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Well, it’s yet another week of TPL. The school year is now in full swing and I feel like I am back on track now and getting into the rhythm of working again. I can’t believe how two months off will throw your whole work/sleep/fun schedule out of whack! Now that I feel comfortable being back at work it won’t affect me going to the gym and my reviews like it has. Speaking of reviews, we have this week’s TPL! I love 5-month Wednesdays since the titles are really spread out each week and I’m not hit heavily on one big week. For instance, this week was another solid 22 books. DC was represented by 6 titles, with 5 being reviewed here, and Marvel chipped in with 16 books.
Spoiler Alert
Marvel
-Agents of Atlas #11- Atlas continues to kick all kinds of ass. The comic that is, not the foundation who are really getting their asses handed to them by Jade Claw. Well, this issues features dragons getting involved. DRAGONS! Not only that, but robots. Dragons and Robots! Where else can you find that in a book? 1/1.
-Amazing Spider-Man #605- This is a book in three chapters, all dealing with Mary-Jane coming to New York and Peter’s very complicated love-life. This issue really succeeds in showing WHY Mary-Jane left as well as the reasons she came back to New York. A couple of other plot points are set up (Raptor going after Norman and Pete’s cousin, Pete and Vin’s sister, and Peter’s messed up love-life) but the first chapter is the real reason to pick this up. 2/2.
-Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Anti-Venom #1- Anti-Venom was a really cool character that came out of the whole New Ways to Die book and here he is in his own mini-series. This started out as a standard, “try and cure evil,” story but it really took a turn when the Punisher showed up and shot Anti-Venom when he learned he was Brock. The little twist at the end will keep me around for the next two issues. 3/3.
-Captain America Reborn #3- Cap is still slip-sliding away through the timestream while things are still going on in our time. Bucky escapes with the help of Falcon (and Ant-Man) but that’s all moot when Sharon gives herself up. This is playing right into the Red Skulls hands and Doom is involved. This is very intriguing so far and it doesn’t seem like a big rush job to bring Cap back, but rather a planned, thought-out book. 4/4.
-Dark Avengers #9- This is probably the best book Bendis has written this year. Ares follows his son to the hideout of Fury and they have an amazing confrontation that is actually all verbal. With that over we go to our action and that’s the Sentry’s wife seemingly kill him and Norman being in trouble behind a door that creaks open at the end of the issue. The pacing was great, the dialogue fit and wasn’t forced or corny, and we had a story told and a nice thread that will be picked up next issue. 5/5.
-Dark Reign – The List: Daredevil #1- Norman’s list continues to grow. He has a bone to pick with DD, especially after he’s seen on tape killing some cops and a judge in Norman’s grip. He sends Bullseye after him and DD watches in horror as Bullseye kills over a hundred people in a building. Unfortunately for our tough-luck ‘Devil, it was Lady Bullseye who was impersonating DD as part of Kingpin’s plan. This is really keeping momentum going from Bru’s run as well as setting up the new storylines for Diggle. 6/6.
-Dark Wolverine #78- Wolverine continues messing with Norman by leaking the video Norm didn’t want anyone to see of Daken killing some people. So Norman sets up a crime that Wolverine will stop to clear his name. I actually really like the mind games Daken is playing with the already whacked out Norman. 7/7.
-Deadpool Merc With A Mouth #3- Deadpool takes the Zombie Deadpool head, a T-Rex is zombie-fied and Hydra is set to blow the Savage Land to Kingdom Come. This captures the same Deadpool charm we’re accustomed to in the ongoing series. 8/8.
-Invincible Iron Man #18- Tony dons the Mach-I armor, the only armor his simple mind can understand and Pepper, who was still alive hiding in Masque’s, um, mask, frees Black Widow and Maria Hill. This was decent but why has Iron Man’s origin been ret-conned to Afghanistan like the movie instead of Viet Nam? The simpler Stark gets the more endearing a character he becomes. 9/9.
-Marvel Zombies: The Return #3- This trip through Marvel history visits Wolverine and Kitty Pryde in Japan. Spider-Man (Zombie version) meets Kitty and tells her he has a way to quell the zombie hunger they all have. This keeps getting better. I really enjoy seeing the Zombies infiltrate some of the more famous Marvel stories of years past while still keeping a story going. 10/10.
-Mighty Avengers #29- The Scarlet Witch is dispatched and Cassie calls for ALL the Avengers to assemble to help Quicksilver and USAgent. The two are up against the Unspoken and his slave engine, a machine that degenerates humans. We have two really cool stories going on; the Scarlet Witch/Young Avengers fight and the Unspoken character. This is a title that has really gotten better as the months have moved on. 11/11.
-Punisher: Noir #2- This story took a really interesting turn. Frank is battling the mob, recounts fighting the Russian during WWI, and getting killed by Noir versions of Barracuda and Jigsaw. The son finds his father dead and could he be the next Punisher? This is the first Noir story that really took the spirit of character only to switch it around so radically. 12/12.
-Ultimate Armor Wars #1- Tony is still drunk and reeling from the whole Ultimatum Wave when his secret chamber is broken into by the Ghost. It looks like Tony’s Iron Man tech is going to be sold off to the higher bidder and we have an Armor Wars upon us. Tony also saves the daughter of Justin Hammer. We’ll see how this goes. 13/13.
-Uncanny X-Men: First Class #3- This was a really cool story focusing on Banshee and his dead wife. This reminds me a bit of Untold Tales of Spider-Man. Sure, nothing too groundbreaking can happen (since we know it doesn’t really effect the continuity) but they do a great job filling in holes between the stories we know and love to gain another insight into these characters. 14/14.
-X-Factor #48- This one keeps getting better! From Madrox and Layla in the future (where they get Doom to make the Doomlock) to the rest of X-Factor in the present (where they deal with the evil dupes) this title is one of the most complete comics on the stands. 15/15.
-X-Men: Legacy Annual #1-This is a bold new direction for the X-Men group and I don’t like how they throw part one in an annual instead of in the actual title. Those feelings aside, this brings Emplate back into the X-Men universe and since the mutants are all decimated, his food supply has been severely depleted. Wherever we see Emplate, Penance is not far behind. There’s a short tying up loose ends story with Gambit destroying Norman’s mutant-controlling device. This is a new start and it is starting off well. 16/16.
DC
-Action Comics #881- This follows hot on the heels of Mon-El’s death. Supergirl, Nightwing and Flamebird are framed for the murder but they are suffering from a bit too much in-fighting. Supergirl wants to go after the man who killed her father, Reactron. The K-Squad may have something to say about that, though. The back-up features the Atom and it looks like he’s under some sort of control of someone. It wasn’t terribly interesting and it just adds a dollar to the overall price. This could’ve gone either way, possibly losing a point on value (and no Superman in Superman’s book) but the story was strong enough and really pushes along elements we’ve seen before. 1/1.
-Batgirl #2- This issue focuses more on the person of Stephanie and her role in this new universe, namely, Barbara either being extremely jealous or just cautious for the new heroine. The interplay between the two is very well done. Babs and Steph are investigating some bad drugs making their way onto the scene and the Scarecrow is behind it all. We have a star villain (Scarecrow) to help out in case people are having second thoughts about the new Batgirl. I like Stephanie as their choice of Batgirl and I especially like the Barbara/Stephanie interaction. 2/2.
-Batman and Robin #4- We meet the Red Hood and his little freed Piglet from the last arc. She has a name but I forgot what it was and I don’t really feel like looking right now. Anyway, Red Hood is just brutal and when Batman and Robin encounter him they question if Red Hood is really Jason Todd? Billy Tan is on art here, probably for the entire second arc, instead of Quitely. Morrison kicked off his second arc with some awesome visual moments here and I think this second arc will be even better than the first. 3/3.
-Blackest Night #3- Blackest Night continues with things that all event comics need. Big moments? Check (Gehenna, half of Firestorm is killed, the Indigo Lanterns show up and temporarily stop the Black Lanterns) Cool scenes (the aforementioned Gen turning into salt) and even more trouble for our heroes (in the form of more risen villains). This is nothing short of awesome right now. 4/4.
-Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #5- The looniness continues for Tom Tressor. Is he a prisoner? That’s what he’s trying to figure out and it seems like he may have some sort of idea what’s going on. This has a Prisoner feel for me (if you’ve never heard of that TV series you should check it out) and so it gets an easy point. I feel it is tough to understand but not because of bad writing. Actually the writing is great as it keeps us as much in the dark as Tressor. Definitely the most ambitious of the FC storylines. 5/5.
Awards
-Book of the Week- Dark Avengers #9 was surprisingly good this week and it really stuck out in my mind. I just loved the dialogue in here and how the story was paced from start to finish.
-Disappointment of the Week- This was a legit good week. Some titles weren’t great, but there was nothing that was glaringly bad.
-Cover of the Week- Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth featured a really cool Jaws inspired cover (I think it was Jaws) and that’s all I really have to say about that.
-The Bottom Line- Well, this was a day late and that’ll throw things off for the remainder of the week. Wednesday Comics will be posted on Thursday, along with the WWE Superstars review. In terms of TPL, this was a good week. I was able to enjoy every title in its own way and to me that is a successful week.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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