It’s that time again, folks.
Headlining my massive pile of titles this week is Justice League : Another Nail #3.
Love the art, but… the plot comes together as a bit of tacked-on mediocrity.
The Phantom Stranger gets a few good moments there, though.
Fairly big week for me. Off the top of my head:
Kinetic #5: I know, I know. It’ll probably be canceled soon. I like it. Shut up.
The Legion #36?: Not bad. Not great. I’m starting to wonder if I should stick around for the re-boot. Anybody know who’s doing it? Are they any good?
Astonishing X-Men #3: Continues to be a great read.
Avengers #500: I have no idea what to make of this. Everyone seems out of character and panicking pretty easily. But event are coming fast and there was that death and there’s some kind of mind-f&*$ going on. I’ll reserve judgement until I have some idea what’s going on. Right now I’ll say this
[spoiler]Ant-Man? That was the big death? Ant-Man? So what?
Though Vision’s not looking too good.[/spoiler]
Amazing Spider-Man #510: Unfortunately the big reveal in this issue was spoiled for me about a week ago. (My own damn fault.) I’m not entirely sure the obvious conclusions are in fact true. Spoilers big time for this one:
[spoiler]Yes, Gwen says she had two children. And I’m sure we’re supposed to thing that they are Peter’s. But the letter doesn’t make that clear. I’m wondering if it started out with something like:
“I really hope you won’t be mad at me Peter, but I was unfaithful to you with Norman. And when I found out that I was pregnant as a result, I fled to Europe.”
Anyway, in either event - WOW.[/spoiler]
Trion:
Mark Waid and Barry Kiston.
So it’ll be GREAT.
Avengers #500 - … what’s wrong with She-Hulk? She’s so completely different in her own title… Oh, wait, it’s Marvel. They don’t believe in continuity. Nevermind.
And the rest…
Authority : Relentless TPB - Oh, baby, where you been all my life? I’m gonna hafta buy the rest of these.
**Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 3 **- Classic JLA and JSA Team-ups, reprinted. Earth-2 Robin had the worst costume EVER.
Planetary #20 - Hey, an issue of Planetary!
Ah, screw it - I don’t need to comment on all of them : Powers #2, Army of Darkness : Ashes 2 Ashes, #1, Sleeper Season Two #1 and #2, Legion #36, Ultimate FF #9, Richard Dragon #3, JLA #102, Superman #207, Conan #6, The Witching #2, Witches #4, DC : New Frontier #5, Green Lantern #179, Batman #630, Powerless #2.
The Army of Darkness book was amusing - it recapped the events of the movies, and takes off from the American Ending of Army of Darkness. (Ash back at S-Mart). The dialogue felt heavily borrowed from the films, for the first part of the book, but it got better.
Sleeper is cool. I should buy the first season TPB. What’s the deal with his power?
Legion - I, too, am becoming a convert to the ways of this latest LEgion incarnation. The bits with Brainy this ish were classic.
Richard Dragon - Still a great book, highly recommended.
JLA - Yawn. Worst idea for a story arc ever. Somebody lock Austen in a trunk already.
Superman - So, this Equus guy is a super enhanced human-based cyborg… so why can his claws hurt Superman? As near as I can tell, it’s because they’re really pointy.
Witching - Veering towards Yawn territory.
Witches - Obligatory defiance of father-like authority figures. Yay. Go, Grrl power. (Don’t you hate when people spell it ‘Grrl’?)
Powerless - I hope this is going where I think it’s going.
Sleeper Season 2 #2. Wow. Brubaker once again proves himself the master of getting inside the heads and motivations of some seriously tortured people. The strong emotions at play are thoroughly believable, and frighteningly familiar to experiences in my own life (fortunately, without the accompanying physical brutality). Had anyone told me this time last year that my favorite book on the stands would be a sci-fi noir espionage tale published by WildStorm, I would have laughed long and hard. More fool I for underestimating it.
Blacksad: Arctic Nation. The first Blacksad book took me by surprise, and hit me over the head with how amazing it was. I thought this one suffered a little by comparison because it tried to tackle too many issues and subplots in too few pages. In the scheme of things, I’d prefer a book like this one, that overreaches a little, to a competent but uninspired book that takes on very little but achieves all of what it set out to do. Even with that minor concern, it’s still an amazing (and stunningly illustrated) work.
Books of Magick: Life During Wartime #1. Am I the only one who cringes at the spelling of “magick”? Ahem …
Anyway, as a fan of both Hellblazer and the original BoM series, I wasn’t disappointed, though I’m sure this wasn’t the most new reader accessible issue #1 in history. I wasn’t thrilled with the art, particularly, but I can live with it. Anyone know whether this is intended as a LS or an ongoing? I thought it was a limited series, but some of the copy inside suggested it’s an ongoing. If the former, I’ll probably stick with it, but if it’s the latter, I’m not sure the concept will support a long-term book.
Robin #128- well, it looks like Stepanie didn’t make her 90-day probationary period. Not really sure if I like Damien Scott’s artwork in this title, it’s a little too… I don’t know… cutesey.
Also, I know the latest Green Arrow actually came out last week, but I just bought it today, and it seems to be quitsville for Ollie and Dinah. I’m going to have to paw through a lot of back issues and get City Walls to find out what’s going on with those two. Meanwhile, this Brick guy is shaping up to be a real post-apocalyptic (in the Buffy sense0 threat. This is going to be a series worth reading, methinks.
Last year, there was an Avengers storyline where she was exposed to Jack of Hearts’ energies, and went into “Hulk Smash” mode. Apparently, that’s what’s happening here. Someone is attacking them through weaknesses that (presumably) only another Avenger would know (and this will be the explanation for the Hawkeye/Wasp hookup, Tony’s drunk act, etc.). Those two mouths on the last page? My bet is they’re disgruntled former Avengers. No clue which two.
Who was that blonde woman in a grey turtleneck on page 2? Does Kelsey no longer have a scar or something?
OK, looks like I will be checking that out. Thanks. 
No, I did too, when it came out last week. 
So what’s Sleeper’s protagonist’s power, exactly?
Wait wait wait wait…they’re rebooting Legion AGAIN?
Not that I liked Abnett and Lanning’s take, but geez…does continuity mean anything at all in the 31st century?
It’s not a reboot. It’s just a new creative team and a short time-gap.
Due to exposure to a mysterious artifact (that may have fallen out of the Bleed, sort of a common gateway between dimensions), Holden Carver cannot feel pain, and he is pretty much invulnerable. This means that he can be shot, stabbed, dropped off buildings, and he’ll get right back up. He has a healing factor too, I guess similar to Wolverine’s. His “super-villain code name” is The Conductor, because his body can store that pain and channel it back into anyone he touches.
His mind, like his body, is also impenetrable, which made him the perfect sleeper agent to infiltrate Tao’s organization. Tao is a master manipulator and a bit of a mind reader, but Holden’s thoughts were perfectly blocked from Tao due to Holden’s powers.