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I am off to a late start this week, not picking up the comics till around 1:00pm on Saturday. For those who can figure it out, that leaves only a few days for me to read all these books (of which there were 23; 1 Wildstorm, 7 DC and 15 Marvel), review them, and post them online. Throw in some intermittent connectivity issues (some sort of DNS issue, probably Windows related) as well as SJU Homework and updating gradebooks, I had a really tough time finishing this week’s edition. Usually when things are stressful I can take solace in reading the comics and usually enjoying them, and I hope that trend continues this week. Too bad it was finished late, and the Marvel section was definitely rushed to be finished by tonight.
Spoiler Alert
The Main Event
-All-Star Superman #12- If someone asked me why I enjoy comics, I would have to hand them a copy of this series. Grant Morrison’s cinematic style, doubled with Quitely’s panoramic pencils gives you just a fantastic Silver-Age type tale with modern-day sentiment and energy. It is what Superman is all about, an outsider looking for truth, justice, and the American way, and the American who just hates that idea. Lex Luthor is at his evilest best here, and Superman at his most ideal. It is a fitting end to the title, a fitting end to the legacy of Superman, and for my money one of the best and most fun 12-issue series’ ever written. Highly recommended. 1/1.
-Marvel Apes #2- Gibbon doesn’t like the new world he is on, and wants to leave. He enlists the help of that versions Reed Richards but even he is turned on by Captain American and his vampiric friends. Yep, you can’t get away from vampires I guess. So Gibbon and his woman friend leave where Speedball says he will help him. This is still good fun, but with an actual plot twist (an evil Cap?) makes it recommended. 1/1.
Marvel
-Age of Sentry, The #1- These are untold tales of “early Sentry,” harkening back to his faux silver age days. They should’ve remained untold. This was just uninspired. 1/2.
-Amazing Spider-Man #568- Norman sends Bullseye after Spider-Man and his tracking device, and of course ends up trying to take out Peter while he’s with Harry. Harry thinks his father is after him! Spider-Man takes off the tracking device and eludes the T-bolts thanks to the Anti-Venom. Venom, meanwhile, gets a serum to the Anti-Venom anti-bodies (thanks to Freak) and now becomes a super-Venom Scorpion! This is a cool storyline, with Norman donning the Goblin outfit again, and Spidey facing huge challenges. 2/3.
-Captain Britain and MI13 #5- Blade joins the team, impales the speedster girl at the end since she’s a vampire. The MI-13 are after the mystical now in Britain. The story was just an intro one, so it was a little slower than normal, but I love seeing Olliffe working for Marvel again, and gets a point for that. 3/4.
-Guardians of the Galaxy #5- The Guardians deal with dissent among their ranks, as Drax is off to kill everyone to see who is a Skrull. It does seem that the dog is working for the Skrull side, a revelation that Warlock finds out. Good issue. 4/5.
-Incredible Hercules #121- Hercules sees Cho getting taken by Amazons for mating purposes as he deals with Namor, pissed at his advances towards Namora. I really like how well-researched these titles are, with the various mythology references, and Hercules/Cho make a great buddy team-up book. 5/6.
-Iron Man: Agent of SHIELD #33- War Machine has armor that is not Starktech, he flies to space to find a bigger machine to use. I don’t think enough happened in this to make it really worthwhile. Granted, it was cool to see War Machine, and having Force Works mentioned was cool, too. You know, I think this is worth a point. 6/7.
-Mighty Avengers #18- This is just Fury training his new commandoes, kidnapping Maria Hill, who is really a LMD. Nothing to go crazy about, or even out of your way to pick up. 6/8.
-Secret Invasion: Thor #2- Thor is nowhere to be found as the Asgardians battle Skrulls. He is with the locals. When one of the girls has a baby, he shows up ready to fight. The whole SI:Thor thing won’t have Thor battling any Skrulls until the third issue of a three issue mini-series. This is an unnecessary tie-in. 6/9.
-Skrulls vs. Power Pack #3- The Power Pack and Franklin escape from the Skrull priest and find his treasure map of sorts, leading to a place where some worldbreakers live. Meanwhile, the Skrull impersonating Jack doesn’t want to go back. Another good entry into the Power Pack collection. 7/10.
-Uncanny X-Men #502- The X-Men take out some Hellfire Cult members, find out where one of their bases are, find an old Hellion working for them with a mysterious dominatrix (I kid you not). There still hasn’t been anything too new in this whole mutant-hating cult story, and doesn’t even seem like the same story that was started in #500. It may be my mood, but I didn’t like it. 7/11.
-X-Factor #35- Longshot joins the team for real and they find out Darwin was handed over by his father after XF finds and gives him to his father. Who has Darwin? XF is on the case. The whole thing with Longshot and people being attracted to him was funny. 8/12.
-X-Men: First Class #16- This is the last issue, unfortunately, though a Giant-Size and another mini-series is on the way. This is a cute Bobby/Johnny team-up where they battle Scorpion and Beetle. 9/13.
-Young X-Men #6- Ink reveals his betrayal and Santo does not like that. Cyclops decides that the X-Men should keep the youngsters with them, but not to teach them, but to train them as an Army. I liked the dark mood of this issue after Wolf Cub dying last issue. 10/14.
DC
-Action Comics #869- This was a good issue, but reading it after All-Star Superman, it made me appreciate it less than I should’ve, I think. Still, a good issue was presented, as Brainiac continues trying to take Metropolis and Superman and Supergirl fighting back. There is some interesting revelations (Supergirl’s parents survives Krypton thanks to Brainiac technology, but went back and destroyed them when he learnt they were using it). There was a cool cover, too. 2/2.
-Batgirl #3- Batgirl, Ravager and the new girl battle some of the Cain creations, they track them to the hideout, and Slade is looking on. This really didn’t hold my interest at all. I just didn’t like, there is no real developments and no new insight into the Batgirl character. 2/3.
-Batman and the Outsiders #11- Batman is gone, the Outsiders don’t know what to do, and we see the start of a pre-recorded Batman message. This wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible. It got the point across that the Outsiders were lost without Batman. It’s not an instant classic, but it is good enough for a point. 3/4.
-Birds of Prey #122- Joker sets a trap to find out where the Birds reside, and it ends with Joker walking in on their front dressed as a cop, with Barbara alone in the building. There were some cool scenes (Misfit’s powers being a bit more than imagined) and coolness from the Joker makes this an easy recommendation. 4/5.
-DC Universe: Decisions #1- This is an interesting one. The DC heroes try to stop repeated attempts at the murder of politicians and Green Arrow actually ends up supporting one of the candidates at the end, which you know will lead to trouble. This is a great concept and I want to see where it leads, especially if Superman gets involved. 5/6.
-Robin #178- I picked this up with the thought of awesome Red Robin stuff, but instead it is just a gang war with Red Robin making a brief appearance. I’ve had my fill of Gotham gang wars for now, and Robin trying to live up to Batman isn’t really doing anything. This is my last time picking up this title. 5/7.
-Trinity #16- The good Trinity combats the evil Trinity, and have a great battle as only Bagley could draw. Despero was not who he really seemed to be and stamped Batman, as Morgaine claims victory. The back-up sees Tarot being rescued by Gangbuster and Hawkman, as Hawk tries to get into contact with the Trinity and falls into the time stream. This was the best issue in some time, with a good twist at the end of the first tale, and an overall solid second one. 6/8.
Wildstorm
-World of Warcraft #11- Another solid issue from the boys at Wildstorm. Lo’Gosh continues his trek to his home world, where an impersonater is ruling the throne, and Valeera continues fighting the dark magic. Good action, fun fantasy action, it’s an easy read. 1/1.
Awards
-Book of the Week- All-Star Superman #12 was an easy choice, and probably a contender for issue of the year. Surprisingly, this is the first time All-Star Superman has picked up this award.
-Disappointment of the Week- Uncanny X-Men #502 disappoints me again. I don’t know if it is my dislike of Greg Land, or just the fact that this story is pretty played out by now. Surprisingly, this is the fourth time Fraction had picked up the dubious honor.
-Cover of the Week- Action Comics #869 seemed like just a decent cover at first, but then when you look into it you see many levels. Yeah, its Superman and Pa Kent are chilling with some Soda Pop, while an ominous looking moon looms in the background, and check out that moon. Cool cover from Gary Frank.
-The Bottom Line- Well, I had to rush to get this out, and I don’t have much to say. I am picking up the next batch tomorrow, and just want this out there. This may be a day late, but I had a very long week of work and other stuff, and hey, this hasn’t been late for a long time so cut me some slack! Decent week.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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