.
-Trinity #19- Trinity continues its hot streak as we are still in an alternate world where the Trinity never existed, but some people still remember. The first story has Tarot on the run with Gangbuster and meeting an archeologist named Freddie. The archeologist we know better as Alfred the Butler and seeing how different his life is without Bruce is astonishing. He helps Tarot out and gives her some artifacts for her journey. The second tale again shows a woman remembering the heroes that were, specifically Wonder Woman. Firestorm shows up and her memory is jogged. Another unique look on the Trinity is shown here, as Day, Night and Earth. Another very good issue and a perfect week for DC. 6/6.
IDW
-Presidential Material: Barack Obama & John McCain- This was something I had to pick up. Two comics, one for each candidate, which is a biography for both men in an effort to educate voters to both men to make an educated decision on election day. I have to say, I read both of them and neither of them seemed to try and sway readers to one side but was an actual straight-forward biographer that is used to inform and not persuade. Both of these are recommended to all young voters who just want to know the facts about each candidate without any of the bullshit. 2/2.
The Awards
-Book of the Week- There were a ton of good titles this week, but X-Men: Magneto Testament was the best. It humanizes Magneto and gives us readers the perfect framework to place Magneto in the actual time and place of Nazi Germany. Just an amazing book.
-Disappointment of the Week- I can honestly say, no comic deserves this award this week, so none will be given, a first for TPL. Hey, if there’s no bad, why try and find some?
-Cover of the Week- This was a little harder to award. I would probably have to go with X-Men: Original Sin #1, just for the cool jigsaw puzzle cover.
-The Bottom Line- Well, it is close to midnight and I can’t be late twice in less than a month! This was just a great week for me, comics wise. I honestly didn’t have a problem with any of these titles, and it was one of the most fun weeks I’ve had in a while reading these, as I took my time reading them and really let them sink in.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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