snap judgments

Okay, no preview books this week, my apologies.  BUT!  I have something else.

You see, as a brave and intrepid comic shop employee, I have the rather karmic hnor of not having to buy books.  It’s liberating, let me tell you.  To be able to read Avengers: The Initiative on my lunch break and just hang my head at the idea of sending ‘Girl Who Blew That Guy’s Head Off Home’ home after … well, blowing a guy’s head off on accident (OH BOY UNPREDICTABLE!  The guy was a little ‘too good to be true’, wasn’t he?   But shouldn’t she just go into a different training program to make sure that doesn’t happen again?  You’d actually let a girl who reacted lethally on accident in danger back on on the street?  Isn’t Initiative all a part of the Registration Act?  Shouldn’t training for those who need it be a part of Registration?  Am I the only one confused and disappointed?  Come on, Mr. Slott…).  but instead of feeling cheated out of my money based on hype, I can go put the book back at the end of my break (in fine condition, let me tell you) and spend my fat comic retail jockey check on something more satisfying.

Side note:  Yeah, I think I might have to do an article on the Avengers: Initiative book.  Suffice it to say, that and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man were sore spots.

So, in light of all this my purchasing power went towards the following:

The Amazing Screw On Head

An oldie but goodie.  It came out a long time back and since my copy’s a little worse for the wear and borrowing, I thought I’d spring for a fresh reprint.  I adore this story for it’s wacky seriousness, Mignola artwork and that the little air balloon ship has a skull on the balloon part.  Gold, I tells ya.  Maybe I’ll fire up the scanner and see if it can let me share how fantastic this comic one shot is.  Or maybe you can go rent the animated version on DVD.

Batman: Detective Comics #831

*gasp!*  There’s a DC in the house!  What can I say?  I’m a sucker for the animated series and Dini’s done a great job at writing a book for someone passingly interested like myself.  The Joker and Robin issue in the car was just what I’m looking for, an nice entry level story will drama and adventure.  And with the man who created the character behind Harley Quinn again, how could I refuse?  It’s a good issue, packed full of action and sympathies that makes me wonder sometimes at how anyone could really enjoy story decompression.  Harley is a good but off-kilter egg who seems to have matured a great deal from her time on the telly and in the end, we get a happy ending and a reward in the form of some honest storytelling for our reading time.

Fables #59

I tend to pick these up in trade, but there’s something about this one that was worth picking up to have on its own.   Now, Mr. Sims I think sums up why much better than I could, so scroll down and see.

Midnighter #5

One of the few characters outside the mainstream (wait, Wildstorm is mainstream now, isn’t it?) that I’m just a sucker for.  Garth Ennis to boot, suddenly I’m short $3.22 (tax and all).  But all in all, I’m not too sure on this one.  I promised myself I’d do the obligatory five-issues-trial, but while it did have Nazis, kicking and explosions, and a rather clever little ending twist, I’ll have to see how the character comes out of all this.  Still, now I have #1-5.

Omega Flight #1

I will be honest: I really only bought it because I was curious and didn’t think we’d last out our supply at work to be able to peruse it at my leisure.  And, I have a friend online who’s pop-culturally interested in Walter Langowski (you know, how some people really like Wonder Woman and have a lot of merchandise but couldn’t tell you a single member of her rogues gallery?), so I thought I’d read it and delight her with tales of the Sasquatch.  What I’ve read of Oeming has made me dazzle at his grip of mythology, so let’s see what he does with Canada’s premiere super-team.  And on the whole, it reminds me a lot of Warren Ellis’s Thunderbolts.  Weird, huh?  While Thunderbolts is a ticking time bomb, the obviously WRONG idea with hunted heroes just trying to do the tried and true Marvel idea of heroics, Alpha Flight has the obvious right idea of forming a group of people who want to do good, facing villains who have taken the upper hand.  It’s a slow build to something good, for all the right reasons.  Scott Kollins’s artwork’s going to take some time with me though.

Thunderbolts Presents: Zemo – Born Better #1

This got lost in my pull box as I have the mini right on my pull these days.  You can tell Fabian Nicieza really likes his characters and their archetypes and I respect that.  Not only am I learning a little about what a dynasty can do in the Marvel Universe to shape the character as Nicieza sees him but a little about German history too, as the store’s resident German History major can attest to.  Sure, you’re going to tell me you missed it, but wait until the trade if you must, it’s a solid story.

So, that’s what I paid for.  Preview books are in, including a Nova #1 (woo!), some X-Men stuff and other goodies, so we’ll be back to normal operation here in no time.

Okay, don’t have my notes on this week’s preview books but we’re gonna push on though anyways as I have some stuff to talk about.

In Brubaker’s remarkable first arc on Daredevil, Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk have a sit-down over their personal difference, the nature of justice and what love has lost.  It’s deep, it’s short and poignant and resolves the Daredevil book quite nicely with this genius idea of emigrating the Kingpin out of the country.  SMART MOVE.  Think about it: it’s a genius way to punish an obviously criminal character responsibly and still keep him in the book.  Just because he’s been kicked out of the country doesn’t mean people won’t be receiving spooky phone calls and Fisk won’t be pulling some very long strings.  he’s still an in-play character, just from a different point.

But no.

Amazing Spider-Man has him personally ordering the hit on Peter Parker’s family from jail, suggesting that this takes place during the Brubaker arc before he’s out of jail and out of the US.  Awkward, but I can handle that.  What I can’t is the Kingpin sitting down with the Runaways to give them street cred.  That’s sloppy editing.  I know it’s Whedon and they’d give him Gwen Stacy and her Osborn love-children if he asked, but to try and set this current book within what we’ve already seen in other titles just makes the story seem like a writing trick than anything intelligent.

Yes, having the kids talk to the Big Name in MU Crime makes them seem more credible as a ‘super-force’ or street level cadre of maybe-heroes-maybe-villains-we-don’t-know-’cause-it’s-edgy.  Yes, the Kingpin is more than willing to use a bunch of loser kids with powers for his own personal gain.  But having him sit out in the open in a restaurant and bankroll these kids on sight alone when he’s supposed to be overseas is just corny.

Marvel?  Read your other titles, especially when they are really good.  It’s time to put the Kingpin down.  You’re proud to use the Hood as the next big thing in Crime Lords?  Throw him in, no problem.

Okay, so apparently March comes in like a lion and out like an even bigger lion riding an elephant and facing a gigantic force of ancient werewolves designed to capitalize on the charm of the new 300 movie because Jeph Loeb will not admit he has no idea where he’s going with this story and has just taken to telling the artist to draw something ‘awesome’.

But I digress.

Let’s talk about the Avengers, shall we?  I didn’t do an All You Need to Know for the last issue of New Avengers because, surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad a read.  Sure, it was full of holes in characterization and plot but in comparison to the Mighty Avengers, it seemed to me a well put together romp.

Can I just say how very very disappointed I was in the Mighty Avengers?  It was promised to be a ‘back to basics’ approach to the Earth’s Mightiest and right from the get-go, I had to wonder who’s ‘basics’ these were going to be.  Mine simply involved heroes uniting together for the common good against a defined foe. Easy, right?  And to get technical, yes, Mighty Avengers #1 brought together heroes to go fight Mole Man and then Girl-tron.  I think where my issue lies is with the ‘common good’ aspect of the equasion.  Your milage may vary.

For the sake of my arguement, I’m not going to mention what a fugly Hellicarrier that Tony has from that issue.  Because, really, that’s an easy target and less to do with good actions and more about bad design.  It looks like Ronald McDonald is missing a shoe and there’s no one to blame but whoever told the colorist.  Moving on.

The main story is Tony gets Carol in a room with a bunch of pictures of heroes in the Marvel Universe and together they play Kickball by selecting people for their new team as a flashback, while we watch the team they’re choosing in the present day fighting a big monster in the middle of the street.  Not exactly climatic, but a good way to explain who’s there and who’s not.  Or a device to have the two main characters get really catty about their fellow teammates.  When trying to figure out the Wasp’s current relationship to her ex-husband, Tony declares that “I’m pretty sure they are what drove me to drink in the first place.”  Okay, so I know he’s not serious (at least… I hope not) but still, that’s a really petty crack at someone who doesn’t really deserve it.  Sadly, she and Hank Pym seem to suffer from the fact that Hank Pym can be wound too tight, hip writers find spousal abuse ‘edgy’, and Janet Van Dyne hasn’t been given much personal characterization outside of that for a very very long time.  Saying that their relationship is so bad it must be countered by people who aren’t even involved with alcohol got the point across in a negative way, especially since not a beat in the conversationbefore that Iron Man says he misses her.

They go back and forth on the Black Widow, one part skills rundown, one part  ‘hot or not’.  Wonder Man is called the second best Avenger which I’d want to hear a little more about why about but the conversation is sidetracked by needing a Wolverine and if there’s anything going on between Simon and Carol.  The very idea of adding the Sentry to this mix is called out, based on his lack of anything during Civil War and the fact that he’s “a basket case”.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I like the Sentry… IN HIS OWN SEPARATE TITLE where people pay attention to him and his particular nuances.  Name me one thing the guy did on the last Avengers team he was on.  His character works really well outside the mainstream and the reasons they give for not having him on this version of the Avengers make sense.  Tony disagrees, saying “You have to think of him as a hero in training, a young Avenger. … That’s the mistake everyone is making with him.  Everyone treats him like a world class hero because he has the power.  But he’s not there yet.”

Maybe I’m reading it wrong, but it sounds to me like he’s actually disagreeing with his own arguement in the middle of his explaination.  He’s not a world class hero… but let’s put him on our world class Avengers team!  He’s in training, so let’s put him on the front line with us!  Carol doesn’t think this is a good idea, but Tony wants him so he’s in.

Which is a major theme of this book.  Tony wants it, it’s his.  No matter how he may say Ms. Marvel is in charge, he’s directing the show.  The Avengers are traditionally brought together by fate, Tony doesn’t like that anymore so he gets the jump on things and makes his own personal team of Avengers.  He wants Sentry, he’s in.  He has the gall to tell a living God of War that he has to register with the US government (wait- shouldn’t he be here on a work visa or green card from Greece?  Sorry, thinking too technically there.) and come be an Avenger, Ares follows.  Ms. Marvel sounds like she doesn’t even want to lead the team in the first place, but Tony inisists so she caves.  Tony wants a giant hellicarrier that’s frikkin’ GOLD PLATED, it’s done.  Doesn’t the man have his own book?

And sure, this could all be a plot by Ultron to gather up these heroes for some revenge or another (that… apparently has to be taken when looking like a buxom naked hottie, but heck if I know what Ultron’s planning), so Tony’s general attitude could be forgiven as part of the major plot in the end.  But thanks to the new darker, grittier, ‘real’-er Marvel Universe, I cna’t look at personality shifts like this and think to myself, ‘This has to be a trick!’  I did that all through Avengers: Disassembled and it never was.  I thought House of M’s ending would be better thought through then just a big white page and a rewrite, but I was wrong there, too.  I have been waiting for that one story that’s going to go back to Spider-Man: the Other – Evolve or Die for how long now?  Remember, in the Marvel Universe, anything is possible, even the crappy stuff.  So saying that Ultron was totally manipulating him the entire time is a wash.  With as many times as they have fought Ultron, saying that Tony doesn’t have any defenses for a total takeover like that is ludicrous.  That and the fact that Tony really has been getting his way since Civil War, so all of his actions, however petty and demanding, are actually rather in character for him right now.  That, and if no one else who’s supposedly close friends of Iron Man doesn’t note a change in behavior, who’s to say there is?

All in all, I was looking for a common good here.  The idea that the Avengers are something more than a superhero team; that fate really does bring them together for a common goal of justice, above and beyond the call of duty.  Exceptional people of a like mind that no matter their personality, really want to do good and defend those who can’t.  With the Initiative in place, it seems silly for one more team to be on the scene when everyone should be able to take care of themselves in this totalitarian state.

Believe it or not, folks, New Avengers is sure enough doing some Avenging.