Got Angel :Old Friends #5 of 5; Red Sonja #9; X-Statix : Deadgirl #4 of 5; Manhunter #21 - this book just keeps getting cooler. JLA Classified #20 - Better than Warren Ellis’s arc, but still not as good as I’d like. Justice #5 of 12 - the heroes start to recover. Robin #149. New Avengers #18. JSA Classified #11 - Alan Scott has an eyepatch, now? Birds of Prey #93 - Gypsy in action with the Birds, Canary’s training continues, and a villain I love to see. Ex Machina Special #1 of 2 - don’t know why this is special and not just in the regular series, but it’s kinda neat. PS238 #15. Bite Club : Vampire Crime Unit #1.
Two very strong outings from Gail Simone this week.
JLA Classified #20: Batman plotting the downfall of his enemies even as he’s getting the crap beat out of him? Wonder Woman as the mother of all badasses? Oh my, yes. This is a great story. It’d be better if the art (which is serviceable) was better, but still, this is a great take of the Justice League.
Birds of Prey #93: Did I say Diana was the mother of all badasses? Well, it isn’t a sizeable portion of the Chinese Army, but I think Black Canary might give her some competition. Bethany is cool. And if Dinah and Shiva are switching lives, then does that mean Green Arrow is in the trunk, all lubed up?
Justice #5: A good story, but it suffers from the publishing schedule. If I weren’t in five issues already, I’d quit and wait for the trade.
Sable & Fortune #4 I suspect I’m the only one to read all four issues and boy do I feel like a sucker. Marvel needs to look up a word: Goodwill. Don’t string me along with a mediocre story and great art, and then switch to a crappy different artist for the last chapter! (They did the same thing with X-Men: Children of the Atom, switching Steve Rude for Paul Smith for Essad Ribic, and an Inhumans LS switching Jo Ladronn for someone I’ve never heard of before or since. Not cool). There were exactly two reasons for this series to exist: John Burns’ gorgeous painted artwork (Burns was the artist on Modesty Blaise and ESPers, back in the day), and explain how a young, modern adventurer has the same name and costume as the Chaykin creation set in the 30s. Well, this issue delivers neither. Save your money.
Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #4 The artwork is nice and different. I’ve never been sold on Warren Ellis, and this book isn’t changing my mind. Ellis tries to match Garth Ennis’s outrageousness, minus the substance. Don’t think I’ll be picking up #5.
Fury: Peacemaker#3 Speaking of Ennis… This series is really picking up. Fury is tagging along with various regular and irregular military units, presumably as a warmup for founding the Howling Commandos. I’d always seen them as a fairly standard US Army unit with a few eccentrics and foreigners, not much different from Sgt. Rock’s outfit. Ennis is offering a direct comparison to the Blackhawks (and even refers to Blackhawk in a very oblique manner, but you’ll only catch it if you’ve read the Chaykin version of that character). The artwork isn’t any great shakes, especially compared to recent artists on Ennis’s other Marvel book, Punisher. The Paul Gulacy cover is nice, but I wish Gulacy were drawing a SHIELD book instead. Nice twist ending; can’t wait to see where this is going!
Would anyone care to spoil the latest Robin for me? IGN gave this quote in it’s review: Tim Drake is how old exactly? You’ll be asking yourself this after seeing how he “cleverly” escapes the police.
Just wondering what happened.
New Mangaverse 4 - Yes…yes it’s me. The one who enjoys the Marvel Mangaverse. It’s FUN. Fun, fun, FUN. Even now, with most of my favourite characters dead (Doc! Tigra! (Dare)Devil( Hunter)! cries), it’s so very fun. ‘Doom wouldn’t have used tongue.’ giggle Granted, this run isn’t up to Legend of the Spider Clan, but, then, what could possibly be? Not digging the art - particularly how Wolvie’s drawn. But a minir complaint, that.-
Speaking of ‘fun’ and ‘Marvel’:
Captain America and Power Pack 1 - Joy. Very, very joy. The art is gorgeous, the story pure fun. The dialogue - particularly Taskmaster and Katie - is brilliantly silly.
But jeez…isn’t Taskmaster supposed to be some insanely badass merc? (This is the first time I’ve seen him in action.)
Getting beaten up be a bunch of pre-teens (albiet pre-teens with superpowers) and old people (without superpowers) ain’t doing much for his credibility, I’ll tell you whut.
Also read Man-Bat #1, Squadron Supreme #2, New Alice in Wonderland #3, and Green Arrow #61, but comment on those will have to wait…
Personally I was hoping it was a pair of fishnets…
JLA: Classified #20: Pretty good. I wish I had waited for the trade, but I’m enjoying it.
JSA: Classified #11: A few too many flashbacks for me. Glad we’re finally getting on with it next issue.
OYL SpoilersApparently Alan lost an eye over the year and joined Checkmate. Oooookaaay…
I also picked up the new Outsiders TPB and the first Invincible trade.
If everything that’s supposed to ship next week actually does I’ll be drowning in comics come next Wednesday.
From an interview with Rucka I read, Checkmate is going to be so extremely cool. Full of interpersonal and political intrigue. Alan shares power with Amanda Waller and that’s not a marriage made in heaven by any means.
It’s going to be controversal as all hell though. Rucka is putting some favorite superheroes alongside gritty/dark/realistic (choose your favorite) spy stuff. In the preview I saw Fire (of JLI fame) stabs a guy through the neck, commando style. That’s not going to go down so well with some people.
Green Arrow 61 - John Smalls and Fredrick Tuckman. Hah. I like this story so far, in any case.
Birds of Prey 93 - The foreshadowing isn’t too subtle. I’m already mourning for Sin, it’s so obvious. I am wondering what Dinah’s got stashed in the trunk. I figure it’s probably her costume, but that’s almost too easy. Maybe just the old wig.
After 20-plus years, I gave up reading comics a few years ago because money was tight. I still try to keep one eye on what DC is up to, however, and the whole Infinite Crisis thing has grabbed my attention _ though not necessarily in a good way (Earth-2 Superman coming back?).
Can anyone sum up the mini-series or direct me to a Web site that goes into the details?
New Avengers: Several times the new bad guy has been referred to as Michael (Korvac), or at least a derivative. I don’t think it’s Korvac; I’m guessing someone/something new. Does anyone else have any ideas about what is going on?
Yes. He isn’t Korvac, just a random guy who gained all–ALL–of the powers of the mutants who lost their powers during House of M, basically every mutant in the world except for a few dozen. The graphic they used to show all those powers getting sucked off the Earth is the same graphic used to show those powers hitting North Pole, Alaska.
No, this Michael is some random postal worker who happened to be in that small town that got hit by the mutant powers Scarlet Witch took away. He has somehow absorbed the power signatures of every mutant she depowered. Iron Man asked him specifically if he was Korvac a couple of issues ago, and he said no. So not Korvac, and not Mikhail Rasputin.
I guess my avoidance of things mutant in the Marvel Universe has left me in the dark. I hope the storyline gives enough backstory to fill in the gaps, and I’ve absolutely no intention of reading the House of M.