Posts
Hello everyone! Happy 2012! I hope all is well for you. I’m fine myself, if not a might busy, which explains my absence. I’m a bit rushed, but I wanted to get out another Back Stack before the comic shops open tomorrow so you know what books from the previous week you might like to consider picking up. I have dropped a lot of my old books for one reason or another, so these will be much shorter as well. Incidentally, a shipping error meant I didn’t get Amazing Spider-Man #677, which featured the return of the Black Cat in a crossover with Daredevil, but I hope to rectify that error tomorrow.
Also, my first Grave Issues will be a Grave 13 (top 13 countdown) will cover 13 things that need to change about the WWE. I was going to make it 13 comics I want to see make a comeback, but that one was considerably harder to fill out without cheating a lot. Not to say I won’t do that eventually, though.
For now, let’s get to it…
Batman and Robin #5 was… okay. I still like the dynamic of Batman trying to be a good father and not really getting it, Robin being his usual prick self about the whole thing, and Alfred hoping to do his best however he can to keep them together, but this issue begins to show some potential weakness. Namely, I find Robin to be extremely one-note and boring as a character, not to mention a little bit of a dumbass in regards to certain matters. One saving grace was Batman’s inner monologging about not being a good father in his mind. Still, this one seemed to drag on at times. Still good, but this wouldn’t be a good issue if you just want to get into it.
Verdict: Cautiously recommended
Captain America #7. This one had some good moments in it and it continues the mystery of why Cap is reverting back to his pre-Super Soldier form, being frail and vulnerable. Good action scenes, decent cliffhanger, good character bits, especially from Sharon Carter, all in all a solid read.
Verdict: Recommended
Deadpool #49 ended, supposedly, the Evil Deadool saga. I think it was pretty anti-climatic, personally, but it was much better than the Deadpool in an Insane Asylum arc, and certainly much better than it’s horrid conclusion, but Ii still think that Deadpool just hasn’t been quite as funny as it was for so long before it. Not its worst work, but there is much better. Since this ended the current arc, consider the next one for a jumping on point.
Verdict: Pass
Demon Knights #5 continues to perplex me. It started off incredibly solid, but the last issue was kind of slow and just blah, and this one was more of the same. We do get to see a traitor in the group, but really, nothing terribly much happens. We get our explanation why Etrigan’s alter ego, Jason, allows his lover to be lovey dovey with Etrigan… and it doesn’t paint a good picture about either of them. There was plot development, but it came across as more dull to me than anything else. Still, I want this book to work out because in the times that it was good, it was damn good. But right now, it’s not quite where it was in the first few issues.
Verdict: Pass
Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #5, on the other hand, was very good. In this issue, Frankie takes on O.M.A.C. and I couldn’t be happier to have seen that Liefeld-creation wannabe get smacked around a bit. Although, to be honest, it seems a little early for a lot of these books to be doing crossovers. We also get some hints that Frankenstein will be getting involved in some kind of relationship with Dr. Nina Mazursky, but I may be reading too much into it. We also see some decent between Frankenstein and Father, which could become interesting down the line. For a one and done story, it was better than most.
Verdict: Recommended
Green Lantern #5 confirms what we’ve all been suspecting for ages. The Guardians of the Universe are completely evil and will be the villains of the next mega-event crossover. It’s all beginning to take shape here as now, Hal Jordan is out of the picture as a Lantern and the Guardians begin to make their move. Sinestro is still a Green Lantern, which is something I think will either lead to him being the new overlord of the Green Lanterns or an elaborate plan of him on behalf of the Sinestro Corps. Then again, we still have Green Lantern: The New Guardians around, suggesting that they may become the new Guardians of the Galaxy… which I’d like. A representative of all seven Corps. That is something I could get behind… but seeing Larfleeze in any kind of authoritative role just begs for disaster. The ending of this book between Hal and Carol was sweet… but the jury is out on just how long this actually lasts.
Verdict: Recommended
Incredible Hulk #4… I want to like this book. I really do. Greg Pak’s run on the last volume of The Incredible Hulk made me fall in love with the character and his mythos. The war between man and monster, the war between misunderstood outcast and the rest of the world, Pak wrote it in a beautiful way. However, this one completely eradicates the subtlety, undoes a lot of the work that went into the end of Greg Pak’s run, and bastardizes themes in the sake of literal interpretation. While I do like the idea of Hulk and Banner waging war with one another, this one… just isn’t that fun. I want to see where this goes and the fandom for The Hulk I built up during Pak’s run wants me to give this a chance. I don’t like the way Banner just suddenly and quickly went nutzoid and ostracized his wife… and I’m even less of a fan that we got another Doom walking around, albeit she has no relation to Doctor Doom (seriously, can’t anyone else think up different last names anymore?). I like to think that this split between Banner and Hulk isn’t permanent because neither character works without the other. I’ll keep reading, but I’m not convinced it’s for anyone but honest Hulk fans.
Verdict: Pass
Journey into Mystery #633 was a lot of fun… but not a lot of it is worth mentioning. Not that it’s bad, but it just wasn’t entirely memorable. It’s the start of a new ark that involves the Son of Satan hunting down Loki, but between the two, I think Thor is the better of the Asgard mythos books. My biggest problem with the book, though, is that its impossibly wordy. I like reading, but sometimes I think the exposition really slows down the book. If this doesn’t bother you, I’d check it out.
Verdict: Recommended
Mega Man #9 continues to remind me why I absolutely HATE Ian Flynn. The man is absolutely married to the video games his comics are based off of, the hero is as close to an invincible Mary Sue that you can possibly get, the villains aren’t threatening, the story starts promising but quickly deteriorates, and it just generally becomes uninteresting. We’re starting the Mega Man 2 arc, which is fine… but while he gets his clock cleaned by Quick Man, Mega Man is nearly effortless against Wood man and Bubble Man. What bothers me more is that the Leaf Shield is used against Bubble Man. The Leaf Blade ISN’T a weakness of Bubble Man! Either Metal Blades, the Quick Boomerangs, or the Crash Bombs are! Didn’t Flynn even PLAY Mega Man 2? It’s like he just wanted these two out of the way for the sake of getting them out of the way. While I do like the idea of Mega Man doubting his mission, leading to his potential abandoning of Dr. Light… I don’t think Flynn is smart enough to go through with an idea like that to lead up to the Mega Man 3 arc. Then again, do we even WANT Ian Flynn working on more of… anything?
Verdict: Pass
New Avengers #20. We get our first taste the New Dark Avengers and… I’m not really impressed with them as villains. At all. Yeah, they have some neat tricks, but they’re really something that should be easily taken care of. While it does leave a good mystery as to why Norman Osborn was suddenly superhuman, it did lead to a question… why did Wolverine put so much stock into Luke Cage being there? The remainder of the team included Wolverine, Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Ms. Marvel, Daredevil, a superpowered Mockingbird, and The Thing. If they were worried about numbers, fine, but Ii actually think the New Avengers outnumbered the New Dark Avengers from the get go… initially. If they mean a leadership role, you still had Ms. Marvel, who is second in command of the team. My minor gripes aside, it wasn’t a bad issue and, alluding to my “initially” from earlier, it ends with the revelation of another member: Ragnarok, the brainless robotic clone of Thor. Certainly imposing, but not very impressive, if I’m being honest, especially since Hercules took him down essentially single-handedly and we have at least three people on this team who can do what Hercules did in Civil War (Cage, Thing, and Ms. Marvel). A good book, but I honestly think the coming out party of the New Dark Avengers was a bit lackluster.
Verdict: Cautiously recommended
We end with Wolverine and the X-Men #4. This was another good issue of the series and added some new faces to the cast. Genesis, the child of Apocalypse who is feared to become said mutant one day, and Angel, recently defunct member of the X-Force and now supposed actual Angel. There are some funny bits with the faculty in regards to Kid Gladiator and a scene where Deathlok analyzes the students with the best one being from his analysis of Kid Omega and Broodling.
Deathlok: “Quentin Quire. 38.9% chance you are expelled within the year. 67.3% chance you first burn this entire school to the ground.”
Quire: “Sounds about right to me.”
Deathlok: “Broodling, Son of Brood. 22.3% chance that in the next three years you will discover a cure for cancer. 34.7% chance that during that same time, you will murder and consume at least four of your classmates.”
Broodling: “Well that is rather… fascinating.”
This book has been pretty fun and a nice counterpart to the more seriously toned Uncanny X-Men. This ends with a cliffhanger that’ll probably not amount to much, but it’s still a fun ending.
Verdict: Recommended
So, that’s all from me for this week. Check in Thursday for my first Grave Issues, followed by the return of the WWEekly Wrap-Up on Saturday.
Cheers;
Graves
No comments:
Post a Comment