The OTHER comic books 03-08-07

Cafe Society
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The man who killed and resurrected Foggy Nelson and brought Bucky back apparently wrote the most recent issue of Captain America, which sold out two hours before I got to the comics shop. I understand it was a pretty big deal. In other comics news…

Justice League of America #5: This book actually carries a Comics Code of America sticker, even though Solomon Grundy ate the meat off of Red Tornado’s ripped-off arm. Isn’t cannibalism still against the code? Or is the CCA so toothless and irrelevant that no one actually checks for this stuff anymore? Whatever. Note to Meltzer: If you want your stories to be edgy and impactful, try not to drag them out over several months; nothing in this story arc couldn’t have been told–and told better–in two issues.

SHAZAM! The Monster Society of Evil #2: God I love the way Jeff Smith draws crocodiles and tigers! Not wild about having Mary–Marvel and Bromfield–younger than the 40s version, and we know 'way too much about Tawky Tawny.

Civil War: The Initiative #1: I bought this in the erroneous belief that it was Avengers: The Initiative. It’s not; that’s still a few weeks away. Why is Marc Silvestri considered such a big deal?
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Mighty Avengers #1**: Very well done. Love Cho, love Bendis, love the multi-layer tension between Tony and Carol. I’m okay with the thought balloons, I just hope it’s not a regular feature. I really love the dirt being dished about other superheroes; ultimately, the best Bendis stories are about the politics of the superhero world.

Helmet of Fate: Zauriel #1: Always a fan of Steve Gerber. The art, by Peter Snejlberg, was a pleasant surprise; the only other book of his I’ve efver seen, Preacher Presents One Man’s War, was just awful. He’s learned to spot his blacks and economize his line.

X-Factor #16: This book keeps getting overshadowed by all the mega-events in comics, but for two issues in a row, we’ve had some imaginative and well-considered stories about Jamie Madrox and the implications of his unique abilities. I hate most X-books, but this one’s pretty solid.

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The different thread title had cleverly hidden this.

52 #42: Aw. I was kinda hoping they’d keep her around. Nice that they’re tying in the Black Marvels and the Question storylines, though.

All-New Atom #9: Not as much zany fun, although the Head made up for that, a bit.

JSA #6: Ugh. Let’s see, Felix Faust, disguised as a completely different mystical character to mislead a hero for his own nefarious purposes… where have I seen that, just recently? Let me think…

Ugh. The logic of the villains’ plot needed to be better explained. The fact that Vixen (!) – of all characters! – punches through Amazo when Superman and Wonder Woman couldn’t, needed to be inked out of the comic. And the “dialog” – internal? external? who could tell??? – needed to be written by somebody else. Goodbye, JSA.

Outsiders #46: Meh. May be dropping this one.

Shazam! the Monster Society of Evil #2: Missed #1, so picked up 'em both. OMG, this is adorable! Looooved seeing Talky Tawny, loved the way Marvel and Billy and Mary were portrayed – and now wish that this was the ongoing Marvel Family comic, rather than Trials of Shazam!, which has been rather lackluster.

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Yeah, I was just about to start mine. When people change the title it makes it less likely that I’ll spot it before putting one up…

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Detective Comics #829: Hey! It’s Mad Stan played straight! This is pretty good for a fill-in. I like “Batman must… without revealing his secret identity!” Robin wasn’t used to the greatest effect here, but that’s a heck of a cliffhanger.

Welcome to Tranquility #4: Good stuff. A little muddled, though. What happened to the documentary team?

Jonah Hex #17: That didn’t end the way I thought it would. But then, I expected some more substance here, too. Hex is the most uneven book I buy. Some days it blows the doors off, some days it bores me.

Superman/Batman #32: The story picks up a bit here, although I don’t think Bruce would do that, even to save his life. This is a title on the bubble for me. The failure of JLoA (see below) helps it a bit, I need to scratch my team-up itch, but Brave and the Bold may fill that niche better.

Justice League of America #6: This story lurched to an end like Gregory House riding Barbaro. I’m done here. This is one of the worst-written comic books I’ve ever seen. And by that I don’t really mean the plot, I think this could have been a halfway decent novella, I mean that Meltzer failed to translate his ideas to the comic format. The horrible pacing, the overuse of captions -note, unless this is a mystery story in which the speaker is purposefully unknown, making me stop to figure out who is narrating snaps me right out of the story- it just doesn’t work. And now the first arc is over without really *doing *anything. Seven issues (counting #0) and the team hasn’t even officially formed yet.

I was also bothered by the gore here. I know I’ve defended grislier stuff in 52 and Infinite Crisis, and I appreciate the inconsistency. I think the difference is that those stories were good. If you don’t already have a decent plot, gore is only an irritant. Finally, Characterization here takes centered stage, but it’s off-kilter. It feels like fanfic.

The All-New Atom #9: Whoa. This went dark. But Ryan’s Chineseness comes out here a bit for the first time.

52 Week 44: Ouch. Dude. Ouch. I like it, but… Ouch.

I Byrned Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness. It’s ok. I don’t think Ash really works for me as a character unless Campbell is actually performing him. Still, quite amusing to see him completely fail to warn the heroes about the coming zombie threat.

The Helmet of Fate: Zauriel #1: What an odd little story. I really like Zauriel and his backstory. “I’m an angel. God sent me. Yes, this means Christianity is objectively correct. Deal with it.” And they have some fun with it here, then they send him off on a sci-fi space adventure. The villain was a bit more occult than the average GL villain, but still just a weird alien. It was an strange foe for an angel.

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**Mighty Avengers ** came out? How the hell did I miss that?

Shazam: Yeah, it was great, and man did I get a *stupid, stupid rat creatures * vibe from Mr. Mind, but that voice in the back of my head that does nobody any good keeps wandering about the continuity. I honestly don’t want it to be the New Earth Shazam, but I’m very happy with it being something else.

Manhunter: Well, of course.

What? That can’t be right. You have absolutely got to mean JLA, which I haven’t read yet and and dreading.

Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness: Fantastic art, surprisingly, and pretty damn clever. Doesn’t quite jibe with Marvel Zombies in some characterization, but, you know…Zombies.

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Civil War : The Initiative - isn’t it a bit early for them to be confusing the issue of Captain America’s assassination? It’s nice to see a reference to Ms. Marvel’s friendship with Spider-Woman - anytime I get actual continuity from Marvel it pleases me.

Fantastic Four - Not a bad way to deal with the horrible position the team’s been left in, and Dwayne McDuffie is a strong writer. The back-up stories aren’t bad, either - the Stan Lee-starrer was very amusing.

Zauriel : Helmet of Fate - Aside from Detective Chimp, this is my favorite of the Helmet of Fate stories. Thank you, Mr. Zauriel, indeed.

Nightwing : Hmm. A bit brutal, I think, but maybe Wolfman’s building to something. Bride and Groom are certainly interesting new antagonists.

Outsiders : … and all the story build-up concludes in the Annual, and not the actual title. Odd. Still, this Black Lightning in prison arc is stronger than the first OYL arc for the Outsiders.

Superman/Batman : I love the splash page with cameos of alien heroes and villains. J’emm! He’s truly outrageous, you know. The arc’s been slow, and the delayed publication isn’t helping it. Hoping for better things coming down the pike.

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Whups. Yeah, that’s JLA. Wishful thinking on my fingers’ part, I guess. 'Cause you’re right to be dreading it. It’s dreadful.

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I’ve got a question about Wonder Man. In Mighty Avengers #1, he appeared to be back to the powers he had circa 1979, minus the jet belt. More recently, he had these “ionic” powers, which made him look like the Human Torch, only with purple Kirby Dots instead of flames. Have his powers undergone a recent change, or is it just a case of the story not being about Simon specifically?

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Ah,** Mighty Avengers**. Better by far than JLA. I went from not caring about Ares to really liking him in the space of a few panels. It felt so good to have someone just stand up to Tony like that! As long as poor Simon gets a change from his hideous Hugh Hefner jacket and pointless sunglasses, I’ll be happy. Seems like a “powerhouse” team to me though. I’d have grabbed Black Knight, but that’s just cause he’s a personal favorite.

JLA: I agree it was “eh.” This whole arc really is dragging.

But they killed Smart Grundy! He could have been a great villain to use again!

Detective Comics #829: These have been really strong-collect em all!

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Regarding Mighty Avengers #1… Who in the world decided that these were “the best classic Avengers of all time”?

Wonder Man? The Black Widow? The Wasp? They all served with distinction, but how in the world do they qualify as the best of all time? If anything, that distinction should go to Captain America himself. Logically, Hawkeye and the Black Pantehr should also belong on that list, and Hank Pym should arguably qualify as well. (I realize that these gents are unavailable, but remember… Ms. Marvel and Iron Man were talking about the best of all time, not simply the best ones they could get.)

At least Thor got a nod. They got that right.

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snicker Hank Pym? Black Panther I’d buy (you notice Tony didn’t pick anyone who he thought might compete with him brains-wise).

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I found it interesting that in Civil War : The Initiative - the story with Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman, Tony’s musing on reassembling the Avengers, and there’s a big picture on the wall of one of the teams. Thor (believed dead); Iron Man; Scarlet Witch (believed dead);Captain America (dead*); Quicksilver (Crazy); Hawkeye (believed dead).

Not exactly inspiring. :wink:

Unlce Sam and the Freedom Fighters - Strong ending, and honestly, I’d read an ongoing with these folks.

Detective Comics - good story, still hate the cover art.

Manhunter - Well, that was an unexpected 52 tie-in. Too bad it wasn’t really Ted.

Atom - A turn for the dark? Sure. But this book’s really striking the Buffy balance between genius wit and weird horror.

Justice League of America - Not quite as much resolution as I’d like, but I hear next issue supposedly will tie up some of the loose ends. Poor Reddy! But I’m glad he’s back in the robot body. As slow as the arc has been, I do like when an arc explores something about a character, changes that character’s outlook, but leaves them physically the same at the end for future writers.

52 - Ow.

Planetary Brigade : Origins #2 - Delayed, but worth it. I love this team.

The Authority - Delayed, but… yeah, I’ll say it’s worth it. Morrison? Exploring Metafiction? No way…

Welcome to Tranquility - Damn. Such a good book!

Bomb Queen III - Still fun.

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I’m behind, as usual, but just this weekend I read (came in the same batch about 2 weeks back) Silent War, with Black Bolt and the Inhumans at war against the Earth (US in particular), and New Avengers: Illuminati, with Black Bolt sitting on the Illuminati board. So which is he - friend or foe?

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JLA: Once again, Brad Meltzer writes a horribly implausible fight scene. I can accept that this Amazo wasn’t an unstoppable juggernaut; after all, it was clearly disoriented. Nevertheless, the whole fight played out rather ludicruously.

For example, he has GL and Batman diving low, each trying to cut off one of Amazo’s legs. Um, hello? If it takes a power ring to cut off one of his legs, a tiny Bat-laser isn’t going to do diddly squat. Conversely, if a Bat-laser can cut through an Amazo leg, then a power ring should do the job in no time flat.

He also has Black Lighting blasting electricity into Amazo while the Black Canary is holding onto Amazo’s head, belting him with her sonic scream. Again, hello? Are you trying to fry your teammate, fella?

(Amazo was also bound in the magic lasso, which Wonder Woman was still holding. Presumably, the lightning should also have been conducted into her Amazonian body. That’s not so problematic though, since one could suppose that WW would be able to withstand the shock – or at the very least, that BL thought she might.)

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All the Illuminati stuff is in the past. Prior to the Inhumans declaring war.

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I just noticed something about Mighty Avengers: All three female members are wearing black leather, head to toe. This violates the “Never have Zatanna and Black Canary on the roster at the same time” principle well-understood by costume pervs everywhere. That Frank Cho!