The Back Stack: January 31, 2012

Hey everyone.  I’m considering discontinuing the WWEekly Wrap-Up in its current form and, instead of doing match-by-match, segment-by-segment, I’ll only touch on stuff if its relevant to feelings.  Unlike a comic-by-comic rundown, going through TWO shows, sometimes three, maybe four or five, shows if I were to do NXT, Superstars, and the pay-per-view on the rightful months.  So, I’m going to experiment in upcoming weeks and see how it goes.

In the meantime, the Back Stack will remain the same.  Ten books to review this week.  Let’s get started.

Aquaman #5 continues the awesome run on arguably the best book of the New 52 Relaunch with honorable mentions going to Batman and Justice League International.  There are other good books too, but Aquaman has been the gold standard so far.  This one shows new villains arriving with old Atlantian technology and Aquaman being stuck in the middle of the desert chasing them down.  The next issue promises to expand on the supporting cast, particularly with his wife, Mera, which is a good thing and probably coming in at just the right time.  Aquaman is still a book you’ll love and arguably the most consistent of the New 52.

Verdict – Highly Recommended

Deadpool #49.1.  I don’t care too much about the whole “Marvel.1” initiative.  It’s supposedly meant to be a jumping-on point for comic readers, but I odn’t think there are enough wannabe comic readers out there to care about it, and these tend to not be that great in general… or I could just be critical.  Deadpool’s .1 though was decent.  Had some good chuckles here and there.  Not sure if this is a good introductory comic, but it does give you the nuances of the character.  However… I’m not sure if Deadpool is a character I’d recommend for first-time comic readers.

Verdict – Cautiously Recommended

Fantastic Four #602 is the Fantastic Four book I’m following primarily.  I did purchase FF #14, but I found that boring, so I may just stick with Fantastic Four until the two series’ converge later in the year and we’re back to just Fantastic Four, thankfully.  This side of the story has been pretty darn good so far with the return of the Human Torch, only older, due to being in the Negative Zone for so long.  Not sure where this is going to go in that regard, but the invading war happening here is showing the uniqueness of the Fantastic Four as a superhero team.  Best part?  Reed Richards isn’t acting like a total high-and-mighty jackass.  He’s acting like a scientist superhero.  And he’s not underscoring his wife, either.  There are good character moments and it’s the way a Fantastic Four comic should be.  Not recommended for first time readers, but more for comic fans looking for something new.

Verdict – Recommended

FF #14 continues to spiral into a bore… until the ending with Galactus and the god-like entities that were present for Infinity Gauntlet… at least I think they are, it’s never really clear.  They look different, but it’s clear that they’re something even Galactus has to reckon with.  I do not approve of making Franklin or Valaria Richards lead characters… at all… and the Future Foundation itself bores me, really.  Even Doctor Doom, the biggest regular baddie of them all, is horribly squandered here.  The only intriguing thing about this story is the title.  “All Hope Lies In Doom.”  I would drop the series, but I’ve only got one or two more issues before it and Fantastic Four converge.  So, for all of you, I wouldn’t bother with it.

Verdict – Pass

Green Lantern:  The New Guardians #5.  While Bleez returns to Atrocitis on the Red Lanterns’ home world, the other members of the different Corps. Investigate a collection of artificially made worlds.  We see the different personalities beginning to clash and the question of Larfleeze’s actual involvement begins to loom large, especially in light of his recent attack on the Guardians of the Universe.  Overall, these have been good issues and if you like the multiple lantern concept, this one is for you.

Verdict – Recommended

Justice League #5 was much better than previous issues have been.  It focuses primarily on Green Lantern and Batman, contrary to what the cover suggests, and their putting aside of egos and coming together to fight Darkseid, who has already wasted Superman and captured him.  As Batman goes to Darkseid’s planet to rescue him, getting more than he bargained for, he talks Hal Jordan to begin to embrace a team aspect, suggesting that he might end up becoming either the leader or second in command of this team under Batman, who shared his identity with him.  Good issue, good action, good character development… still far from great, though.

Verdict - Recommended

The Mighty Thor #10 begins the home stretch towards the hopeful end of the Taranus storyline.  Thor has regained Mjolnir and remembers being the Norse God of Thunder.  We also begin to see more contradictions as to Taranus as the God of Thunder instead of Tthor, namely his non-relationship with Sif.  The focus of the issue is Taranus’ battle with Heimdal, which basically is just Heimdal getting thrown around again to show that a villain is “fo serious, yo.”  I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out.  The issue does suffer from being a little too text-heavy with inaugural exposition, just as Journey Into Mystery does, but it’s worth reading through.  What I’m more interested in reading about is Donald Blake and what his return to the series means.  Will he become Thor again?  What about him and Jane Foster?  Lots of questions and I’m interested in the answers.

Verdict – Recommended

Queen Sonja #26… somebody screwed up BIG TIME in the editing department.  In one scene, we get nude dancing girls.  Now, nudity isn’t anything new to the series, but everything that may be considered questionable is usually covered in shadows or the environment, most notoriously was when Red Sonja ever actually had sex in previous issues of this or the Red Sonja main series.  But here, we get women in the distance who are clearly topless and exposing nipples.  It may have been a distance thing, but seeing that was extremely surprising to me and I’m wondering if this was just the testing grounds for pushing the series into more NC-17 route.  The story itself is good with Sonja ascending into the role of Empress and an assassination attempt on her life at the ceremony.  It’s not bad, but not very action-oriented, which is good, because I’ve been worrying if the book was a bit too action-heavy.  The panel in question is small and some of you may not interpret nipples, but because it is what I’m interpreting, I can’t give this issue a full recommendation to everyone since the nudity alone doesn’t make it for everyone.  If you’re of age and are okay with one brief panel, by all means, go for it.

Verdict – Cautiously Recommended

Superman #5 was just okay.  We have Superman possessed by the villains he’s been facing since the relaunch and raising his own brand of hell on Metropolis, but perhaps more intriguing is hearing Lois call out for Clark with Superman overhearing it.  I know it wasn’t what the intention was, but I’m wondering if its going to be a teaser of Superman Lois Lane getting back together some time soon.  It’s still the best of the Superman books, but with Supergirl starting to pick up steam, that might change soon.  Still, this is the type of book Superman should have.  Good writing, good character, and some mighty nice artwork if I do say so myself.  Subplots seem to bog it down a little bit and interrupt pacing, but nothing significantly major to complain about.

Verdict - Recommended

Teen Titans #5, on the other hand, was a huge disappointment.  We finally get the team together and they get absolutely manhandled by Superboy.  While it’s likely that he’ll just end up joining them later, this is not how you want to see a new team come out of the gates.  While Wonder Girl, Solstice, and Red Robin looked good to different degrees, Kid Flash still looked impulsive (no pun intended), Bunker looked like he had no business being a hero, and Skitter was AWOL.  This looked more like an advertisement for the Superboy book.  Solstice did seem to break Superboy’s link to N.O.W.H.E.R.E., but this isn’t the way to hook fans and it seems like a story that’ll continue more in Superboy’s book.  Not good for Teen Titans, to say the least.

Verdict – Pass

And we end this blog with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #6.  I love being re-introduced to the Turtles and seeing what this book is trying to become, sort of a mix of the old comic and both cartoon shows, the second one more than the first, while also doing things their own unique way.  The brothers are showing more of their dynamics and how they'll play off of one another.  Casey Jones is back with his dad, but we’ve seen in previous issues that it’s probably a bad idea.  He does get to meet April O’Neil, predictably, in a mechanic that seems a little forced.  The Turtles themselves are introduced to whom Splinter believes are links to the Foot Clan and Baxter Stockman introduces Old Hob to the mousers.  Heh, mousers going after a mutated cat.  I don’t know, I just find that very funny.  Overall, good stuff and if you have any love for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, get this series.  This issue is a great place to start off if you’re looking to get into it.

Verdict – Recommended

There you have it.  A pretty darn good week last week and I’m looking forward to more of the same this week.  Weeks like this are why I’m glad to be a comic reader.  Lots of quality material that I can recommend to you guys with very few dark spots.  Even then, the only one I was sorry to pick up was FF.  But, I’m trying to make these things short, so I’ll end it here.

Cheers;

Graves

EDIT 2/1/12 @2:42 a.m. - Fixed the Turtles review.