The Back Stack: April 4, 2012

Hey everyone.  I hope you’ve been well.  Got a few comics to talk about this week (of course), so let’s get down to it.  There are some very good comics to consider this week, but there are also some comics that you’ll want to think twice on.  As always, spoiler alert.

Aquaman #7.  Aquaman continues to pretty much be the benchmark of every book in the DCnU.  It brought a character once thought eternally disgraced by the Superfriends cartoon and brought him back to his rightful place as one of the heaviest hitters in the comic book universe.  This issue brings back Black Manta and apparently he has a connection to some of the disturbances in recent issues.  We also get some more development as to Aquaman’s backstory in the DCnU.  As a new reader to Aquaman, I’m not sure how much of a deviation this is, so I’ve got a bit of an advantage.  For those who know, the results may vary a bit.  However, the DCnU was made SPECIFICALLY for new readers and damn to the old readers, apparently.  Still, letting the series stand as is, this is an excellent book and I can’t recommend it enough.

Verdict – Highly Recommended

Avengers #24.1 was pretty darn good.  It focuses on the life of the Vision after his resurrection, including confronting She-Hulk, who tore him in half in Avengers Disassembled, and Magneto, father of his ex-wife, Scarlet Witch.  We get good emotion and good moments, especially from the oft-underused She-Hulk.  This is how a Point One issue should be written; an interlude story along the way that doesn’t interrupt the main thought process of the series.  Bendis seems to be a master of these Point One issues.  It wouldn’t surprise me if he fathered the concept.

Verdict – Recommended

Avengers vs. X-Men #0.  There isn’t a whole lot to go on.  We get the return of the Scarlet Witch to regular action in saving the day, which I’m glad to see.  She also confronts Vision, and it doesn’t end well.  On the X-Men side, Hope tries to prove she’s ready for the impending arrival of the Phoenix Force.  Honestly, this issue’s a bit flat after the Avengers arc, but we get some good characterization from Cyclops and his focus and deterimination on the road ahead while showing genuine concern for Hope.  However, it’s still a little light to entirely recommend.  It’s a nice diversion.  Word of warning, though.  If you’re going to get it now, you missed out on one of Marvel’s digital download codes.  Seriously, Marvel, if you’re going to do this, can you at least offer the code with a little bit of a longer cash-in expiration date?

Verdict – Cautiously Recommended

Daredevil #10.  What more can I say about the new Daredevil run?  The storyline is great, the characterization is great, the action is great, the artwork is great, everything about it is just great.  This is the level of excellence that Daredevil was meant for.  This story continues the major storyline involving the Fantastic Four 4, the organization that wants it, and the conspiracy against Matt Murdoch.  It also features a pretty darn good fight between Daredevil and Mole Man.  Freakin’ MOLE MAN.  We realize just how insane Mole Man can be and how driven he is when he puts his mind to something.  There’s also a rather touching moment regarding Black Cat, Daredevil’s new lover, who confesses her being hired by the organization to steal the 4.  This is a complete read and I can’t recommend Daredevil enough.

Verdict – Highly Recommended

Green Lantern:  New Guardians #7 was good, but in this week’s sea of truly great books, it doesn’t do anything to stand out from the crowd.  The Lanterns fight a being who can be best described as an alien angel, and he is VERY powerful.  He’s existed for aeons and has a blood feud with Larfleeze, who killed his kin.  Some intriguing character development for Arkillo, the Yellow Lantern, but this issue’s big focus was on Saint Walker, the Blue Lantern, whom tried all he could to understand and try to help the angel understand, but it didn’t work.  I hope they work that a bit and develop Saint Walker more.  The ultimatum in the end does a good job of progressing this arc, but I’m wondering how it’ll inevitably tie in with the other two Green Lantern books and the impending war with the Alpha Lanterns.  It’s not bad, but if you’re on a budget, there are far better comics out there.

Verdict –Recommended

The Mighty Thor #12.  This is a feel-good book through and through.  Thor makes his triumphant return and, in doing so, restores the original memories of those around him.  He takes the fight to the impostor Thor, just as one of the All-Mother portions does battle with the troll queen.  We even get some interlude with Loki in the end and one last wrong was righted.  I won’t call this a deep book, because it isn’t.  I wouldn’t even call it entirely epic.  You COULD make the argument that it was rushed so Thor could be in Avengers vs. X-Men that’s coming up next month.  However, taking it on its own merits, it’s a book well worth reading.

Verdict – Highly Recommended

The New Avengers #23 was dumb fun.  We get some last minute elaboration on Skaar and his connection with Captain America as well as the New Avengers beating the crap out of the New Dark Avengers.  I think the New Dark Avengers will go down as one of the worst supervillain teams of all time.  None of them were particularly impressive in their fight with the New Avengers.  Heck, even Ragnarok, one of the biggest threats in the Marvel Universe, was punked out in a single issue.  Sure, it took all of the New Avengers to beat it, but Ragnarok is a clone of the GOD OF THUNDER.  The book ends on a somber note for Luke Cage and I think we’re going to have a case of what I call the Genesis Syndrome (reference to last year’s Sonic Genesis), when a promising storyline gets put on the back burner in favor of some mega event only to be picked up later.  It’s not something I want to see.

Verdict – Cautiously Recommended

Superman #7 continues to give me mixed feelings about the series.  While we started off with a good mix of character, action, and story, we seem to have begun to lose one or two of them per issue since the first couple issues.  In this issue, we get good action and decent character for Clark Kent/Superman, but the story was bland and forgettable.  Unlike with Aquaman, where I’ve had near-zero investment in the character, I am VERY familiar with Superman and seeing us tread over old terrain rubs me the wrong way.  I’m sure there are readers of the old Aquaman books who can say the same about this one, but I’m not one of those people and I can only give you MY opinions.  You all, of course, are free to disagree with me.  That’s the beauty of this world.  However, even accepting that we’re going to have to start essentially fresh with Superman, this way is actually very boring to me and I don’t know if I’m going to be inclined to stick with this book for the long haul.  Books like Aquaman have been hitting all the right notes recently in terms of the relaunch.  Books like Superman have been… spotty.

Verdict – Cautiously Recommended

We’ll be closing out The Back Stack with a title that’s been really disappointing me lately.  Teen Titans #7.  Now, I was there for the start of the last run of Teen Titans.  In comparison, while this series started off on a much larger scale, but it just doesn’t seem to really be coming together for me.  Most of the characters are uninteresting, the seemingly necessary crossovers with Superboy is disheartening, and the characters I do find interesting haven’t exactly shined like I’d hoped they would.  And, might I add, I REALLY hate Solstice’s redesign.  Her look at the end of the last Teen Titans run was unique, interesting, and had a very magistrate look to her.  This… she’s fog.  While I do like Wonder Girl in this, she’s been a little one-note for me.  I can’t say the Teen Titans have been a very impressive superhero team, either, especially getting out of the gate.  I am going to keep reading, but my patience with this book is wearing thin.  Unlike Sonic the Hedgehog, I have no extensive rose colored glasses for Teen Titans.  I’ll drop it like I did Ultimate Spider-Man when that Miles Morales nonsense didn’t appeal itself to me in the slightest, and Ultimate Spider-Man was the book that got me into comics on a grander scale.

As for this issue itself, it was pretty boring, especially since I didn’t read the Superboy issue that tied in with this.  The Teen Titans are making it a point to rescue Superboy from N.O.W.H.E.R.E., after some weak convincing from Red Robin.  A good note on this is that the most antagonistic of the group, Wonder Girl, is the first to volunteer.  Like I said, she’s probably been my favorite character in this misfire of a series.  However, Red Robin comes across as colder than Batman, especially in his conversation with Solstice about mid-way.  I’m sorry, but I’m finding it very hard to become invested in this book and I probably won’t stick with it much longer unless the next issue really wows me.

Verdict – Pass

And there you have it.  This week’s Back Stack.  I did miss Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #8 when I went to the shop last week, so hopefully I’ll get it up today.  Fingers crossed.

Now get out there and read some comics!

Cheers;

Master Graveheart