Well, do remember I am new so I did my best on all the books I could and should have a few more tomorrow for wrap-up. But, until then, enjoy the following (now with formatting!):
- Underworld #1
- Cute idea that’s been done before, to mixed results. Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: baddest of the bad,
the PunisherJackie Dio is freed fromGitmo‘The Cage’ (like The Vault but like a BAJILLION times more bad ass, apparently) and, after talking to is old boss Silvermane, goes to talk to the Owl (not Kingpinnier) and is reunited with his arch-nemesis in one last ‘Not… YOU!’ style shot at the end of the book. A bunch of little inconsistencies get under my skin (if The Vault is for wimps, why was Electro in there who they mention was also at this ‘Cage’ place? Was he cool enough to go to both? Where does this ‘Jackie’ guy stand, anyways? He’s supposed to be this hardcore criminal that is far too mean for the likes of the Vault, but he beats up Nazis in his spare times and hates super-villains? And oh, no more ‘mysteries of the new age’ montages where the main character who’s been out of society for awhile has to go through those cloying ‘What’s a DVD?’ moments. It’s just uninspired.), but… I just can’t bring myself not to see what the next issue holds. What can I say? I’m a sucker for Silvermane. - X-Factor #3
- Admitting my total bias for this book and my future as ‘Mrs. Jamie Madrox’ (he’s dreamy), this and Generation M continue to be the only Decimation titles. Don’t listen to the little banner and symbol they’ve all but given up on putting on the cover, everyone else wants to tell their own stories and so does David, he just works within the current company-wide plotline. Fancy that. Siryn and Jamie investigate the mysterious murder from issue #2, Rictor and M share a sitcommy moment, Rahne and Guido serve as our ‘Hey! Hey! Decimation here, people!’ story and Layla Miller lets us know that Peter David really liked the TV show Angel. Eh, the books holds up well enough that i don’t mind the ‘homage’ we’ll call it, and… secretly I’m hoping Layla Miller turns out to be Charles Xavier. But that’s me and I’m a sucker for David’s X-Factor, what can I say?
- Thunderbolt Jaxon #1
- From the pages of Avalon comes this tale of a rushed plot that doesn’t really bother too much with the details to get to the punch line: it’s troubled teens with the powers of Norse Mythology! Tah-dah! Two of the kids comes from abusive homes while the third has cancer and a Dad who looks like a cabbie. They probably would have done better just to skip this issue entirely and just get to the point the writer seems so gleefully interested in getting to. I mean, I understand, if I had Norse-God-Powered Teens™ I’d be excited too. And… didn’t Neil Gaiman pitch something like this to Marvel awhile back when they were talking about revamping Thor? I think they did and the idea just got shelved. And now, Dave Gibbons, ladies and gents. Well, let’s see how issue two goes.
- Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man #12
- I think it’s important for retailers to at least flip through the more kid-oriented books because we’re kind of the thin blue line to parents who come in all shivery and fearful of the ‘new age’ of comics. They’re not safe! They have *gasp!* violence! They’re not wholesome anymore! What a scary scary world we live in, folks, especially for the insecure parent. The good news is Marvel Adventures are squeaky clean and actually rather fun. They used to be old ‘Stan Lee’ stories trusted up with some new art and hipper dialogue but I think they’ve developed into a nice little niche market and are running on their own steam. Sean McKeever (my Mary Jane hero) pens the Peter Parker I like best: the Everyday teen with new responsibility and a lot of hard luck humor. Peter goes through a few neat little nightmare situations (with little to no violence but a lot of character depth for your average kiddie book) as villain Nightmare feeds on his fear, leading him to team up with Spider-Man (as himself!) to defeat him. Good clean fun for everyone and a nice book to pick up in this Crisis-laden day and age.
- Batman and the Monster Men: Bad Moon Rising #4
- I like this Batman. Any time they leave the Dark Knight to do his thing, I am there with bells on. Matt Wagner, stepping out from those God-awful covers he did during Winick’s run on Batman, gives us Batman fighting huge beefy monsters with nothing but his mitts and his wits, out smarting everyone at every turn. Yeah. Even the love interest Julie seems to have a head on her shoulders as she catches Bruce Wayne after a night of monster-battling. Nothing like a smart book with dastardly villainy and action to keep your interest. Well-drawn, well written, I’ll have to watch out for it.
- Seven Soldiers of Victory: Bulleteer #3
- Real world dysfunction artfully wrapped in hyper-hero romanticism. It’s Morrison’s world, we just live in it. The title character goes to a hero convention which looks remarkably and disarmingly like Artist’s Alley at Comic Con. While there looking for the superwoman who slept with her dead husband, she meets four color characters played very Seinfieldianly who are just trying to be special. Like any of us.
- Marvel Romance Redux #1
- In the tradition of ‘What Were They Thinking?, What’s Up Tiger Lily?, a bunch of old 60’s romance comics have been given new and funnier dialogue and stories next to the silly artwork of the day. I mean, no Nextwave or Defenders, it’s good for a few tee hee’s and I think they might be doing another one of these.
- The End: X-Men - Book Three: Men and Mutants # 2
- AAAAAAH!!! Make it stop! Oh Dear Lord in Heaven, make it STOP!! Seriously, this has gone on way too long and it’s like that guy who won’t shut up so you can get in a word edgewise to tell him you really have to pee. That Claremont train keeps a-rollin’ down the track, barrelling through miles and miles and miles of plot that, I will admit, has moments, but continues to move at ludicrous speed. This was a series, folks. The best issues of that series (the Hulk, Punisher) were ONE ISSUE. One. Somehow, the point was missed and things just keep getting more confusing instead of ending anything. I’d summarize, but I don’t even think that’s possible anymore.
- New Excalibur #4
- It’s TEAM TIME! Pete Wisdom acts as a generic g-man for weirdness and randomly picks some guys who happen to be in England at the time and cajoles them into joining up just in time to fight some warwolves. Oh, ‘Lionheart’ is there too, beating up on Captain Britain for getting her into this mess, apparently. Interpersonal dialogue is atrocious (‘Courtney Ross, allow me to introduce Kelsey Leigh. Her public identity is LIONHEART!’) and nothing really connects. Claremont really wants Nocturne to be Rachel Grey and Dazzler says ‘Grrl’ out loud. In public. I had such hopes for this book, a back-to-basics, outside the X-Books irreverent feel that the first one had that Claremont could have used these days, but this… this is silly.
- Spider-Girl #95
- Okay, I’ll admit that this book really isn’t my cup of tea but I can see how it can continue to be a fan fav and do support it for what the book is. Tony Stark (who hasn’t aged a day) has to stop a nanite-infested Jim Rhodes who’s been hex-bolted into craziness (oh, hex bolts, what *can’t* they do?), leading to old and new Avengers to team up and take Rhodes down while reminding him of his roots (’You can’t fight us, you’re a good guy!’ kinda stuff). Someone said that this book is really the Ultimate line in disguise, being accessible to kids and adults alike for simple fun and… yeah.
- Sentry #5
- This book is for me. It should just come with a big ‘For Carla’ on the cover and a big red bow ’cause MAN, do I love me some Jenkins! I understand that it might seem a little slow or a lot confusing for some out there but this is because it’s my book. The Sentry’s psychiatrist delves deeper into the inherent madness that is the link between the hero and his arch-nemesis with the assistance of the Sentry’s own robotic assistant CLOC while he fends off threats from the underworld and winds up between the evil Void and the Golden Guardian of Good. But this isn’t a ‘Dr. Hero’ story, this is still all about the Sentry and the ‘Superman’ complex. When one has the power of a thousand exploding suns, how do you *not* play God? What happens when the world’s most powerful super-hero is absolutely cracked? Jenkins humanizes and gets right down into the guts of the matter and expresses it wonderfully through John Romita Jr’s expert pencils. He’s gotten a lot better over the years and I thin this is a fine example of how far he’s come. I just hate to think that this is going to be a mini-series. And that we’ll never see this kind of depth with him in the New Avengers. Ah, well. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts.
