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Boy, what better way to end August and end the penultimate week of my vacation than with just a ton of comic books. It is so many books I can’t even write a full introduction. Instead here’s the rundown: Dynamite tossed in 1 issue, DC pitched in 11 issues (10 of which are here) and Marvel unloaded with 25 comic books.
Spoiler Alert
Marvel
-Avengers: The Initiative #27- This is a comic featuring two parts. The first part sees some real cannon fodder head out to battle the denizens of 42, the Negative Zone Prison. It centers on a guitar-playing villain who dies an honorable death after saving his friend. The second part features the mop-up of Taskmaster and all regaining the prison with the help of Hardball who had been imprisoned there. The two-part story was different and this is the best issue of Avengers: The Initiative to hit the stands ever. 1/1.
-DarkTower: Fall of Gilead #4- Here things get really bad for the Deschain’s and Gilead. Steven is led into a trap by the mole he was going to send to Farson and even though the Gunslingers fight out of it they are still on perilous ground. Roland is freed by Aileen and they discover that Vannay has been killed and they realize Gilead is beginning to crumble. This has gone at a much slower pace, due to the novel nature of it, but this issue really kicked things into high gear and made it really engrossing. 2/2.
-Dark Avengers #8- Scott Summer, who has been waiting patiently while the Dark X-Men are running things, finally plays his hand. He has X-Force ready to battle the Dark Avengers and he unleashes a big surprise on Norman when Emma Frost and Namor are revealed to be working together for Scott and are ready to take down the Dark X-Men from the inside. Cloak and Dagger join the X-Men and the conclusion will see a massive battle. I liked the big surprises in here and Utopia has been a fine Dark Reign tie-in. 3/3.
-Dark Reign: Elektra #5- Elektra regains her freedom and memory and she’s not as rosy as she thought she was. An evil Elektra is an awesome Elektra. Wolvie makes an appearance in here but really this is just showing Elektra at the character’s best, as a deadly assassin who doesn’t play by anyone’s rules but her own. I hope this brings Elektra back to some sort of prominence. 4/4.
-Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man #3- I was disappointed that Bachalo didn’t draw the whole issue since his artwork is just electric. I guess he had too much on his plate? Mac Gargan is in all his psychotic glory here, dismantling the Redeemer and his gang and eating a fair amount of them in the process. The Redeemer has one ace up his dismembered sleeve, photos of Spider-Man creating the gang wars and they end up on the lap of JJJ. Wow, this guy is a freak and I really enjoy a solo Sinister Spider-Man title. 5/5.
-Dark Wolverine #77- Wolverine continues playing both the FF and the Dark Avengers and even though he gets attacked by Hawkeye he is able to cause Norman to erase his PC including video of Thing fighting Wolverine he was using to blackmail the FF. Daken is also able to get into the good graces of the FF and you know that is an ally he will exploit in future issues. I really like how Daken is set up as a sort of evil empath, someone who is able to coerce people into using their harshest emotions and drive them to do things they normally wouldn’t. He’s much more evil than his father and is not afraid to use people. 6/6.
-Dark X-Men: Beginnings #3- This is a collection of three stories showing how Norman brought together the Dark X-Men. We see Namor and Emma Frost creating their little partnership, we see how Mystique joined the team and how Norman was unable to get Aurora onto the team because she was just too damn crazy. The Aurora story was the best here and even though this series won’t have a great re-sell or re-read value, it was an appropriate tie-in to the Dark X-Men stories. 7/7.
-Deadpool #14- Deadpool continues the awesome as his pirate tale concludes. This is really one of the most fun comics you’ll ever read. A great two-part pirate series. 8/8.
-Fantastic Four #570- This starts off with the FF battling big robots courtesy of the Wizard. Once he’s tossed out like yesterday’s news Reed meets a group of alternate universe Reed’s in a big inter-dimensional Reed meeting where all the Reed’s want to save their worlds. It’s a completely insane plot but hey, that’s what the FF was built on; ideas that were completely insane. This is a really fresh start after the Millar stories. 9/9.
-Guardians of the Galaxy #17-This is the aftermath of the War of Kings event and the Guardians (the half that are still in the present) show up to try and do something to the gaping, spreading, hole in the universe. Adam Warlock makes a huge sacrifice to stop the spread of the hole and he becomes Magus in the process. Had I read this a year ago I would’ve been like so what, but luckily the Masterworks came out with Starlin’s awesome Warlock/Magus epic I know that this is an awesome development as Warlock did all he could to prevent being the Magus but now he’s transformed into his worst fears. Guardians keeps getting better and better. 10/10.
-Hulk #14- Domino finds out the real identity of the Red Hulk (though we haven’t) and Hulk wants to kill her now. Hulk recruits Deadpool, Punisher, Thundra, Elektra and the Crimson Dynamo to find Domino. They find her but she has some friends with her: X-Force. Loeb doesn’t write as cool a Deadpool as we’ve seen in his solo series’ but an X-Force/Rulk match-up should be interesting. 11/11.
-Incredible Hercules #133- We follow the origin of Amadeus Cho and we learn that Cho’s sister is still alive. Cho goes back to Excello, has a weird dream about the people being fake as well as the town before showing up there for real and meeting the 6th-smartest person who wants to kill Cho. The guy’s name is Pythagoras Dupree for those who care. Cho’s a good character and we need a little more insight into him. I do have my apprehension about Cho working as a solo character but we’ll see how this goes. 12/12.
-Incredible Hulk #601- Okay, we’re up to Hulk title #3 for this week. We follow Bruce Banner as the rest of the big brains on Earth confirm the Hulk is gone from his body. He picks a fight with Skaar (while wearing huge armor) and Skaar doesn’t hold much interest when he learns that the Hulk is really gone. Banner tells Skaar he’s gonna pick a fight and it looks like Juggernaut is the target. There’s a All-New She-Hulk back-up and it looks like the Gamma Corps are after her. The back-up is of no interest to me but that’s okay since the Skaar/Banner stuff was damn good. 13/13.
-New Avengers #56- The New Avengers are powerless but the Wrecking Crew were really gunning for the Dark Avengers, who arrive and are depowered as well. Meanwhile, the Hood is trying to rid himself of Dormammu with Loki’s help. This was a lot more action-packed than most normal New Avengers issues and Immonen’s art really jumps off the page here. 14/14.
-New Mutants #4- Cannonball sends home Dani so the rest of the New Mutants can stop Legion but it turns out Dani saves Cannonball and helps cure Legion. Now she’s just pissed at Cannonball. This are a more grown-up New Mutant team and the writing really shows that. I thought Legion was a nice introductory threat (given their history) but I’m really looking forward to the relationships that will be explored in these pages. 15/15.
-Nova #28- Nova saves his brother from the Strontian and defeats the female Guardian. This leads to Richard Ryder reforming the Corps and sending home most of the crew. One of those that is staying is Robbie Ryder, and Richie knows he belongs there. This combines awesome intergalactic battles grounded by a very human story between two brothers. Long Live the Corps! 16/16.
-Runaways #13- Chase and all escape from Chase’s uncle (who everyone thought was dead) and the others who were pissed at them. You know, that was a really crappy summary but that’s what I feel when reading this. Unfortunately, this title lost all its steam once Brian K. Vaughn left and no writers have been able to really pick up where he left off. I just don’t find I care about these kids anymore. 16/17.
-Secret Warriors #7- Fury and all steal a bunch of Baron Von Strucker’s money to fund his rogue SHIELD group and Strucker goes to Osborn for help. The Thunderbolts are soon involved and we’re gonna have a big showdown a’coming! Another excellent issue from Hickman. 17/18.
-Skrull Kill Krew #4- The guys who thought they were Skrulls because of bad cow meat are now full-fledged Skrulls. They still want to kill Skrulls. How will they reconcile this? Tune in next issue to find out! I can’t believe it took 4 issues to get to this point. I’m just incredibly bored by this. This should’ve been told in 3 issues at most. 17/19.
-Son of Hulk #14- The fourth Hulk title this week? So the second Son of Hulk brings ruin to the new planet he’s on. I think they were reaching with this title but so far it’s been an enjoyable continuation of the Planet Hulk/Skaar stories. 18/20.
-Timestorm 2009/2099 #4- We end with lots of fighting, lots of craziness, and the one mutant (Shyti) repairing the timeline that Doom tried to repair when he first went to 2099. I was actually a lot more open to this series as it ended since it actually tied everything together from the previous issues as well as threads from the original 2099 comics. This was a really good conclusion. 19/21.
-Wolverine First Class #18- This is a great Peter David written story featuring a young Madrox and the question asking if Madrox’ dupes are really people. I can see how this would be a prequel to the Madrox we see in X-Factor right now. David hits it out of the park again. 20/22.
-Wolverine Origins #39- This brings everything together. Romulus has brought together all the Weapon X guys to try and have them kill each other so he can have a successor. Wolvie catches on quite late but he sees how many of the fallen foes have been wiped out and by the end of the issue it is only Wolverine and Romulus. Romulus looks like a taller, older Wolverine with a fourth claw coming out of this thumb. It’s all led to this and this issue really brought to the forefront all the plot lines to this point. 21/23.
-X-Force #18- X-23 is captured and is tortured by Kimura (the only person who can hurt her), Warpath saves Boom-Boom, Caliban shows up to Doug Ramsey’s grave with Wither, and Elixer stops Surge from exploding thanks to the Leper Queen’s power. Finally, we have the Cyclops/Wolvie confrontation stemming from Cyke sending X-Force away mid-mission. This has a lot of layers in it, perhaps more than any X-title right now, but it is working and if it keeps working it should be fine. 22/24.
-X-Men: Forever #6- This is a stand-alone issue featuring the X-Men repairing from all the damage and battling a Danger Room that starts going haywire. There’s some interesting character development with Shadowcat and her claw and a new threat pops up in South Africa by the end of the issue. I always liked these types of issues between arcs, kind of a slow things down and catch our breath before the next arc. This is a cool old-school issue. 23/25.
DC
-Batman & Robin #3- Batman and Robin attack and defeat Dr. Pyg and his crazy antics of creating an army of drugged mutilated soldiers. The Batman presented here is much different than the one in the pages of Batman and I wish that the writers would stay on the same page in terms of Dick Grayson’s demeanor under the cowl. Damien is presented really well here and the villain, Dr. Pyg, seems to have a much further grip than what Batman and Robin know. I had that one little complaint but other than that this has presented a great look into the relationship of Batman and Robin. 1/1.
-Batman: The Widening Gyre #1- This is the newest Kevin Smith mini-series and it starts with a retro Batman and Robin fighting some B-list villains. This event is repeated by Batman and Nightwing years later as the same B-list villains are defeated. Batman learns about a possible deeper connection and heads off to Arkham on a new assignment. It seems that Poison Ivy has taken the whole place captive when the Demon shows up for some reason. He wants revenge on Poison Ivy. Batman is defeated by the Demon but he’s saved by a new mask on the scene. This is off to a decent start. I hope the introductory scenes will play out to something bigger. The writing was handled well and I enjoyed it better than the start of Cacophony. 2/2.
-Blackest Night: Titans #1- Blackest Night has reached the Titans and they have had their fair share of deaths, including Terra and Hawk, both of whom happen to show up here! Hawk seems to kill the new Hawk right in front of Dove and Terra plays around with the emotions of Gar. Yes, Blackest Night has reached the Titans and like all the other BN tie-ins, it is awesome. 3/3.
-Detective Comics #856- Batwoman is actually saved by the werewolves from last issue. The werewolves are part of the Crime Bible cult that stopped believing when Batwoman was not killed. The Alice in Wonderland rip-off hatches a plan to kidnap Batwoman’s father (the Colonel) during a happening ball and Batwoman must save him. The back-up deals with the Question and her look into a missing woman. It turns out this woman is just one of many in a type of kidnapping ring. The back-up is almost as good as the main story. I also really like the art of JH Williams and how different it is from the stuff he was doing in Robin. 5/5.
-Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #4- Guess what is in this issue? More gang wars! Yeah, Ink is struggling in his town with two rival gangs fighting and his tattoos being led by some mysterious force. It’s probably the weakest of the four mini-series right now since it’s sort of forcing the same plot points down your throat. Even though it is the weakest it still has its merit and it is worth reading if you liked Ink in Final Crisis. 6/6.
-Green Lantern #45- Do I even need to review this? It is a Blackest Night tie-in and that basically makes it worth its point right there. I like how each BN tie-in is focusing on a different aspect of the event. You have Blackest Night proper which focuses on the main story and here we have Green Lantern which is focusing on Star Sapphire battling Sinestro and it seems a bunch of the other Lanterns gathering and facing off against the Black Lanterns. I really like the dialogue between Sapphire and Sinestro here and this is the highlight of the issue. 7/7.
-Justice Society of America #30- The JSA are really down on their luck until Flash finds Dr. Fate (the new one) who scares away the rest of the villains. They return home to see Mr. Terrific near-death. The JSA are coming around to the fact that someone is trying to take them down from the inside. Furthermore, in-fighting seems to be a huge issue as well. The way the JSA defeated the villains was smart and the fact that they are getting even deeper into disarray is going to lead to some interesting stories down the road. 8/8.
-Red Circle: The Shield #1- The Shield is a dying soldier given some nanotechnology to make him into a super-soldier. Yeah, great. It was an okay origin story but nothing we haven’t seen before. This is going to lead to two ongoing titles that I won’t be purchasing. They were interesting and they all tied into one another but financially it isn’t worth it for me to pick them up. It was a by the numbers origin although nothing too groundbreaking. There was nothing inherently wrong with it, so I can’t hate on it. 9/9.
-Superman #691- Superman stops Ral-Dar from killing the president but this is all part of General Lane’s plans to discredit Superman (which he does) and have Mon-El defeated (and killed?) by some of Lane’s guys who are impersonating Kryptonians. Krypton’s name is ruined and now the whole world is gunning for Superman. The conclusion to Codename: Patriot did a great job in explaining Lane’s master plan as well as set up the next arc. 10/10.
-Superman’s Pal: Jimmy Olsen #1- This is sort of a follow-up to Codename: Patriot. Olsen is getting closer into Project 7734 and the Assassin and everyone’s role in it, especially General Lane’s role. Unfortunately for Jimmy the Assassin goes after Jimmy and when Jimmy tries to contact Mon-El he gets no response (because of what happened in Superman #691) and he gets shot as a result and he may very well be dead now. I love how this tied up the Jimmy Olsen stuff and how it tied into Codename: Patriot. 11/11.
Dynamite
-Project Superpowers 2 #2- The heroes have Washington in their grasp but now must face off against a returned Captain Future. He manages to even hurt Samson, who thought he could only be harmed by the hand of God. Could Future be Zeus, as he was seen in the first page of the comic? The side-kicks are chilling around and they’ve found two of the heroes they were sidekicks to and they are not in the best state of mind. Could this explain why Black Terror is acting the way he’s acting? This continues to be a lot of fun and I think that Dynamite really has found a great place for itself in the current comic book market with its Golden Age reboots and classic character stories. 1/1.
Awards
-Book of the Week- With something like 40,000,000 titles this week it is tough to pick a winner. I have to go with Deadpool #14. I had more fun reading this than anything else this week and that’s what set it apart for me. I highly recommend this one to any fan looking for a fun comic.
-Disappointment of the Week- Runaways #13 was a big disappointment for me. I just find I don’t care about these kids anymore and that’s a terrible thing to be so disconnected like this.
-Cover of the Week- Deadpool #14 by Jason Pearson features a really cool Deadpool in a pirate costume pose. The cover just personifies the great and witty writing inside.
-The Bottom Line- There were just a ton of comics this week and only two duds in the bunch make for a really high hit rate. It was a little Hulk heavy (what’s with the shipping there, Marvel) but it is what it is. Anyway, I want to end this by noting that it was announced yesterday that Disney was buying Marvel. I can’t believe that turn of events and it probably has more to do with the movies/animation part of Marvel than the comics. I hope that the Marvel Animation department can really step things up so Marvel can compete with DC in that area. It looks like really awesome news for Marvel.
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