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And here we are, once again.
Welcome back to the Back Stack.
We have a heavy week this week, I have no new news, so let’s begin,
shall we?
Again, SPOILER ALERT!
Avengers Academy #32
was pretty good, focusing on Sentinel and his co-pilot whom I’m unfamiliar
with. I kind of like the “boy and
heartless machine that somehow has a heart” mechanic, but it’s beaten over your
head a little bit here. However, I didn’t
read the Sentinel series, so I can’t relate to it quite so well. Basically, Emma Frost, now powered by a
portion of the Phoenix Force, has come to dismantle the once war machine built
for mutant genocide in her efforts with the other members of the “Phoenix Five”
to reshape the world into a global utopia.
She’s met with resistance in the form of X-23 in specific, who goes
through her own growth this issue, and the rest of Avengers Academy. Despite some clichés being overplayed here,
everything works and Avengers Academy continues to be a highlight on my pull
ist.
But the Academy students are SO getting their asses kicked
by Phoenix-Emma next issue.
Verdict - Recommended
Avengers vs. X-Men #6
begins what can be considered the second act of the 12-parter. What this series is doing right that Fear
Itself: The Fearless went wrong is that it’s varying the characters,
intertwining its plotlines nicely, and isn’t quite as repetitive as its
12-issue bi-weekly predecessor. I’d like
to think they’re getting help from Dan Slott and the Amazing Spider-Man team on
this one. We jump ahead from the battle
on the Moon to see that the X-Men are actually bringing about a lot of good for
the world, ending hunger and drought in numerous regions, fixing energy crises,
but you can also get the feeling that it’s a “their way or the highway to hell”
with them, but not so much that they’re really the clear cut villains. Of course, this could just be my rose-colored
glasses for the X-Men because, honestly, the Avengers haven’t actually been
terribly unilaterally heroic in this story.
So far, the X-Men have made efforts to protect their own, do their best
to build a better world, and honor Professor X’s vision of human/mutant
peace. Of course, by issue’s end, you
can see it’s going to go downhill and the return of the Scarlet Witch and Hope
going with the Avengers doesn’t help matters.
Still, what have the Avengers really done? They’ve attempted to seize a child, they’ve
placed a school under their own lockdown, and they arrested younger members of
the X-Men and quarantined them to Avengers Academy. I know the Avengers are supposed to be the
guys we’re rooting for in the end, but I’m just finding it a hard time to go
with that. Then again, maybe that’s
something else that’s working with this series.
You CAN pick a side and run with it.
If so, then mission accomplished, because merits and faults can be seen
on both sides of this fight.
Verdict – Recommended
Daredevil #14 was
a bit of a step back from recent issues, but a step back for Daredevil still
puts it head over heels above most titles on the pull list. This one is a bit goofier than past issues,
but that’s fine by me. I’m not a huge
fan of uber-dark Daredevil. In fact, I
like lighthearted Daredevil. And yes, I
STILL want an “I’m Not Daredevil” sweater for my next Christmas party! Anyway, not a whole lot to say about this
issue. Daredevil gets kidnaped and taken
to Latveria. He attempts an escape that
goes poorly, but leads to what amounts to the only real misstep here. We don’t see how he gets caught. We see that he tries to escape, but he’s
captured and delirious right afterwards.
And these are the last two to three panels of the comic. Umm… what?
But still, Daredevil is a book I’ll wholeheartedly recommend for anyone.
Verdict – Recommended
Ghostbusters #10 departs
Detroit for New Orleans. I won’t speak
as to how well New Orleans is depicted in this issue compared to how well they
pulled off Detroit, since I’m not a resident of the Big Easy, but I like to
think that the same level of respect is there.
This issue deals with the daughter of a great voodoo priestess and gives
good focus to Egon, who shows some slight waning from his rigid scientific
belief, which I think is refreshing. I
like the science-type characters who have a bit of the “take a chance and go
with the unconventional” arcs to them. The
ghost and her minions were fun too, but I still like the war general from the
Detroit issue. Of course, that could
just be my bias talking.
Verdict – Highly Recommended
Green Lantern Corps
#10 was a pleasant surprise for me.
This one did what I wanted to see happen. Have John Stewart answer for his crimes, face
the people he’s hurt because of it in a touching scene, and had some general badassery
to go with it. While I think John is a
little quick to be willing to accept his death in the face of the now corrupt
Guardians and Alpha Lanterns, I’m glad to see that he understands that what he
did should have consequences. Not saying
I’m ready to see him die, but they’re treating what he did with legitimacy, and
sometimes, I like that for a comic book with heroes in colorful tights and
superpowered rings. Throw in a couple
comedic bits and you have a real winner this week.
Verdict – Highly
Recommended
Hulk #54
continues the Mayan Apocolypse arc. This
arc is a lot more coherent than some of Red Hulk’s recent arcs. My only real problem is that for having not
seen a lot of the She-Hulks, aside from Red She-Hulk, when we finally got them
back, they’re at death’s door. This may
just be me, but I’d really like to see these two treated with a lot more dignity
than they’ve gotten. The original
She-Hulk is given the sexual pinball treatment and Lyra hardly gets any real
development. My grievances aside, this
was a good issue in a series that I think is finding its legs again.
Verdict – Recommended
One I missed from last week, Incredible Hulk #9. I’m
growing more and more disillusioned with this new Incredible Hulk run. Greg Pak worked wonders with his tenure on
the title and made the Incredible Hulk one of my absolute favorite
superheroes. He understood the
uniqueness of the character and made it work.
This new run by Jason Aaron is doing everything in its power to destroy
that. This new status quo for the
Incredible Hulk just doesn’t work and it’s not helped by the terrible artwork
we’ve had since issue one that has steadily gotten worse. It pains me to say this, but I don’t know how
much further I can go on with the series the way it is. Like I said.
I’ve grown to absolutely love the Incredible Hulk thanks to Greg Pak,
but Jason Aaron is the wrong man for this job.
I can only hope we get the payoff to this evil Bruce Banner angle and
move on to the next arc in the Jade Giant’s saga. Oh, and this issue was a complete bore. He goes to a part of the sea that is
apparently beyond Namor, which boggles my mind in itself, and gets in a fight
with the natives. Nothing in the least
bit interesting to say about it.
Verdict – Pass
Invincible Iron Man
#519 was a bit of a misfire for me this week. I don’t know what went wrong. Fundimentally, we had a complete story and it
advanced everything that has been going on but I just didn’t really feel
it. Maybe it was the lack of action,
maybe it was the fact that a lot of this felt like a reinteration, aside from the
Detroit Steel stuff… I just can’t put my finger on it. I can’t say it was weird, I can’t say it was
bad, but I can’t say it was good either.
It’s just… there. I don’t know
what to say about it.
Verdict – Cautiously
Recommended
Journey Into Mystery
#640 continues the best and worst thing about the repackaged series: high
concept ideas with poor storytelling.
While I love the wit and the concepts brought forth in it, I’m not
thrilled with the fact that the story just seems to drag on and become a bit
boring to read. Now, I love the idea of
Loki, Captain Britain, and King Arthur fighting together in the underworld too,
but when you can’t use that to keep my interest for an entire 32-page comic
book, your storytelling has some problems.
The artwork remains beautiful, though, and I find myself sometimes just
taking in the artist’s work on most pages.
Maybe that’s the problem. I don’t
know.
Verdict – Cautiously
Recommended
New Avengers #27…
not much to say here. It was a good read
and we get some good stuff relating to the Phoenix and Iron Fist. The more I read about this and the new
connection, the more I’m starting to like it.
Maybe it’s because I’m hurting for some good Iron Fist stuff after his
excellent series got the unceremonious shaft, but hey, it’s working for
me. I’m not thrilled with the idea that
the Iron Fist is a near-perfect block to the Phoenix Force, but that could be
something else entirely too. The X-Men
come across a bit more villainous in this one with the Avengers more heroic…
then again, this is an Avengers title. I
do like the brief interactions between Spider-Man and Hope, though. It’s nice to see Spider-Man as a mentor
figure in some way… though his new connection to the Iron Fist is even more ridiculous
and hasn’t flowed nearly as well.
Verdict – Recommended
Supergirl #10
caps off a series, for me, that started with such promise but degraded into a
dull mess. It ends the angle with the
banshees, Kara saves her new Sibohan’s (Silver Banshee) brother or boyfriend or
whatever, blah, blah, blah, it was just a boring mess that I’m happy to finally
be dropping. This is a shame, though, because
it seems female lead books are continuing to not get the same respect they
deserve. I was shaky on the old
Supergirl series towards the end, but our new series really shook my confidence
in it in recent issues. The action wasn’t
great, the dialog was stupid, and it lacked real enjoyment for me. Right now, my books with female leads as the
focus include Batgirl, World’s Finest, and my two Red Sonja books, all of which
I think have seen better days with Batgirl easily being the best of the
bunch. Hopefully, Captain Marvel can
fill this void well, but I’m still holding out hope for a return of Spider-Girl
(again, Anya Corazon, not Mayday Parker).
Verdict – Pass
(personally dropping)
The second title I missed from last week is significantly
better than Incredible Hulk. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Color Classics
#2 continues to bring back the original Turtles comics in this colorized
format. This one tells the timeless
story of how April O’Neil met the turtles by rescuing her in the sewers (albeit
more believable than other interpretations), the rise of the Mousers, and why
some stories were made to be black and white.
Sometimes, recoloring black and white comics works, like with
Garfield. Other times, it can make
things look a bit… dark. While I
appreciate having these stories beautifully remade for us, one can see that it
doesn’t work in all cases. Take Baxter
Stockman. His skin was shaded in with
black, but now he’s shaded in with a more appropriate African-American flesh
tone… OVER the black shading. He looks a
bit messy, is all I’m saying. Splinter
is the same way, really. Coloring issues
aside, this was a decent issue and it’s fun to contrast it with other things
Turtles and see just how far they’ve come.
Verdict – Recommended
Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles Micro-Series #5: Splinter is another decent entry into the
Micro-Series line. This one focuses on
Splinter’s past with Hamato Yoshi and the fate of his family. It’s touching to see just how deeply he cares
for his sons and that he’s willing to put his own honor and soul on the line to
stop the man who he believe to be behind their demise and now reborn before
him. Also, we see more of Splinter being
a badass, which is genuinely appreciated.
Not a whole lot to say here. It’s
Turtles being a solid comic once again.
Verdict – Recommended
Uncanny X-Men #14
was a dull, drab mess that only has one interesting bit at the end. We’ve already seen a lot of Mr. Sinister
lately and he doesn’t do a whole lot different here. One twist that was both interesting and
confusing to see was a whole bunch of Sinister Jean Greys who are his
mind-controlled servants. Didn’t he
learn anything from Madeline Pryor? It’s
not going to end well, Sinister! And
neither did this issue.
Verdict – Pass
Venom #19
continues the Savage Six angle and you can really feel the strain on Flash
Thompson’s psyche when it comes to his efforts to rescue his family. We had some good action and great
characterization. Betty Brant is
understandably upset that Flash has been lying to her, but he has more things
to worry about, such as saving his family, one who has already suffered a
casualty in the form of his sister’s husband, who got Jack O’ Lanterned in the
most grotesque of ways… seriously, that’s a real turn-off for me as a calling
card, but, whatever. Lots of great
suspense in this issue, though, especially towards the end. We see just how easily the Savage Six can get
to Flash and his loved ones and the tension mounts beautifully. It makes me wonder how and if Venom is going
to get out of this mess. And THAT my
friends, is how you do a comic with a dramatic situation.
Verdict – Highly Recommended
I picked up a trade paperback last week, so let’s take a
look-see, shall we?
Sonic the Hedgehog
Archives #18 was one of the weaker in the series of the Sonic Archives
books. The stories included aren’t
exactly classic, though it does feature the return of then Prince Ellis. Keeping it short, this isn’t one of the
series’ best collections, but you could spend your money on worse titles...
like Red Hood and the Outlaws.
Verdict – Cautiously
Recommended
Sorry again for the short time between Back Stack and weekly
comic release. I’ll try to bring this
back to a Tuesday thing rather than a Wednesday morning thing so you can get a
chance to actually read my mundane thoughts.
Next week, I’m going to post a rant about whether we should be following
characters or follow authors in our comic book habits. That will be included in the next Back Stack,
so stay tuned.
Cheers;
Graves
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