City of Heroes #8 - Well, at least there are signs that this Kheldian stuff has been planned form the beginning with the comic as well as the game…
I’ll help you out, CG.
Intimates #3: A full-fledged “meh”. It’s turning into Dawson’s Creek - not a good sign for a third issue. They coulda gone all action or intrique on us with the events of last issue, but no. They didn’t. They gave us a Seventh Heaven plotline. Not even any good lines or tips o’ the hat (last week’s Ender’s Game reference was fantastic).
Legion oSH: Yeah, I’m a week late, sue me! I’ve never read Legion, and thought it would be a good teen-companion to Intimates. Guess which one I’ll be going with from now on? I really enjoyed it - good stuff. There aren’t other 31st Century titles out there, are there?
Legion’s it for the 31st century at this time.
I was wondering about the Intimates… glad I passed.
Also, this week, I picked up the Flash Identity Crisis Tie-in, wherein a funeral is held for Captain Boomerang, the Rogues get ticked off at the rumros of mind-tampering, Wally and Linda reconcile, and we get to see the Rogue’s Graveyard, ‘Avernus’. Love the concept.
'Cept… in the first crowd panel in the cemetary, towards the right, and the back… there’s a guy in a Flash costume…
Didn’t catch that. Possibly the grave of Zoom I?
Could be, but strictly speaking, he wasn’t a “Rogue”… and the graveyard seems a more recent innovation then the time of Prof. Zoom. I suppose he could have a statue there, though.
New Avengers - Spidey badly misused here, playing nigh-useless second fiddle to Captain America. Still willing to see where this leads for a few issues, though…
Alpha Flight - Days of Future Past Participle continues with more time-travelling mayhem. The next issue blurb at the end suggests, however, that this wonderful gem has only one issue remaining, and that makes me sad.
There are a handful of characters–Spidey is one, Reed Richards is another, certainly Wolverine–whom Cap has always felt should be kept out of the Avengers. Several of them will now form the core of the team.
He has? I’ve never heard this… where did this get a mention?
A few months before Spider-Man officially joined the Avengers, he tagged along on a mission to the Vault with them, looked like he was getting along great with them and should get the nod to join–when Cap pulled him aside and basically said “Look, you’re great in a street fight, but…” IIRC, Roger Stern was still writing the book at that point. A few issues later, new writer Larry Hama gave no indication that he’d read that particular story and shoehorned Spider-Man, Sandman and Rage onto the team. None of them lasted long.
Reed and Sue Richards joined up in issue #300. Around issue 302 or 303, Reed pulled that classic stunt where he sends the team in to do some absurd-sounding thing, based on what turns out to be a very unlikely-sounding theory abstract theory of the physical sciences, and against all odds it works out fine. He did this to Ben, Johnny and Sue all the time, but this time (a) he did it to the Avengers and (b) he wasn’t actually the team leader, Cap was. In the last panel of the story, a very pissed-off Cap says to himself something like “This is not gonna fly. Not with my team. Richards has got to go.” By the splash page of the next issue, Reed was gone.
Cap’s antipathy to Wolverine has been referenced many times. There was an issue of Captain America, right around issue #300, where Wolverine saved Nuklo’s life by clawing someone to death. Cap said something like “You better hope you never need to join the Avengers, mister, 'cause that attitude of yours would not cut it!” A imilar scene was repeated in issue #2 of the current SECRET WAR series, where a really drunk Logan is sexually harrassing a stewardess.
Basically, Cap is the quarterback and he needs blockers and receivers on his team. Loose cannons and other quarterbacks need not apply. God only knows how he and Tony Stark have managed not to strangle each other.
Ahhh, I see. Well, Spider-Man has matured over the years, and Cap’s POV must certainly have shifted due to recent events.
Personally, I think Reed Richards should be on every Marvel team. Implausible? Well, yeah, it’s a bit of a stretch…
I’d just like to point out that the above was my 3000th post on this board, and appropriately, it closed with a pun. Not just a pun, but a comic-book based pun. That is all.
I got Incredible Hulk #77. It’s… difficult to say anything about it. I haven’t read the book since Peter David left, so I have no idea what’s up with him now, and this ish was basically a prologue for the upcoming story. I did like the artwork, though.
I’ll probably pick up Flaming Carrot #1 this weekend.
I had a pretty light week, all in all. I also got the last issue of the Ashes to Ashes Army of Darkness mini - felt a little rehashed, especially the dialogue - but when you start with something like Army of Darkness, even reheated leftovers are good.
I’m still working on my new Stormwatch TPB (Vol 3 of Ellis’s run) and then on to my Authority TPB (collects Vol. 2, #6-14.)
In a related note, I just heard that Dreamwave Productions is closing shop. No more Transformers or MegaMan comics for the forseeable future…
What? Why? I figured they were making a mint off those Transformers comics - why else would they publish so many of them? We need a link to a news story here, rjung!
I’m pissed that Dreamwave went under before they could deliver their Beast Wars mini, which is by far the book I was looking forward to the most.
For the most part, though, I think their Transformers output pretty much sucked (and I say this as a big TF fan), so I don’t really care that much.
- I am extremely pissed with DC Comics. It turns out that the big clean-up of the Rogues that Batman tells Flash to do will be told in FLASH 1/2, which you have to order from Wizard Comics–AND you have to snail-mail in your credit card number AND it’s $9.00 (including shipping) for the fucking book. (Ditto with TEEN TITANS where they wrap up a couple of storylines and tell the origin of the new Ravager.)
If DC/Wizard want to do fucking 1/2 issues, fine, be my guest. But DON’T continue the regular storyline in one. (Iron Man did that once–first issue of a 4 part storyline was in a Wizard 1/2 issues)
I doubt I’m gonna order it, and as a matter of fact I’m >< this close to simply waiting 'till it comes out and downloading the issue from some illegal comic site or other (I know they exist somewhere. PLEASE DO NOT GIVE ADDRESSES OR LINK TO SUCH SITES) and then e-mailing it from a dummy Hotmail account to DC and Wizard with a note saying “Screw you guys for this crap.” just to prove a point. (Let’s be honest–I’m not gonna do it, but damn, it’s a fun thought)
Dammit, I’m pissed.
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Flash rocked. Geoff Jones is the best writer Flash has ever had.
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Speculation on Boomer Jr’s origin; I’m still convinced Barry’s his daddy–I dunno why. Given that–there was a chick around Flash (old series) #220–Stacey Something or other–she was a Flash groupie with vaguely defined “Uri Geller is in the news right now” style psychic powers. Among other things she could do was mind-control Flash, and eventually made him take off his mask (she was horrified that he just looked “normal”.) What if she made him boink her first? I dunno–just a guess.
Anyway, more later as I read the rest of the comics.
Frustrated Fenris
You’re fucking kidding. Goddammit. If DC is gonna do that stuff it should be piddling little fluff stories and vague hints that regular readers won’t really miss.
Matt doesn’t have a girlfriend, so he spends his money on pictures of muscular men in skintight outfits.
Deadshot #2 (of 5) by Gage, Cummings, and Palmiotti
I feel a bit guilty for liking this one so much. I despise “heroes” who kill indiscriminately, and my liberal sensibilities are offended by the “kill 'em all” mentality of such stories. But, don’r pretend your protagonist is a hero, in fact, make him an unrepentant criminal, and I’m sold. Deadshot is just so fucking cool. I also don’t like supers using guns (that is superheroes, western and sci-fi folks, like Jonah Hex and Adam Strange, can blast away), but Deadshot’s got the gun-fu going for him (someone has to ahve the power “skill with guns to the extreme”, and in the DCU, it’s Floyd) and the wrist guns are the shiznit. I look forward to next issue’s confrontation with Green Arrow. Not only is it Guns vs Bow, it’s also DC’s premeir liberal vs a revenge fantasy. This isn’t anything special, but I’m really enjoying this one. A-
The Flash #217 by Johns, Porter, and Livesay
The Flash probably has the best Rogues’ Gallery in comics, and they really shine in this issue. Hell, I’d almost rather read about them than Wally (which is kind of a problem). I’m not a fan of cross-overs, but this one is handled well. I especially like Batman’s indignation that Boomerrang killed one of his guys. I know how you feel, Bruce, I can’t believe they killed him either. The editors, I mean, not Boomerrang. He was cool. The new kid’s alright. I like the Anti-rogues too. I hope Trickster (who I like to see as a four-color Constantine) doesn’t turn out to be one of the Top’s false converts. Next issue should be interesting. Heat Wave is my least favorite rogue, but I used to be cool to Captain Cold (Ha!) too. B+
Detective Comics #802 by Lapham, Bachs and Massengill
Can anyone reccommend a better Batman fix for me? This just isn’t cutting it. (I picked up 'Tec because I respect large numbers and Loved it a few years back)Robin is written way too young (even if this one is in the past tense). Tim isn’t grim, but he is smart and mature for his age. Freeze is apparently just a goon (rather than the tragic figure). And it’s so plodding. All of this might be forgiveable (and I do like grand criminal conspiracies), if it weren’t for the gadawful narration. It’s grim! it’s grim! Batman is sorry that he didn’t save that girl! It’s a comic, we can see it! Jeeze! The backup story is pretty cool, but I can just watch Carnivale. C+
No great quotes this week, unfortunately.
That sounds suspiciously like the “evil twin” revelation from “Chain Lightning”. Dang was that lame. Loved that story overall, but lame, lame, lame. Besides, he’s no Tornado Twin.
Regarding the Flash 1/2—apparently if you read the teenytinylittleprint it’s $4.00 including normal USPS shipping. Of course, I get like a 35% discount off the cover price of my comics, so this is still nearly double what I pay, it’s inconvienient as hell and I hate the concept so I’m still pissed.
Who was that brain-damaged kid pretending to be Tim Drake in the current Detective? I mean, he was as obnoxious as Jason Todd II, as young as Jason Todd I and did the acrobatic stuff like Dick Grayson. What he wasn’t, was serious, very smart Tim Drake.
I gotta echo what everyone else said about the Avengers–plus, I hate Spidey’s ID being exposed to all those people, I hate that they’ve brought Sentinel into the mainstream Marvel Universe, I hate the new line-up, I just read a big story about The Purple Man (by Bendis in ALIAS) and why, exactly, is Iron Man wearing a cross between Iron Man 2099’s faceplate and Ultron’s face? Bah. Bring Back Busiek.
Fantastic Four Foes: A) the art is just awful, B) the Puppet Master is waaaay outta character (his number one goal has always been “Keep Alica Happy”) and C) it’s not giving me what was promised in PREVIEWS; the background and history of the FF foes.
Ultimate X-Men–Way too much “let’s strip mine the real Marvel Universe for ideas” this issue: Mojo, Genosha, etc.
Superman: Strength–Holy Jumping Jehosesphat this was horrible art–imagine combinng the worst of Don Heck with the worst of George Tuska and add a hint of Frank Robbins–then have them try to rip-off Jack Kirby. Eew. The story has a very good “Silver Age” feel though
More later.