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Hello all. I’ve
missed you guys. It’s been a while, hasn’t
it? Definitely a lot longer than I had
initially intended, and for that, I apologize.
As you know, I’ve missed a LOT of weeks and, with that, a
LOT of comics. Naturally, it’s nearly
impossible for me to review ALL the comics I pulled during my downtime, because
just as I begin to catch up, a new week comes by and that means new comics to
buy. It’s a never-ending mess if I let
it be one. Instead, I decided to take
the notables, both good ones and bad ones.
These are going to be very cut and dry and shorter than normal reviews
of mine. Regular reviews will resume on
Tuesday/Wednesday morning (before comic shops typically open with the new
stuff).
Anyway, let’s begin.
(As always, SPOILER ALERT!)
Fantastic Four #605. This was a very good change of pace from the
action-heavy issues. We learn a lot
about The Thing and what his potential future has for him. All thousands of years of it. That’s right, apparently The Thing ages at
about the speed of a rock and is only accelerated thanks to the serum that lets
Thing be human for one week out of the year.
It’s nice to see a human side of Reed Richards in this one and just slow
down and realize what shouldn’t be taken for granted. If only he’d do that with his wife every so
often… but still, it was a great book with great characterization, especially
in the end where Reed and Ben share a beer and watch TV together.
Verdict – Highly
Recommended
Justice League #8
brings to an end my patience with the DC superheroes being a band of
assholes. Recent issues haven’t exactly painted
the Justice League in a good light and this issue didn’t help either. Made worse is the Shazam back-up that
features Billy Batson being just as big of a dick as the Justice League. What is with DC? Did they decide that DC should stand for
Disregard Character or something? It was
a boring issue to boot and I can’t say it’s a story in a book I’m interested in
continuing with. The only remotely
interesting thing is that we learn that Martian Manhunter apparently was a
member of the Justice League and it ended badly with the Justice League unceremoniously
kicking him out. And he’s supposed to be
a good guy now? Ugh… no thanks.
Verdict – Pass (personally
dropping)
Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles #9 continues the awesome revival of our favorite sewer-dwelling
teens in green. Of course, the big thing
with this issue was the reveal of THE SHREDDER!
What do I think? Well… it
certainly was The Shredder all right. I
won’t say it was a very impressive reveal and the surprise was kind of negated
from how prominent the Foot Clan had been in the past couple issues, but hey,
this was what we all waited for. Things
are coming together beautifully for this series, though, and I can’t wait to
continue once we’re up to speed.
Verdict – Recommended
Sonic Universe #39…
that’s right, our old pal Ian Flynn continues his unnecessary made-for-trade Sonic
side-series. However, to his credit,
this one doesn’t feel like a complete waste of time and might help to validate
this particular story arc known as “Scrambled.”
We get the return of the least-requested character in the Sonic comic’s
expanded mythos, Monkey Khan (I guess “Ken” Khan wasn’t cutting it anymore) and
his reaction upon seeing Sally become roboticized. It ends with Robotnik tricking him in
becoming his servant again as Khan gives up his power ring control crown to
restore Mecha Sally. While this does
provide some interesting story angles, it also opens up the door for several
potentially bad story angles and, knowing Flynn’s track record, it’s likely one
of the ones we’ll be getting. While I do
like the prospect of Robotnik starting his collection of robot minions made
from Sonic’s old running buddies, it isn’t something I think Flynn has the
forethought or talent to capitalize on.
Verdict – Cautiously Recommended
Mega Man #12. I am quickly losing my patience with Mega
Man. This issue of this made-for-trade
series wraps up the Mega Man 2 adaptation, and mercifully might I add. What could have been so much more was wasted
with Ian Flynn behind the keyboard scripting this story. Wily’s minions continue to look like tinfoil
against Mega Man and Dr. Light’s Robot Masters and the potential drama of Wily
pretending he was an alien was wasted needlessly. This is clearly not a series Ian Flynn has a
connection with. While I consistently criticize
Flynn’s Sonic comics, at least it seems like he wants to build something. With Mega Man, it just seems like he’s
looking to just get it over with, and that’s a shame because I think, even more
than Sonic, Mega Man has the potential to be one of the best comic adaptations
out there. It’s just a shame that it’s
all squandered with Ian Flynn.
Verdict – Pass
We’ll end on a trade paperback I picked up. Sonic
Select vol. 5. This is a mix of both
good and bad. The good being the
inclusion of the Girls Rule Super Sonic Special. The bad being the inclusion of BOTH Sonic
Kids Super Sonic Specials. But with the
good and the bad comes the ugly. For the
first noticeable time, we see a major edit done to one of the old stories. In particular, during Sally’s story in the
Girls Rule special, her vest is superimposed in when she’s immersing herself
with a pool of liquid known as “The Source,” which has guided the Acorn Family
for generations. Grant you, it isn’t
used hardly at all in general and it has led to the belief that it was just Ken
Penders’ excuse for making softcore furry porn, but honestly, I give Penders a
slide on this. Think about it.
The Source is described as a near-sentiant, near-all-knowing
guiding force. Sally enters it and
experiences of oneness. I think that
Sally not wearing her boots and vest actually helped that idea of oneness and
facing the future. While maybe not
something you’d agree with, there was something pure about it, almost like it
was a higher deity. That’s what lets me
give the concept a pass because of that idea of pure oneness. Also, because it’s just stupid for Sally to
take her boots off, but not her vest, especially considering she runs around
without pants anyway. The edit to add
her vest not only breaks that view of oneness by having a big, super-imposed blue
block thrown in on all the shades-of-orange panels and makes it look gaudy as
hell, and really makes it look like Flynn is trying to continue to paint
Penders in a bad light, like he made the story simply to have Sally strut
around in the nude in a glorified swimming pool. It's very furry-phobic of Flynn, almost like anything that could be described as fuel for furries automatically triggers a panic button with him... interesting considering Sally was running around in other issues and trades without her vest for so long without her vest IN PUBLIC and a vest is edited in for when Sally is by herself. Anyone else see the problem here?
While the Girls Rule special is still good and features some
of the best artwork in the series (Flynn’s stupid-ass edits excluded), this is
just an okay trade and I can only recommend it if you can’t find Girls Rule by
itself (where you’ll get more beautiful artwork) or if you are a die-hard Sonic
collector… like me.
Verdict – Cautiously Recommended
So, there you have it.
There would be more comics I’d touch on, but honestly, nothing majorly
new to report. Next week, a full, true,
return of The Back Stack.
Cheers;
Master Graveheart
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