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I usually write these introductions shortly after I get the books and before I read them but today is different. I wanted to finish last week’s edition, finish up my TV reviews (which were all done on Monday) and paint another room in the house so as it stands today is Tuesday, and I am just starting the written part of this. I’ve already read all the issues (1 Dynamite, 6 DC’s and 18 Marvels for a total of 25 books) and I just need to take today to write them all down. With a busy day already (funeral and class) I hope that I can finish. I guess I’ll wait to the Bottom Line to determine how close to Tuesday this gets!
Spoiler Alert
Marvel
-Amazing Spider-Man #608- Raptor shows up at the Front Line to harass Pete, who he thinks is Ben, and a big fight ensues there. Raptor reveals that Peter (who he thinks is Ben) killed his family and we see flashbacks of how that came to be. Ben was working with Raptor and they were experimenting on dinosaurs and missing links and all, and the head doctor experimented on himself. Kaine shows up at the end, too, signaling more clone madness! I like the twist this is taking with the whole other life of Ben we never really knew about. 1/1.
-Astonishing X-Men #31- I guess it’s another AXM reboot? This has immediately pulled me out of what’s going on since it is pre-Dark Reign and it’s just jarring to see. Anyway, the X-Men save Brand from a crash landing after meeting the Brood and the X-Men find a past dead member who turns into a sentinel. Yikes. I wish this title was in continuity. Now it just comes across as dated and it was like a whole issue dedicated to saving Brand. I just wasn’t feeling it. 1/2.
-Black Panther #9- Shuri looks deeper into the attack against her and Namor’s possible role in it. She finds a Wakandan traitor and tracks him down, but she just blundered into a trap. T’Chaka delves deeper into mysticism to regain his power. This title is keeping both stories moving forward so it does its job that way. I’m more interested in T’Chaka right now but Shuri is becoming a capable lead character. 2/3.
-Cable #19- Bishop keeps after Hope, but Hope, Emil and Cable escape off the ship and away from the Brood. Bishop is captured by the Brood and he promises an even more powerful mutant (Hope). I enjoy this title, the cat and mouse games are fun to read, BUT, what will happen once they escape the Brood, will they go deeper into space? What’s next, I wonder. 3/4.
-Captain America: Theater of War #1- It’s not often I read a comic and decide, yep, this is the Book of the Week but this is a case where it was. This was just a phenomenal work of art from Paul Jenkins. It’s the ghost of Captain America, the spirit of democracy appearing at seminal times in the US’s history, at the signing of the Declaration, when the Star-Spangled Banner was written, during WWII, Vietnam and 9/11. It brings out everything in me that’s patriotic (I’m from a family of Army-men) and it just made me proud to be American (yes I know how corny that sounds but I don’t care). Better than anyone, Jenkins has captured the spirit of Cap with his Theater of War one-shots. 4/5.
-Criminal: The Sinners #1- This follows Criminal’s legendary Tracy Lawless as he’s struggling to do jobs for the main boss. His role is in question so he’s sent on one more mission to redeem himself; to solve the murder of three prominent mobsters. Unfortunately for Tracy (and he doesn’t know this) a CIA agent is there looking for Tracy the Army deserter. This continues the great stories that Brubaker and Phillips are crafting. 5/6.
-Dark Reign The List: Secret Warriors #1- This story takes place after Secret Warriors #9, which isn’t on sale until October 28th. They couldn’t coordinate that any better? Anyway, Fury works with Norman and they learn about something called Leviathan, a Hydra project. So Nick immediately turns on Norman and steals all the information and earning Norman’s ire yet again. Ares seems to be working with Fury here. This was okay, and there wasn’t anything here that would warrant a no-pointer. 6/7.
-Dark Reign Zodiac #3- This on the other hand…Yeah, so we have Zodiac, he wreaks havoc and he steals the Zodiac Key. I say, so what? Really, do I care about some anarchist with a Zodiac Key that won’t amount to anything? Nope. I didn’t like the art, I didn’t like the book and it was completely unnecessary. 6/8.
-Daredevil #501- DD is in control of the Hand and he is quickly turning to the dark side. He captures Izo to make his sacrifice and boy; he’s getting more evil by the second. Is DD leading the Hand or is the Hand leading DD? I love this new direction. DD has hit a run of two great writers in a row and it looks like we may have a third. 7/9.
-Deadpool #16- Deadpool joins the X-Men after he was initially rejected and Domino had to come get him. Deadpool is just insane, and this really showcases it. I love Way writing Deadpool. 8/10.
-House of M: Masters of Evil #3- The Hood and his crew take over Santo Rico and make a big deal of it to the media. The Hood is becoming a legend among sapiens. You know Magneto isn’t too happy about this. It’s amazing how a villain can change his stripes when placed in the right setting. The Hood is still the evil crime master self, but in a world where mutants rule, he’s seen as something of a savior. 9/11.
-Luke Cage: Noir #3- Cage, the indestructible ex-con, is looking deeper into the mystery of the woman’s death and how everything ties in together. He’s earned a rep after getting shot by Tombstone and not dying (which was just luck of a flask stopping the bullets) and even though he’s on the right track, Tombstone has Luke Cage Jr. to turn the tide. Luke Cage fits in this noir world. 10/12.
-Spider-Man: 1602 #1- Spidey is in the year 1602, although they say it is three years later so I guess it is 1605. The mythos of Spidey is always the same, and here we have Norman Osborn kill his love interest (a shape-shifter) and Peter follows Norman to the old world for Norman’s trial and death. Peter’s identity is discovered with little hullabaloo. I’m just happy I fit that word into a review. I love the 1602 stuff. 11/13.
-Strange Tales #2- The anthology series continues and we have a bunch of cool things in here, from parodies of Iron Man, the FF origin story, a weird Modok story, the Hulk and his dates and other things. This is really off-beat (think Solo from DC) so it isn’t for everyone. If you enjoy stories you won’t find in the mainstream, you look here. 12/14.
-The Torch #2- The Mad Thinker has succeeded in creating the (original) Human Torch as a weapon but his ulterior motives are troubling to one AIM agent. Toro is still captive and can’t stand seeing his friend used as a weapon. I find that sometimes Ross stories take a while to develop but they usually keep things moving and always show great thought and care went into it. 13/15.
-Ultimate Spider-Man #3- Spider-Man encounters Mysterio as his personal life goes to hell (MJ is mad at him and Johnny is crashing at his place. It is Bendis so you know there will be lengthy dialogue sequences. The problem is, you’re paying a dollar more for this book and not getting any extra content. In fact, I think the art is nowhere near the level of Bagley or Immonen. This is disappointing so far. 13/16.
-X-Babies #1- This is a fun story of the X-Babies breaking free of Mojo’s control since Mojo is not in control of the Mojoverse anymore. The characters of Marvel’s Star Universe show up at the end, too. This is a great all-ages read that is also geared towards older fans. As a bonus, a reprint of the X-Babies first appearance is included. 14/17.
-X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #1- This is an all-out battle between the two teams after The AoA try to steal Cerebro (and succeed) in order to find Venus. An old battle between the Silver Age X-Men and AoA is included as a back-up. When these two get together it’s been entertaining and this keeps up that trend. 15/18.
DC
-Batman and Robin #5- Batman and Robin battle Red Hood and Scarlet (one of the girl’s Robin saved from Pyg). Scarlet has her own sordid past. So, Flamingo (a face-eater) shows up and all hell will break loose in Gotham, not only with this new villain here but Batman and Robin trying to stop the violent punishment of Red Hood (a red-haired Jason Todd) and Scarlet. I’m liking Grant’s work on here so far. It’s not as outlandish as his Batman run and to me it is easier to follow. 1/1.
-Batman Annual #27- This is the first of a two-part Azrael story that will run through the Batman and Detective Comics annuals. Basically, there’s a dead priest that was killed by a new villain called Amon (or at least that’s the villain he represents) who is part of a larger cult that are kidnapping kids to the eighth deadly sin back. Batman and Robin are on the case (with Robin impersonating one of the kidnapped kids) and Azrael inserts his presence here. It got me interested in the character so mission accomplished. There’s a back-up featuring Babs solving her own crime which is drawn by the inimitable Kelley Jones. 2/2.
-Batman The Unseen #1- Speaking of Kelley Jones…This is a Moench/Jones team-up which always end up well. Here we have a new villain, who uses chemicals to make himself invisible, making his presence known in Gotham. I wonder why Marvel or DC never used HG Wells’ Invisible Man as a villain (to my knowledge)? The atmosphere that these two create really bring to the forefront how dark and gritty Gotham is. 3/3.
-Final Crisis Aftermath: Run #6- Our villain, the human flame, is all powerful now but its his own idiocy and ego that finally brings him down. This mini-series did a great job following a joke of a character trying to turn himself into a big hitter. You can’t change a leopard’s spots though and once a loser, always a loser, and that’s what Human Flame is. This was definitely my favorite of the FCA titles. 4/4.
-Justice League: Cry for Justice #4- Capt. Marvel saves everyone from the explosion as the new League delves deeper into Prometheus’ plans. They can’t get anywhere and they call on the rest of the League for help. Gorilla Man and Mikaal both investigate the deaths of their friends as Jay Garrick Flash gets a visitor at his door. This was a bit slow in the set-up as opposed to the other three issues but I’ve developed a liking to Gorilla-Man and Mikaal and I like Robinson’s little essays at the end, too. 5/5.
-Superman: World of New Krypton #8- This issue just sets up the Krypton/Thanagarian alliance/treaty, with the Kryptonian’s all helping to stop the moon from flying into their planet and Remm (who is like a Despero character, I think) shows up to ally themselves with Krypton. This was definitely the weakest yet of the series. I understand we need to set up Krypton as a sovereign nation but this was light on Superman, and on the whole World Against Superman story. 5/6.
Dynamite
-Project Superpowers: Meet The Bad Guys #2- Someone wrote in the letter’s column that he can’t wait for an issue of PS to suck so he can not come across as a crazy fanboy. That really resonated with me. These stories are so original and it takes clichés about superheroes and turns it around. Here the Fighting Yank meets the Revolutionary and although the Revolutionary’s anarchist ways seem like villainy, Fighting Yank finds that the Revolutionary has a lot in common with him. The whole Project Superpowers stories have been phenomenal and I recommend the whole epic to anyone. 1/1.
Awards
-Book of the Week- As I mentioned, Cap: Theater of War was just an amazing, patriotic issue that was just beautifully written. It’s a journey through time hitting all the points that makes America, America.
-Disappointment of the Week- Well, it was obvious what I didn’t like but the biggest disappointment was Ultimate Spider-Man. I mean, AXM was a bummer, but the story wasn’t terrible. I just feel that USM has been a letdown and it isn’t close to touching the heights it reached before.
-Cover of the Week- The Torch #2 featured a great homage by Alex Ross to the first ever Marvel Comic featuring the first appearance of Torch.
-The Bottom Line- Wow, I’m actually back on track with this thing. What a great week of comics. Sure there were some duds but there were some amazing comics thrown in.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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