Here we go!
Fables finally wrapped up its war arc… new issues of Buffy and Angel came out. What’re we reading this week?
Last week I picked up the “reboot” of the Amory Wars (comic book/GN detailing the story behind Coheed and Cambria’s songs.) But it’s the only comic I read, it’s unlikely that others do too, so I’m afraid I won’t be much used in a comic book discussion.
But anyway, it’s sort of your standard space opera/fantasy comic, with very cheesy dialogue, melodramatic plot that twists every episode and nearly always has an exploitative episode of violence, and mostly stylized drawing. But, not to spoil the plot, there is a good reason why this is so, so I forgive Claudio if he can work this in without stringing us along forever like most comics do.
Secret Six #1: Oh, my white Jesus, this book is awesome! It’s just… So much… There’s so much fucked up shit in here! It’s not sci-fi weird like All-New Atom was, it’s just wrong. I love the new villain. I really love the portrayal of Catman here. He’s obviously interested in becoming a good guy, he just doesn’t actually have any kind of a conscience or restraint on his violence. And of course, Nicola Scott brings the awesome. I would have liked to see a little more out of the new guy. Not so much dialog or action, as just more about why he’s on the team now.
Trinity #14: Starting to slow down again. Still better than Countdown ever was.
Jonah Hex #35: I hope it and Secret Six stay on the same schedule. It’ll be a close thing every week over which comic is more fucked up. Secret Six won it this week, but this was actually a pretty tame issue for Jonah Hex.
Green Lantern #34: It’s kind of nice seeing Hal as a total noob way out of his depths, but this story went on way too long. And it’s not over yet!
Detective Comics #848: Dini’s getting more mileage out of Hush’s rather bland backstory and skillset than I would have dreamed possible. Good issue.
Trinity #14 - I’m not sure if it seemed like there was less Hawk, Smash! this week because he was only in one title, but at least they address it. Anybody wonder if Sun-Chained-In-Ink is going to turn out to be Magneto in disguise, only to be later retconned as SCII thought he was Magneto in disguise, and then his brother shows up? Also, what’s up with John, already?
Supergirl #33 - Supergirl, once again, learns A Very Important Lesson. Rather blah. Hoping the new team and new storyline improve things.
Secret Six #1 - Clever and twisted. Good stuff.
Green Lantern #34 - Although I liked the idea of re-telling Hal’s origins to illuminate the upcoming storylines, this has gone on way too long and we’re not really learning anything new of significance. We already know Hal was an idiot, we already know what his relationship with Sinestro started out like, we know about Black Hand , Atrocitus, etc. It seems like the only thing added here was little flourishes like Hal being effective against yellow, or Carol’s dad, or whatever. Worth a few issues, not seven issues of putting this title into a holding pattern.
I bought the same things as you (almost)! And felt the same way! So there’s really no reason for me to post! And yet I did! Paradox!
Secret Six - I’m surprised this Liana chick survived the job. But I suppose Scandal would have gutted the guys first. The bit with the crooks in the convenience store was brilliant. Especially after Deadshot told Catman he was failing as a good guy. Blake ‘oh, ffs’ face was a laugh. It took me a moment to realize what that thing was on the back of Bane’s head…it just never occurred to me that the Venom delivery system was permanently connected.
’Tec - Hush has earned hisself a major ass-whooping. It will be glorious.
El Diablo - I’m liking the new guy, and the connection to the original. I would like to see some confirmation about what happened to the last one…last we saw he was alive, and he’s been referenced a few times in Blue Beetle. But, aside from that, it’s damn good.
Oh, and I picked up the two-part Order TPB. It was very good, and I’m sad that Fraction had to let it die. Could have been a breakout star.
Secret Six #1 - Adored it. These guys are so doomed, but I still adored it. My shop sold out of theirs; I hope it’s a trend that continues.
Manhunter #34 - Ramsey continues to be adorable; I hope he gets to keep the puppy. Damon and Todd share one of the top ten hottest kisses ever to appear in comics. The only downside of this book is that I tend to enjoy the supporting cast a lot more than the titular character, but I suppose there are worse things and I still rather like Kate.
Fables #75 - Thank God that’s done with. Not pleased with the wrap up, been truly hating the pacing for about a year now. Let’s move on to something new, shall we?
Noble Causes #36 - I’m kind of sad that this book will be ending soon, but I’m not exactly going to miss it either. It’s one of those titles where the events were interesting, but I never got to the point where I cared about the characters all that much.
Is the new Secret Six series an ongoing or another mini?
Ongoing.
And I got the Johns Action Comics Legion arc from the library. Very good, but Frank’s art always makes me feel slightly uncomfortable after seeing too much of it in Squadron Supreme. Feel like he’s gonna kill a hooker on every page.
Marvel Apes - The mood whiplash on the last page of the main story was, frankly, awesome. The look Cap gave Gibbon was chilling. I like the Sue Storm/Richards twist, too.
Transformers Movie Prequel - Saga of the Allspark - It’s weird…the comics seem to be working on completely dismantling the movie aesthetic - the movie canon characters have their movie looks, and Arcee and Elita One (over in Reign of Starscream) look like movie characters, but most of the other characters look like G1 characters - and even Ratchet seems to be slowly being changed to look like a G1 character. And this book seems to have introduced the Quintessons into the movie continuity.
Supergirl - Not a bad issue, but Aftermath is yet another example of one of the most annoying villain types in comics. It was fine when it was Luthor. Max Lord’s paranoia was fine. But ‘superheroes aren’t really heroes’ is annoying when it’s just paranoia, or Luthor’s justification of prompting stagnation, but when it’s because they can’t save everyone all the time… that’s straight up obnoxious.
What twist would that be?
With Sue?
It’s a minor thing, so I won’t spoiler box it…
Ape-Sue is the ‘ugly’ member of the Ape-Fantastic Four - because she got turned into a human (identical to regular Sue…well, regular Sue in the 80s).