Ramblings of a 20-Something
Posts tagged Comics
No One Cares About Wonder Woman So Shut Up Already
Jul 1st
If you’re anywhere near as big as of a nerd as I am, you’re no doubt aware that Wonder Woman got a new costume this week as her comic finally hit 600 issues. The same month saw Batman and Superman reach the 700 issue mark. The reaction has caused a sudden surge in Nerd Rage all over the Internet. I don’t understand this at all.
First of all, these are comic books we’re dealing with. Costumes change for characters all the time. It’s a stunt to sell more issues and keep people talking. It’s happened with Spider-Man at least half a dozen times (Black costume, Iron Spider, That weird metal costume from the ’90s that lasted a single issue, the Scarlet Spider, I could go on), not to mention Superman (do I really have to bring up Electric Blue?) and tons of others. People talk about it for a little while and then after a few months everything goes back to normal because nerds hate change. This will probably happen to Wonder Woman as well. They’ve even thrown out the buzz words like “bold new direction” and “never be the same” which are always surefire signs that nothing will actually make a difference.
Aside from that, I don’t know what people are talking so much about this anyway. No one actually cares about Wonder Woman to begin with. Despite the fact that she’s one of the Holy Trinity at DC along with Batman and Superman, she’s relegated to the back seat. If the Big Three were the daughters of the Brady family, Wonder Woman would be Jan. Her comic has been canceled a bunch of times because readers stopped buying it. They only got to 600 issues after adding up all of the previous volumes of the comic to get there. Did they have to do that with Batman and Superman? Nope!
Yes, Wonder Woman had that TV show with Lynda Carter
So bottom line: Shut Up. Nerds freak out over change when everyone knows that the comic companies will just go back to the status quo within a few issues anyway because they want your money. Giving Wonder Woman pants is not going to destroy the character or ruin your life. They’re pants. Here’s a newsflash for you: Women have been wearing pants for decades. They don’t actually wear giant star covered panties. Deal with it.
I Fought the eBay and…It Was a Draw?
May 2nd
As some of you may know, I’ve been in the process of selling off my single issue comics for the past few months. It’s been a slow process, but I put up about 2-3 auctions each week on eBay consisting of groups of comics that go together. Basically I put storylines in one bunch so that a buyer can come in and pick up an entire run of a series without missing something. Throughout this whole time I haven’t had a single problem with any of the auctions. The transactions were smooth and occasionally some books would sell for less than I’d like them to, but I was getting rid of them. At this time I’ve already cleaned out 2 or 3 long boxes worth of comics. I’m also taking my winnings and buying the comics I’d like to read again in trades so I’ll actually read them instead of letting them sit in a box.
So with all this going well, it was only a matter of time before I had some sort of problem. I sold a batch of comics to a guy in Canada. I don’t normally ship to Canada but he asked and I figured I’d do it. I packaged the comics like I do every other batch that I put through and sent them out. A week or so goes by and I totally forget about them until I get a message from the guy out of the blue. He received the comics and claims that they’re all bent and he wants, no DEMANDS, a refund. Buh? I’m shocked by this. I don’t understand how this could have happened at all. I respond as polite as I can asking for more information and explaining that this has never happened to me before.
Eventually he sends me pictures of the comics and the “damage.” I put that word in quotes because if you didn’t know where the “damage” was you wouldn’t notice it.
If you look real hard, the right hand corner of the book is slightly dented, as if someone dropped the box on it’s corner. The buyer said himself that the box was “slightly torn” when he received it. I’m totally taken aback by this. Are you serious? This is what’s wrong with the books? He even went so far as to say he was really irritated because he was looking forward to reading these. I ask him what is stopping him from reading the books as clearly there is no pages missing or anything like that. His response confirms my suspicions about him. He said that it didn’t matter anymore because he had just bought the hardcover collections of the books and that these would just be added to the collection anyway (which amassed 40+ boxes of all near mint books as that is the standard of his collection). I really wish I was making this up.
I asked eBay what I should do and they said that the buyer should open up a case regarding this if the items were damaged. I asked the guy to do that and then escalated the case for a decision from eBay. My auction stated that I do not accept returns and this guy didn’t offer to buy insurance for the package even though he said this has happened to him before. Within a few hours, eBay had made its decision. They sided with the buyer. What will happen now is as follows: The buyer returns the comics to me but does so with a shipping confirmation. Once eBay confirms that the comics have been received (by using the shipping confirmation), they’ll refund the amount paid for the auction and take the balance out of my PayPal account. Then I can re-list the comics on eBay and hopefully sell them to a less picky buyer.
This whole experience has left me rather disgruntled. I was on a good run with getting these comics out and now there’s a small part of me that doesn’t want to bother. That part will disappear once I remember that the next time I move I’ll have to lug these comic boxes down all those stairs. I’m sure I’ll be back on the eBay wagon again. Also, I’m a little disappointed that this guy got all rude and stuff. I could have probably sold him more comics.
The Comic Book Pile is Slowly Shrinking
Jun 20th
My plan to sell off my single issue comic book collection is now underway. Last week I tossed up the first of many ebay auctions for a batch of Marvel Civil War comics. The 40 comics sold for $76, which is way more than I thought they’d go for. As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, my goal is to make enough money to re-buy the issues as trade paperbacks. I understand that I’m going to take a loss on the initial sale, but this way I’ll get rid of the comics that I’ll never read again and basically trade in the other issues for graphic novels that I’ll actually read and will be readily available on my book shelf.
I put up three more lots this week. (Green Lantern, Batman: War Games, and Y: The Last Man). I think that the Green Lantern one will sell for big. I hope so at least because it’s 53 issues. Y will probably go for an OK amount, but I don’t know if Batman will sell because even though it’s about 30 issues, the storyline included wasn’t that popular. We’ll see though. I’ve still got a few days before it ends.
I thought about putting up more, but with all the stuff going on with the move and our road trip it’s going to be a pain in the ass to get all these together and ship them. I’m going to stick to about three each week and take it from there. That way I’m not overwhelmed with shipping and whatnot. I’ll have to move some of the comics with me to the new apartment, but that’ll be OK. At least by that time they’ll take up a little less space.
Comics Corner – Week of 12/4
Dec 6th
My ever-shrinking comic pull list got a little smaller this week. I almost didn’t go to Alternate Realities this week since there were only 5 comics that I wanted to pick up, but with the conclusion to Secret Invasion amongst them I figured I should probably make the trip. So here’s what I think of this week’s books. Feel free to skip to the end to call me retarded.
Batman #682 – I thought that the previous issue (which I didn’t really care for) would be the end of this whole Batman R.I.P. thing. Unfortunately, I was incorrect. It seems that there’s this issue and one more that basically consist of Grant Morrison trying to make sense of DC’s embarrassingly fucked up continuity. See, Batman R.I.P., this story that’s supposed to completely change the Batman stories forever and ever, takes place BEFORE the current crapfest, Final Crisis, where Batman (Bruce Wayne) is currently held captive and strapped to some weird machine. So all the thought of Bruce dying or in any way leaving the Batman cape and cowl behind is for naught because we know he’s still running around later on in Final Crisis. This issue jumped around like a crazy person and I still don’t really understand it. I think it’s supposed to be told from Alfred’s point of view and it basically jumps from weird point to weird point in the life of Bruce Wayne / Batman. I was going to pick up this and the next issue to make sure I had the issues that were in the trade. Now? Eh. I’m good with this. I don’t need anymore.
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My Comic Book Storage Solution…For Now
Nov 18th
With my comic book habit reaching critical mass, I’ve realized that I just can’t keep collecting single issues, especially when trades are just so easy. I made this decision about two months ago and I’m working on canceling all of my regular issues. Now what to do with all the books I’ve already got? They’re all collecting dust in a bunch of long boxes in a corner of my apartment, never to be read again. I could try and sell them and then buy the trades of the ones I’d like to read again, but that seems illogical, especially since I literally just bought some of them.
I think a main reason that I don’t re-read the single issues is accessibility. They’re in their boxes and it’s a pain in the ass to rifle through them, lifting up box after box to get to a story buried in the back. Once it gets filed away, it’s basically out of sight, out of mind. So I set out to find a way for me to make the comics I had readily available like a regular book. I think I found a rather affordable way to do it too. More >
Comics Corner – Week of 9/24
Sep 26th
A relatively small week in the grand scheme of things. I picked up 10 books that came out on Wednesday plus Welcome to Hoxford #2 which came out a couple weeks ago. In addition to these, I dropped about 7 titles including X-Factor, The Boys, and Angel. More will be coming as more storylines end though as I make my transition away from regular monthly comics.
Now for some reviews! Don’t forget to call me retarded at the bottom as your opinion is always welcome. K THX. More >
Comics Corner – Threepeat – “The Rest” Edition (Part 3 of 3)
Sep 23rd
Angel After The Fall #12 – I could have sworn that this book was supposed to end with this issue. Unfortunately I wasn’t that lucky. I mean, that was really the only reason I was holding on at this point. There was just a couple more issues so I stuck by the horrible art and the convoluted story. Well, no longer. Angel is off the list. As much as I loved the show, this book has been a huge disappointment. It’s taken too long to get to the point and by now I have no idea what’s going on. It seems like Wolfram & Hart have been behind everything forever which is sort of a bummer and also sort of expected. At this point though, I don’t care. Let Gunn just kill Angel and everyone else and then himself. That’ll make for a satisfying ending. Otherwise I’m just going to try and forget this whole thing ever happened and just use the TV show ending as the one I stick to.
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Astounding Wolf-Man #8 – While I’m a big fan of Robert Kirkman’s work, the lateness of his books is starting to get irritating. I think this book was supposed to go monthly but I don’t see how that’s possible at all. The last issue had a great cliffhanger and this one builds up from that. It just took me about half the issue to remember what the hell happened. This is definitely not as strong as his other books and as a result, I’m going to cut this one out of the list now. I might look into it for the trades because the art and the story is rather interesting. It’s just not enough to grab me each month.
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Boys #22 – Wrapping up this arc with some more back story and some more questions. I’m a little confused as to who the Legend’s other son was that Hughie killed. Was it that guy from Teenage Kix? As usual, we’re given some more peeks into the lives of the characters. Also as usual, the superheroes are a bunch of assholes. Not a bad issue, but not the best.
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Buffy The Vampire Slayer #18 – As I’ve mentioned before, I haven’t read Fray, so a bit of this story arc that might be super geeky cool is lost on me. Things progress and the super hero team up that started with fighting has gone into more fighting between Fray and Buffy. Only this time Fray has the upper hand with some help from Future Willow. Meanwhile, Present Willow gets it on with Kennedy in order to talk to creepy snake lady. Who knew that’s how magic communication worked? Oh, and there’s some werid wood nymphs or something outside the Slayer castle. They encounter Xander and Dawn and talk it out.
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Criminal 2 #5 – Goddamn this book is good. This gritty film noir-esque story is amazing. So the cartoonist is your typical down on his luck, cop-avoiding, lonely man and after he gets suckered into helping an asshole and his girl in robbing a local mob boss, it looks like he’s going to get iced. Of course, it doesn’t go down like that because any plan is bound to fall in a crime book. I love everything about this book. The art, the story, the dialogue, the characters. Amazing. The fact that the cartoonist (who’s name escapes me) sees his own creation as a form of conscience is also a great idea. As a backup we’re treated to two brief essays. These have all been pretty good and a great way to find out about film noir movies and pulp novels that I wouldn’t have heard of otherwise. The first is about a film called One False Movewhile the second is about a pulp novelist that died under mysterious circumstances in Chicago. Needless to say all of the stuff mentioned has been added to my wishlist.
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Ex Machina #38 – The Evil Republican National Convention looms in New York City as Mayor Hundred is faced with decisions. I can’t help but think that this issue went through some last minute editing to be a bit more relevant to current events. That being said, the layers have continued and it looks like Kremlin’s plan might begin to unfold. I really dig this book and while it’s got the crazy powers every so often, I love how “real” it feels. In the end, it’s like a big “What If?” story about NYC. I don’t normally care all that much about politics and what not, but the decisions that are left up to Mayor Hundred are somehow insanely interesting. Can he justify speaking at the convention being an Independent and holding on to his views? Or will he deal with this psuedo-terrorist female leaping from buildings? Decisions!
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Invincible #52 – Wow. While I wasn’t as impressed by Astounding Wolf-Man, Invincible just continues to get better and better. When a spontaneous fight with the Mauler twins turns ugly, Kid Omni-Man (Mark’s half-brother) arrives on the scene and rips them to shreds in some pretty brutal fight scenes. Covered in blood, he argues with his brother when he’s reprimanded for killing. Why can’t he kill the bad guys? Is it just because he’s a good guy? What if their father was right? The shock of this child brutally killing these intelligent behemoths pales in comparison to Mark’s response. Holy shit. Where can this go? Has Invincible started down a road that he can’t turn back from?
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Transformers All Hail Megatron #3 – OK. We get it. The Decepticons have invaded. Humans are being killed. It’s been 3 issues and we have no idea why or how. They just sort of showed up. Megatron hints at a betrayal that allowed him and his troops to do such a clean sweep. Is this a human or an Autobot betrayer? While the fights have been a little interesting and the response from the humans has been pretty cool, I’m still not really digging this book. I crave explanation. Plus, where does this fall in the Transformers mythos? Everyone seems to not know what the hell the Transformers are, so is this their first encounter with the Robots in Disguise? I have no idea, but damn, these covers are awesome, aren’t they?
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Walking Dead #52 – Speaking of Kirkman being awesome, Walking Dead gives us another chapter with just a few zombies and a whole lot of character driven story. Rick starts to accept that he might not make it much longer and as he’s teaching his son Carl (who’s like 10? 12 maybe?) to drive, he runs into Michonne. She uses her samurai sword fighting skills to dispatch a few zombies. In a last glimmer of hope, they all continue on in search of Hershel’s farm. When things look lost they run into Glenn and his wife (who I think is Hershel’s daughter?) on horseback. There’s hope again. Maybe Rick won’t lose his mind, but I won’t bet on it. Things have been pretty harsh for these guys recently so let’s hope things get at least a little better for them soon. I’ve said before that I’m actually a little afraid to read this book each month. Kirkman pulls no punches with these characters.
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War Heroes #2 – Let’s get this out of the way first. Yes, there’s a penis in this issue. It’s there in two different angles for all to see. Was it necessary? I didn’t think so. Will I drop the book in disgust? No. I don’t really care. The book wasn’t about a penis. This issue felt like the planning part of a heist movie. The group has infiltrated the army training camp and they’re ready to get their super power pills. They go through extensive and painful training and just as they’re ready to be deployed, we’re let in on the next step of their plan. And holy crap, it’s a doozy. That last line is un-fucking-believable and I cannot wait for the next issue.
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Comics Corner – Threepeat – DC Edition (Part 2 of 3)
Sep 22nd
Part 2 of 3 in my gigantic pile of comics this week. (Part 1, the Marvel Edition can be found here.) I was surprised to find that this was all I had in the ways of DC comics. I’ve been consistently dropping books from the company as of late. I’m just not really digging what they’re putting out aside from the Green Lantern stuff. Oh well, it’ll all end soon for me anyway.
Action Comics #869– This issue really got some things moving while seemingly not doing all that much. The real Brainiac dukes it out with Superman in deep space while his droids terrorize the people in Metropolis and Supergirl loses it. The end of the issue is actually pretty depressing because of where things end up. What a downer! Recent solicitations for the big upcoming arc sort of give away what’s going to happen though so that sucks. I’m probably going to be dropping the book after this arc wraps up though. I’m not interested in Supergirl or the other Superman book. I might take a look at the trade though. Speaking of Supergirl, I usually dig Gary Frank’s art, but this issue had some of the funkiest and distorted images of Kara Zor-El ever.
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All Star Superman #12– This issue wrapped up this series by Grant Morrison and drawn by Frank Quitely. Apparently every single person in the entire world that read it loved it. While I dug the story, I can’t really remember the events that led up to this. The book’s spotty delivery schedule has caused me to forget a lot of it. I got the jist I think and the end of the book was actually really good. I’m going to have to go back and re-read them all now. The one thing that I didn’t like, about this issue and the series in general, was the art. I’ve never been a fan of Quitely’s art and I honestly don’t see how anyone can be. Everyone looks like they either just smelled shit or they’re about to drop a big deuce. Not to mention the fact that everyone looks all wiggly like the very ground they’re standing on is constantly vibrating. Aside from the art, which wasn’t nearly as bad as that X-Factor fiasco, it was really good.
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Booster Gold #12 – This book has just lost it’s shine since Geoff Johns left. Granted, it’s only been two issues, but these have just felt entirely too silly and uneventful. The previous arcs felt like they meant something or at the very least mattered. This arc has just felt like a filler throwaway story and totally not what interested me about the first 10 / 12 issues. It seems like they’re trying to get Booster Gold back to the ridiculous and stupid stories that he used to be involved in years ago. No thanks. Sorry Booster, but you’re among the first to go from my pull list in the great Comics Removal of 2008.
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Green Lantern #34– Just when I thought this arc was over, it continues! In what is turning into the longest origin re-telling ever, Geoff Johns continues his story of Hal Jordan’s first days as a Green Lantern. Ok, Sinestro and Hal take care of that big red alien thing. Hal gets some closure and the guy that will eventually become Black Hand disappears. Now they’re called to Oa for some nonsense? C’mon! Get on with it so we can see some more Red Lanterns and get to Blackest Night!
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Green Lantern Corps #28 – I think I’m about ready to let this book go. I clung on to it because I love the whole Green Lantern mythos lately, but I don’t see where else it can go until the next big GL event. This issue wrapped up a quick arc looking at yet another Sinestro Corps member killing off family members of rookie Green Lanterns. Problem solved. Issue ends. We get it. There’s a war now. The Green Lanterns have a horrible and ruthless villain in the Sinestro Corps. Let’s do some more with these characters already! You’ve got a plethora of possibilities here and they’re being squandered hunting Sinestro Corps rings with the same 4-6 people.
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Comics Corner – Threepeat – Marvel Edition (Part 1 of 3)
Sep 20th
So I went without comics for three weeks for a variety of reasons. I finally picked up my batch of comics this week and there were about 30 waiting for me. Since there are that many I figured I’d break down my reviews in threes. I just finished my Marvel comics so here are the reviews for them. Next up will be the DC batch and I’ll finish up with the other publishers (IDW, Dark Horse, Image, etc) in one post. Here we go!
Amazing Spider-Man #570 – 572 – This is what I’m talking about! We went through all of Brand New Day so far to get to this. Anti-Venom is a great idea and I love what they’re doing here. Let’s just hope that they can keep it up. A few loose threads were tied up with these three issues and I loved that. This arc should have come a lot earlier, in my opinion. It definitely has a great old-school Spidey feel to it and I really didn’t miss Mary Jane at all during these issues. It’s not a big deal that Parker’s not married right now because he seriously doesn’t have time to worry about things like that. Between finding a job, keeping an eye on Aunt May, and trying not to be killed / arrested by the Thunderbolts, he’s pretty busy here. Not to mention avoiding getting “cured” of his powers by Anti-Venom. I believe that there’s one more issue left in this arc and I’m really looking forward to it.
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Guardians Of The Galaxy #5 – It’s books like this that make me not want to drop comics. This book came out of left field for me and I absolutely love it. While I’m a little annoyed that Secret Invasion seems to be forced into this book, the writers have somehow made it work in such a way that takes the focus off of the Skrulls and more on the characters in the team. As I mentioned with the previous issue, Knowhere seems to have a definite Babylon 5 aspect to it now with the delegates and whatnot. That definitely fits around the basis of it’s existence. This issue shows the team beginning to fall apart and everyone except Rocket Raccoon at odds with one another. The appearance of a new female Starhawk creates more trouble and Drax the Destroyer is out to…well…destroy. When I finally do pull the plug on my weekly comics purchases, this will be a book that will be sorely missed.
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Invincible Iron Man #5 – Speaking of books that I’ll miss, this issue continues Stane’s terrorist attacks on Tony Stark and his company around the world. I love how right Stane seems in his actions. I’ve never been a big Iron Man fan, but this book just feels huge (that’s what she said?). It has this big super hero / villain battle thing going on and that fits perfectly for this character. Iron Man needs to fight incredibly powerful and somewhat insane but brilliant technology based villains. He has that in Stane. The last page of this issue is unbelievable and I’m really looking forward to the next one. Stane is a madman, but he’s certainly fun to watch.
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Mighty Avengers #18 – Ok. We get it. The Skrulls have been around for awhile. Secret Invasion is a big payoff for an Avengers story from a few years ago. Honestly though, why not put some of this info in the EVENT book? While I love the idea of Nick Fury secretly training a bunch of forgotten super powered step-kids, the tie-in bullshit with this event is starting to get out of hand. It’s like they’re sticking to the main story in the event book and using this book and New Avengers to map out EVERY SINGLE DETAIL of where the Skrulls have been and what they’ve done since that first New Avengers arc. They waited too long to pull the trigger on this and now it’s requiring too much backstory. I loved the idea at first, but now it’s dragging on. Let’s get on with this already and back to some Avengers ass-kicking.
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Secret Invasion #6 – Which brings me to Secret Invasion and some Avengers ass-kicking. Seriously, this should have been issue #3. The past 3 issues have been pretty lackluster and building up to this. The Skrulls in all their might on one side and just about every super power in on the Marvel planet Earth on the other. Let’s get it on. We get a few beautiful pages of tremendously epic fight scenes (with of course, Spider-Man swinging around attached to no one knows what as my fiancee pointed out) drawn by Leinel Yu. While I dug the issue, I’m just a little jaded that we’ve waited this long for it and all the crap we had to deal with in the Savage Land to get to this point. I’m just looking forward to the end of this at this point because as usual, the GIANT EVENT that’s supposed to COMPLETELY CHANGE the status quo of the Marvel Universe is shaping up to do absolutely nothing. Also, was that a Galactus Skrull in the background? Are you kidding? Why even bother fighting if you’ve got the power of a friggin’ planet eater?
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Secret Invasion Inhumans #2 – While things are going crazy on Earth, the Inhumans are fighting Skrulls already on the moon. Instead of dicking around in Antarctica for awhile, they just got right to it. Where are the Skrulls? Ok, let’s beat the shit out of them. Done. The people on Earth need to take a lesson from the Inhumans. No wasting time here. There was a problem and they’re addressing it. Meanwhile, Black Bolt is busy being tortured and making stupid faces on some Skrull ship somewhere. Seriously, the artist depiction of his shocked face with the “*” quote was one of the most inadvertently funny images I’ve seen in awhile.
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Secret Invasion Runaways Young Avengers #3 – I’m a big fan of both the Runaways and the Young Avengers, but this book just felt weird and out of place. Sure they teamed up…sort of, but it didn’t really do all that much. The two teams really just need to work together and be a super team of teenagers with attitude. This issue finished up their story and gave us some more mumbo jumbo about the prophecy that I think the Skrulls don’t even know about anymore. There’s a God that loves you and there’s also this prince that’s supposed to unite everyone and I’m sure there’s more stuff going on. Somehow with all of these mismatched beliefs the Skrull Empire was able to infiltrate the human race and invaded. If that’s the case, Earth deserves it. Oh, and I laughed out loud at Molly’s comment when she heard Skrull-Speak. That was just perfect.
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Ultimate Origins #4 – I used to love the Ultimate books. At one point I was reading all of them and really enjoying them. Then I realized that they were really just rehashing old 616 stories and just got bored. Now I only read Ultimate Spider-Man. I picked this up hoping for some more excitement from what has become a pretty boring universe. If this book would have come out 5 or even 2 years ago, I would have been all over it. Now though? It’s pretty boring. So Bruce Banner new Peter Parker’s dad? They were both scientists so that seems pretty logical and not shocking at all. The cause of Parker’s parents’ death was a little interesting and gives us a little perspective but I honestly can’t remember any other interaction between Banner and Parker that would have shown a sort of emotion that would have hinted at that. I’ll probably pick up the next and last issue just to see how this ends, but I’m not going to pick up Ultimatum. Sorry folks, but you lost me on this.
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Uncanny X-Men #502 – Continuing right where the last issue left off, we’re treated to some great fight scenes as Wolverine and Nightcrawler tear through some Hellfire Cult punks. I don’t know anything about the Red Queen, but I’m looking forward to the showdown that’s set up for the next issue. I also don’t really care about Dazzler or Pixie so following either of them is an immediate turn off for me. Greg Land’s art, while often criticized, fits this book well. You’ve got these fantastic abilities coming out of people and it works to have things look a little glamorous. The descriptions for each character were also great and added a bit of humor to the book in some harsh moments. All in all, not a bad issue, but not super great either.
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X-Factor #35 – If Guardians of the Galaxy is a book that I’ll be missing when I drop comics, it’s issues like this one that make me want to burn every issue I have. I really dig Peter David’s writing, but even his wit can’t make the art look even passable. This is probably the absolute worst art I’ve seen in a comic book ever. I almost couldn’t get through the issue. Somehow I persevered and I was able to finish it, but I came so close to just jabbing my eyes out with a spork instead. I don’t understand how Marvel would actually pay someone to draw like that. I could do better if I wiped my ass on a piece of loose leaf paper. Just write the dialogue around the poop and you’ve got a better looking issue. I love the characters in X-Factor, but I cannot continue reading this book if the artist stays. If his fingers aren’t broken, I just don’t know what to do. I can’t buy the book anymore to show support for something like this. Goodbye X-Factor. We had a good run up until these 3 most recent issues. I’m done now.
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Tune in later this week for more reviews from the other books I picked up including Buffy, The Boys, Action Comics, All Star Superman, Green Lantern and more!
Comics Corner – Week of 8/20 & 8/27
Sep 1st
Last week I was disappointed to find that my local comic shop hadn’t received ANY of their new comics. They were mistakenly shipped elsewhere! So this week I picked up two weeks worth of comics and holy shit were there a lot. What follows are my retarded thoughts on the issues I picked up.
Amazing Spider-Man #568 – The beginning of the highly anticipated “New Ways to Die” story arc! Venom! Norman Osborn! The Thunderbolts! Now we’re moving. I feel like a lot of the “Brand New Day” stuff has been building up to this. There’s a tie-in with Mr. Negative that makes some sense. The inclusion of Eddie Brock was done pretty well too. They did a pretty good job of incorporating aspects of Eddie’s past without just diving into full-blown Venom nonsense. Mark Waid’s back-up story was a nice way to get into Brock’s head too. I’m not a huge fan of John Romita Jr’s art, but this issue looked pretty good.
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Anna Mercury #3 – Warren Ellis has some pretty crazy ideas and this one is no different. There’s some sort of secret agent situation and there are something like 5 or 7 parallel Earths floating around. I feel like this book has been a little delayed, but I honestly can’t be sure. I definitely have to re-read the first two issues as I can’t really remember a lot of the details going into this one. It seemed cool enough though. I’m definitely interested enough to keep reading. We were just given a peek into this bizarre world of Anna Mercury with these first few issues. I feel like there’s so much more though.
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Captain America #41 – The Red Skull’s house of cards is falling apart. The cautious partnership between the Skull, Faustus and Doctor Zola is coming to a close and the new Captain America, Bucky Barnes has been exposed to the public. Goddamn, this book is good. Ed Brubaker has crafted such an epic story with this book and we’ve still got one more chapter in this story. I love how everything is coming together. Nothing is left out. All of the little bits and pieces of this huge story are coming to a head here. By the end of this issue, it feels official. Bucky is Captain America. If that final page doesn’t seal the deal, I don’t know what else would.
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Final Crisis – Legion of 3 Worlds #1 – While I’ve given up on the main Final Crisis book, I’m still a huge fan of Geoff Johns so I’m willing to at least check this book out. Even though the only stuff I know about the Legion has been from Mark Waid’s recent runon the book and Johns’ story in Action Comics, I was still willing to give it a chance. This issue was all setup, but there’s a great one. Fans have been angry and confused for years with the discombobulated history of the Legion. I mean, there’s three of them! Which one is THE Legion? Why are there so many? So many questions and I hope that by the end of this mini-series there might be an answer to at least a few of them. Johns does a great job of writing Superboy Prime. He really captures this arrogant ignorance that the kid seems to have. Prime’s actions in the book fit that mindset perfectly. George Perez’s art is also pretty good and rather fitting for the book. As I said, this is a great setup and I’m going to be picking up the next issue.
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Guardians Of The Galaxy #4 – This is quickly becoming one of my favorite books each month. Building on last issue’s battle between Major Victory and Starhawk, some Skrulls are tossed into the mix. I’m starting to get a little tired of all this Secret Invasion stuff. I can almost understand why the Skrulls would be on Knowhere, but things are starting to get a bit stretched out. Speaking of Knowhere, am I the only one that sees the Celestial Head floating at the end of the universe like a sort of Babylon 5? This issue really confirmed that view for me with the council and the different delegates. It also brought up some good points. The Guardians of the Galaxy just sort of showed up there and claimed the joint as their base. Did they even clear it with the people that actually LIVE there? Great issue. Really looking forward to more, even if it deals with Skrulls.
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Marvel 1985 #4 – This issue lost me a little bit. His dad is a mutant in the real world? Or something? No idea. Mark Millar does a good job of building suspense in this issue, but the bit in the middle lost me. I still LOVE the idea for this series though. The last page was priceless too. Now let’s get some Marvel heroes in there! We’ve had 4 issues and the only hero we saw was the Hulk running around the woods. Let’s get this battle started already. Our world needs to be saved!
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Transformers All Hail Megatron #2 – I had my doubts about this book with the last issue, but this one was pretty good. Megatron continues his invasion of planet Earth and the Autobots are still nowhere to be seen. This issue is just filled with destruction. The army is trying to do something, anything to defend themselves, but they’re not doing too well against the Decepticons. I hope that by the next issue we get a bit more information. Two issues of one-sided battles have been alright, but I want a bit more in the story department to explain just how Megatron is able to do all this and where the hell Optimus Prime is exactly. The art was actually pretty good too, but like I said, I want some explanation soon.
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Uncanny X-Men #501 – This was my book of the week. The X-Men have moved to San Francisco and they’re back in the minority mindset complete with hate crimes. It’s not a terribly new idea either when you think about it. Didn’t Claremont explore all this pseudo-racism stuff years ago? Regardless, it works even better now. When Pixie (whom I know next to nothing about) is viciously attacked (along with a few other unnamed mutants), Cyclops is ready for action. I really dig this new approach to Cyclops. He’s no longer the cautious do-gooder. He realizes the situation that he and the mutants are in and he needs to do anything he can to keep them from being wiped off the face of the Earth. If that means that some people have to die, then he might be ready to cross that line. There are just so many possibilities for the X-Men now that they’re on the West Coast and I’m loving it.
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X-Factor #34 – I didn’t pick up the issue of She-Hulk that contained part 2 of this 3 part story, but I wasn’t too impressed by the previous X-Factor issue to bother. I normally love this series, but this issue was pretty bad. The story felt forced like writer Peter David had to do something that included Skrulls to tie into Secret Invasion. The result is a crappy crossover with She-Hulk with a Skrull bouncing around scenic Detroit impersonating Longshot. Woo. As if the entirely forgettable story wasn’t bad enough, the art is somehow even worse than the last issue. Penciler Larry Stroman should have his fingers broken. The fact that Marvel actually paid someone to do this is just sad. Everyone looks like they have the same big monkey head (and no, I don’t think this is supposed to tie into the ridiculous Marvel Apes story) and the people just look awkward. Ugh. I’ve seen it and I can’t un-see it. Horrible, horrible art. I hate you, Larry Stroman.
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X-Factor Special Layla Miller – Now this is what an issue of X-Factor should look like. Mr. Stroman should take some notes here because the art in this issue is clean and crisp. It’s just great. Picking up from the Endangered Species or Messiah Complex or whatever the last X-Crossover was, we see what’s happened to Layla Miller, the girl that knows stuff, when she was stranded in the future in a mutant concentration camp. In typical Layla Miller fashion, she’s in the right place at the right time and escapes from the camp and later meets up with an aging and part robotic Cyclops. Sure, I had to just go with the fact that Scott Summers would have been something like 110 years old by this point in time, but aside from that, the story was pretty interesting. Layla helps the mutants lead a revolution that would later be called the Summers Rebellion. She’s still stuck in this alternate future, but now she’s at least got some hope that she’ll make it back home.
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Amazing Spider-Man #569 – Picking up right where #568 left off, this one shows us a magically healed Eddie Brock with a new lease on life and a Norman Osborn who’s just as big of an asshole as we remember him always being. Seriously, no wonder Harry’s had problems in life. The guy is always trying to do something to impress his father and his Dad basically hates him. But I can see why Norman would be a little disappointed. His only “real” son (I’m forgetting Sins Past) runs a coffee shop. Woo. The origin of Anti-Venom comes up at the end of the issue and it fits perfectly. I can’t wait for the next issue now as this one ended so well.
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Avengers The Initiative #16 – More Skrulls! This issue had the plane-crashed 3-D Man meeting up with the Skrull Kill Krew, the guys that got super powers when they ate hamburgers made from cows that were really Skrulls that Reed Richards hypnotized into thinking that they were cows. Wait a minute. How the hell is Earth being invaded by these guys? They can be tricked into thinking they’re f’ing COWS! Anyway, it seems that the Krew is determined to sweep through each team in the Initiative (one per state) and find the Skrull impostor in each one. They hit up New Mexico and meet up with Komodo. Meanwhile, the Irredeemable Ant-Man discovers that Yellow Jacket is really a Skrull and there’s a whole lot more of them on the base. What’s a coward to do! Oh, and War Machine got a secret message from Tony Stark and flew away.
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Daredevil #110 – The conclusion of this arc by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka. This was a great almost noir-like tale with corruption and gritty crime. I loved it. This story really helped Matt Murdock get out of the horrible slump he was in. With his wife basically permanently angry/crazy and Murdock blaming himself he was sort of up in the air. He could continue blaming himself for it and end up depressed and taking it out on criminals and probably end up going too far sooner or later or he could try to move on. This issue represents that step forward for the Man Without Fear. He says at the end “Thanks for making me stand up and fight.” That’s true. Daredevil’s back.
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Doktor Sleepless #8 – I can pretend to understand what I just read, but that would be a lie. This is the last issue of volume one of this series and holy crap, it’s insane. The Earth is some snack for interdimensional beings? John’s parents tapped into them? Seriously, what’s up with the “other” John that’s sitting in jail? And who was that guy lurking around outside the house? John cuts the last of the ties that were holding him to Heavenside and explains the angels that have been appearing in the town, but what will the mad scientist do now? He’s created chaos and anarchy in the streets, but now what? I’m cautiously interested in finding out. While I have faith in Warren Ellis, this book might be a little too out there for me.
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Final Crisis Rogues Revenge #2 – Another sort of Final Crisis tie-in that I’m holding on because of Geoff Johns. The Rogues are seriously vicious. Holy crap. They do not fuck around. I’m just disappointed that there are only 3 issues for this mini-series. While the Rogues are taking out their replacements, Professor Zoom is setting up Inertia to be killed again. I’m still a little annoyed that Johns keeps calling Bart Allen “Kid-Flash.” The guy died as The Flash, not as a kid. He was wearing the Flash mantle when he kicked the bucket so give him the credit he deserves.
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Immortal Iron Fist #18 – Perfect example of “Great Idea. Poor Execution.” I loved the previous issues of this series, but I don’t feel that the current author, Dwayne Sweaewatsl;gs8ioagspdski can fill the shoes of Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker. The art was pretty lackluster too. I just wasn’t impressed by this issue or the one before it. It’s best to make a clean break with Iron Fist now. I’m dropping the book. Goodbye, Danny Rand.
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Justice Society Of America #18 – Holy crap. This is awesome. Continuing the story with Gog, the giant all-healing God, the JSA is starting to realize the problems with the gifts that he’s given them. While Dr. Midnite’s sight has returned, whatever he used to “see” is now gone so he’s unable to help someone that falls in battle. Now the lines are blurred. Is Gog really doing good? And here’s Magog. Will this Earth fall like the Kingdom Come Superman’s Earth fell? I should probably re-read Kingdom Comenow too to get a better grasp of this story, but it is just awesome.
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Kick-Ass #4 – While a bit of this issue was a little spoiled by the announcement of Nicolas Cage in the Kick-Ass movie, it was nonetheless enjoyable. Was this sword-wielding little girl inspired by Kick-Ass? Or was she and her father doing this before he donned his super hero suit? Dave’s really gotten himself in deep now if this is the kind of Punisher-esque company he’s going to be keeping as a hero. Fantastic issue all around. I just want more!
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Mighty Avengers #17 – Yes, the Avengers books have been great tie-ins to Secret Invasion, but it’s starting to get a little tired. I think the problem is that Bendis waited so long to push the event through. He waited patiently, twiddling thumbs while Annihilationand Civil War
and World War Hulk
all happened. Now his story that he had all planned out needed to weave through all this other stuff and that resulted in so much more explaining. This issue takes a look at Skrull Hank Pym and his replacements. Apparently Hank’s personality is too strong for any one Skrull and they’ve had to replace him a few times. Ok. Got it. Let’s move on. I didn’t need a whole issue for this.
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New Avengers #44 – This issue gave us even more backstory for Secret Invasion. This one is actually a little interesting as it gives us an idea of how the Skrulls managed to go undetected by anyone on Earth. It seems that they used Reed Richards’ own mind against him. He’s the only one smart enough to figure out a way for the Skrulls to actually invade so they tricked a Skrull that was brain-washed into thinking he was Mr. Fantastic into figuring it out. It was a little disturbing, but I wonder what would happen if Reed found out. Granted, he’s already pissed by the end of the last issue, but I’d love to see him just lose it if this information came out.
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Nova #16 – Another forced Skrull issue. This one deals with the original Super Skrull. He apparently disguised himself as another Skrull and infiltrated a group of Skrulls laying a trap for Richard Rider. Kl’Rt realizes who the trap is for and saves Nova’s life. Then they talk for a bit. Rider finds out there’s an Invasion going on and rushes to Earth instead of doing his job as the last remaining Centurion. What happened the last time you went to Earth, Rider? Oh yeah, your family hated you and you were hunted by S.H.I.E.L.D. But that won’t stop you from going back there in an effort to save…who exactly? Anyway, “shocker” ending and pretty eh issue.
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Runaways #1 – The third volume of this series begins. First off, I hate this art. It’s too cartoony. I didn’t like Humberto Ramos when he was on X-Men and I certainly don’t like him now. The guy should just stick to kid books and stay away from actual titles that matter. The group returns to LA and finds a new place to live but their new house is crashed by a group of people from Karolina’s homeworld. I thought this issue was OK, but it definitely lacked the fun that the previous incarnations of the book have had. Terry Moore is alright, but he’s no Brian K. Vaughn or Joss Whedon. I’m still willing to give the book a chance because I love the characters, but I’m a little iffy on it’s future.
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Secret Invasion Amazing Spider-Man #1 – Enough already. I’ve sampled most of the Secret Invasion tie-ins, but after this one, I’m basically done. It’s a Spider-Man book without Spider-Man. This worked for Captain America, but it definitely doesn’t work here. The new supporting cast in Amazing Spider-Man is good, but only because they’ve got Peter Parker to tie them all together. These characters are not strong enough to carry an entire story without our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and until they reveal who Jackpot really is in the upcoming Annual, she’s not a strong enough hero to do anything either. Skrulls are in New York. I got it. So are Ms. Marvel, the Young Avengers, the Runaways, members of the Initiative, and Nick Fury and the new Howling Commandos. Jackpot can sit this one out. Skip it.
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Thunderbolts #123 – The re-hashing of the few pages in Secret Invasion continues here. Norman finishes his little talk with Captain Marvel, just like he did in the main event book. After Marvel flies away, he turns total military and heads to DC to fight Skrulls. I just don’t buy this. I love the idea of the Thunderbolts, but Norman running to the capitol at a moment’s notice to fight invaders seems a bit stretched. And seriously, how is it that everyone in the Marvel Universe knows so much about Skrulls and instantly figures out that they can’t trust anyone because anyone can be a Skrull? Let’s just get this main event over so we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming!
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Ultimate Spider-Man #125 – More fill-in with the Ultimate Spider-Man video game. The story finally makes sense…mostly. Eddie Brock is captured and then freed by the Firefly guy. More fighting occurs and the cover of the book actually fits the issue! This is largely a setup issue, but I’m interested to see where it will go. The art is also great for this story too.
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Wolverine #68 – We’re given a bit more information as to what this future holds for America as Logan and Hawkeye head into the Kingpin’s lair to save Hawkeye’s daughter (Also, is it just me or is the girl’s mother black? She’s Spider-Man’s daughter? Who did Peter Parker hook up with if not Mary Jane?) Things don’t go as planned for their escape and Logan looks poised to fight once more even though he’s become a pacifist. Next issue looks set up for more fun. The art in this issue is unbelievable. It’s all just so clean and so well-detailed. I love it.
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