Here it is.
I picked up a copy of Secret Invasion #1 this week because I had a pretty light stack of reserves. I liked one thing in it.
Got Wonder Woman, Countdown, Booster Gold, Green Arrow/Black Canary, GL Corps…
**Serenity Better Days #2:**This book doesn’t have very high ambitions. If it was a televised episode (and it is nothing but a single episode), it would fall somewhere in the pack in the middle of the season. Not that there’s much wrong with that, but this is the first new Firefly we’ve seen in years, and will probably be a few more before the next one, so I can’t help but have some higher expectations. Anyway, the story’s pretty good, the various fantasies are great, but the likenesses can get distracting.
Countdown to Final Crisis #3: Not bad. But you have to get up pretty early in the morning to screw up a Superman/Darkseid throwdown. Mary’s heel turn is still eye-rolling. It’s annoying that this and Death of the New Gods are studiously ignoring each other. For example, Darkseid did not kill the New Gods (unless this is spoiling a revelation from the last issue of DotNG), and Superman knows that. Yeah, I know both series aren’t, y’know, very good, but you’d still think they’d coordinate on shared plot points a little bit.
Green Lantern Corps #23: In the first couple of post Sinestro Corps War issues I was afraid this would turn into the Guy and Kyle Show. Thankfully, that’s not the case. The gang’s all here, which is great. Mongul’s awesome. A good way to keep the Sinestro Corps a current threat without Sinestro. The art’s not all it can be, and I’d like see alien GL’s who are more alien, but those are minor complaints, relatively speaking.
Wonder Woman #19: Another good issue. I’m a bit unclear on what Kaa was doing there, and I’d like to see the Ichor, but they’re obviously being held in reserve. I liked the ending, and I liked the bit with Nemesis.
Booster Gold #8: Spinning its wheels a bit, but still pretty good. Booster’s plan seems a bit optimistic though. I mean, if Batman and J’onn were still alive and could be reached, would Green Arrow and Hawkman really work with each other and Anthro and not them?
Only barely started my stack, yet, but, some early comments:
Countdown - Still hating the undoing of Mary’s redemption arc. But, the sheer absurdity of the page where she lays a beat down on Donna using Kyle as a club was good for a belly laugh. In another complaint, why the heck would Roy go to Ray Palmer on the first thought upon hearing the name ‘Ray’? He’s been missing for ~3 years (As Roy pointed out), so going to the Ray, who’s been publicly active, recently, or saying ‘wait, Ray who?’ would have made more sense. A lot more sense.
I’m very happy with the art, though. Williams is good. And the Jimmy/Darkseid rumble’s looking like it’ll be good.
Booster Gold - Of course Booster’s plan is optimistic. He’s grasping at straws to avoid the inevitability of admitting Rip was right and sending Ted back to die. Also, doomed to failure, as it’s inevitable that Rip was right, and they need to send Ted back to die. (Well, OK, it’s possible they can get away with only faking his death, which I hope somebody figures out.)
Wild Cards - It’s Wild Cards, so I was excited to see it. I’m very happy with the results, though the art could use work - there’s times I wasn’t sure if the art wasn’t just a bit wonky, or if the person was a fairly subtle Joker.
JSA - Heh. Gog vs Infinite Man.
So. Many. Heroes. I love it - I’m one of the few people who doesn’t think the roster needs paring down.
And Jakeem shows us how NOT to pick up girls. (Funnily, though, this is a step up from his crush on Stargirl. At least he’s actually talking to her, even if his foot’s getting thoroughly jammed in his mouth.)
On second reading of JSA, I notice…
When Ted is telling Tommy off for not taking things seriously enough, he grabs him by the scruff.
Like a mama cat picking up her kitten.
I can’t believe I missed that one first time around.
That bit of Fellow Feline amusement out of the way…
Titans - Well, that wasn’t bad. Some very awkward dialogue, and the characterization of Raven disagrees with what Wolfman’s doing over in her mini (although, given she’s been in school for something like 3 years, that she’d actually start communicating like a high school girl makes sense, so I honestly have to go with Judd on that one), but…not bad. And Churchill’s art is…honestly appealing. For the first time ever.
Spider-Girl - You know, when Quesada invoked Spider-Girl in his defence of OMD (‘if people wanted to see a married Spider-Man, more people would be reading Spider-Girl’), I just rolled my eyes… But as I was reading this one, it occurred to me. Not only was he wrong, he got it bass-ackward. If people wanted classic-style Spidey stories…that’s when they’d be reading Spider-Girl, because, really, Mayday is totally her father’s daughter. This is classic Spidey storytelling.
Wonder Woman - Huhn. Yay for Etta. I wonder what’s up with Nemesis. Art’s fully awesome. Chang draws a nice Diana.
JSA and Titans were both fun, yes.
Buffy: It was fun bringing back Dracula and expanding Xander’s man crush with the guy. The last scene was interesting, but I sort of like the way Buffy is going. It’s been what almost 7.5 seasons? Buffy can’t be the girl next door forever.
Angel: Not bad, I was wondering when they would get to how everyone survived at the end of the series finale. It still leaves more questions, though, and the tales were all incomplete, somewhat. I’m going to have to watch the series finale again, and to have a better understanding how the book is transitioning from the series. I guess I will have to wait for TNT’s schedule.
Fantastic Four: While I enjoy Hitch’s art, I don’t think it’s that good in this series…maybe it’s the over inking; I don’t know, but I don’t like it as much as I did on the Ultimates or The Authority. I also don’t like the way this story is headed. I’m going to guess that it’s sticking to Marvel’s game plan of 6 issue story arcs that can be conveniently placed in TPB. There is no way that the Cap robot can take out so many superheroes so quickly, and there were some heavy hitters there. So far, we’re shown that it’s strong, robotic, and it is mentioned that it has battle simulations. Yet, most of it’s action is off-screen. Though, I am curious to see how Mr. Fantastic is going to save the day. I think I’ll stick through the rest of this arc.
Secret Invasion: Ok, what’s going on? I stopped reading The New Avengers because of the art, and because I’m trying to limit my comic book purchases as well as the organizational effort invovled. I knew that there was going to be a retread of the Skrull invasion modified for the 21st century, but I just did not expect that ending. Is this worth the 8 issues? I’m leaning towards ‘no’ especially since I harte Yu’s art. I can draw better in my sleep. How did this guy make it? Every time he makes it to a book that I like, I want to drop it. It hasn’t improved at all.
I’d argue they don’t need Mr. America. He’s just goofy-looking. And the “great-grandson of Franklin D. Roosevelt?” :rolleyes:. I get that more characters means more stories, but it does feel overloaded. Amazing Man seems cool, though.
Oh, and if anyone’s interested, the new password for Gideon-II is wilhelmina
I agree we could lose Mr A, actually, as he’s somewhat redundant with Judomaster, to my view.
But thematically, Lance, Amazing Man, Mr America-or-Judomaster and Lightning are all perfect additions to this iteration of the Society.
The Legacy element, of course, is important.
But the each bring something else to the table, as far as the Society’s ‘we need better heroes’ thing.
Amazing Man - While he’s certainly got the goods as a standard superhero, he’s more concerned with other changes people (powered, costumed, or not) can effect. But, unlike Green Arrow during the Hard Travelling Heroes days, isn’t as obnoxiously contemptuous of those who use their gifts to patch up the small holes.
Lance - A symbolically important move after the JSA/Infinity, Inc conflicts during 52. A different legacy, not one of costumes, but one of greatness, nonetheless.
Mr America/Judomaster - The glimpses we’ve seen suggest somebody in need of the guidance of the JSA, lest they turn down the wrong path.
Lightning - Also in need of guidance, but not to keep her off the wrong path. She needs guidance to protect herself from her abilities, and the opportunity to put them to good use is a bonus.
Although the Countdown art was an improvement this week, I still didn’t think it was very good – just less crappy. The story? still crappy.
Titans… meh. We’ll see how it goes. The art, also not so impressed. Particularly the pic of Kory poolside, holding up the ginormous bowling balls that someone switched out her breasts for.
Wonder Woman was solid, although I think the story could’ve used another issue’s development.
Booster Gold… so, any guesses on whether Anthro showing up is a prelude to Final Crisis?
GL Corps was nice to see Guy and Kyle back in action, but leaving spotlight time for others. Stel’s disrepair may be the start of a running gag. And I find I like most of the supporting cast GLs, too.
JSA doesn’t make it clear why the Infinity Man is fighting Gog – he should be off in that stinker, Death of the New Gods, and as a Third Worlder original Gog shouldn’t be on his agenda. The cast is getting a bit unwieldy; not enough time in the spotlight for everyone. But happy to see Sand (despite all) and Obsidian finally acting as though they’re in this book too.
But Judomaster really needs to do something next issue. Her one-panel-with-foreign-dialog is entirely too reminiscent of Clairemont’s tired use of “bozhe moi” for Colossus or “zeum teufel” for Nightcrawler, or whatever. (note: those’re probably misspelled).
I rather like the theory floating about that links Lance’s motif to the similar motif of Magog from Kingdom Come, actually.
If that shakes out, all the better, but I’m still liking him as he is, anyway.
GA/BC - The Hal/Ollie moments were brilliant. And the interrogation. Not exactly Batman, there, but…honestly, there’s a reason I’m not a big bat-fan. I much prefer this kind of intimidation. I like this Dodger fella, already, too. I can’t quite decide if I love the pacing of the series or hate it, so far. Looked at as a whole, the arc’s been moving along jerkilly, but, each individual issue sits fine on its own, and does act to move the story on to the next issue. [Edit - Also, art wise…fantastic. I <3 how he draws Mia. And everyone else, too, but Mia stands out.]
Dodger…is this guy a teleporter? If so, he’s from the Beechen/Williams run on Robin, which I highly recommend. As for JSA, ya think they might be building up to sending KC Superman home to his world with all the new guys to help him rebuild? Would explain why they’re all so similar to the people shown in that book.
Nah, Dodger’s unrelated to Dodge. (Who was also awesome.) I suspect his name’s a reference to the Artful Dodger. He’s a British thief, uses some massively high tech (not all of which he fully understands, or knows the origin of). Rents at least one part of it out. (Big mistake on his part, honestly.) A ‘charming rogue’ type, really.
Gods below, I hope not. It’d be a serious waste of several good characters, and given that of the five new guys* most like KC characters - Wildcat Jr, Cyclone, Starman, Thunder and Judomaster - Thom IS the KC character, and the way he’s talking it would take some damn fancy writing to make it convincing he’d be willing to go back; Jennifer is there for her own protection, and even if she wants to go, nobody’d let her - if only because they fear her father - and Judomaster’s there because of a serious need for guidance - she basically IS the KC version, at the moment - I’m not seeing it working at all. These could be bypassed by making it unwilling, but that would be a bigger thematic blow to the book. And kind of cheap.
And Tommy and Maxine are my two favourite characters in the book, so on a personal note, their loss would be a serious blow to the enjoyability of the book.
- Jakeem is also very like his KC equivalent, but not a new guy.
I gotta say, I really like his art! But that’s just me (I do wish he’d tone down the giant tear ducts, though). As far as the comic itself, I don’t know. I’ve grown very wary of Marvel crossover events lately, and this is starting to feel like a terrible excuse to retcon all of the awful mistakes Marvel has made in the last two years (I’m honestly expecting most of Civil War to be reversed).
Getting rid of the entire last two years of Marvel could only be a good thing, no matter how they did it. Getting rid of the last few months of Amazing Spider-Man would be worth it, even if they had it all be Peter’s dream and had him wake up in the shower with MJ.
Well, they already used up the deal with the devil trick, so I guess they have to get creative 
I’d like Spider-Man to be fixed any way possible, but I sort of liked a few of the ideas from Civil War (even if none of them ended up being interesting afterword) and kind of wish they could stick around so it’s not a COMPLETE redo. Who knows.
After the whole “scandal” of One More Day, there’s no way they’ll redo that. Cap’s dead, that’s not the real Thor, and Tony’s not a Skrull. Does anyone else matter? 
That’s not the real Thor? Who is it then? I haven’t been following that title.