Home
D&D
Music
Banner Archive

Marvel Comics Timeline
Godzilla Timeline


RSS

   

« "All Obama did was sign it" | Main | Pictures of nekkid people!!! »

SuperMegaSpeed Reviews

Daredevil #10.1 - I have succumbed to Waid-Daredevil mania and started reading this series. I'm also working my way through the back issues (still missing issues #2 and #8!) but this point one issue is, appropriately, the first issue i got in real-time and the first one i've read. And... it's about what i expected, which, considering the hype, is quite an accomplishment. I enjoyed the retroactive telling of the fight with, er, Pyromania, the way Matt's secret identity issues are handled, and the dysfunctional "megacrime" alliance. Waid seems to be navigating Daredevil's membership in the Avengers as best he can (although i'm not convinced he couldn't have just dumped the Omegadrive on them). I bailed on Waid's FF run pretty early and had decided that he wasn't the writer he used to be any more, but so far i'm ready to say i was wrong about that. And i know this wasn't the regular artist, but i appreciate the clean, easy to follow artwork as well as the non-muddy coloring. Now when do i get to hear more about that lady's malpractice suit against Dr. Strange?

Avengers vs. X-Men #1 - Wanyas picked up the "I'm with the X-Men" variant cover for me, but i think from this seminal SuperMegaMonkey post (and the follow-up) we all know my feeling on how an Avengers/X-Men fight would go down. Although with Magneto and Namor and Colossonaut on the team, it's a somewhat different story. I think this "jam writer" concept is working out rather well; at least i like the basic plot set up, with the Avengers getting alerted to a cosmic threat via Nova and how this is the culmination of the Hope saga and the beginning of the House of M reversal (so Cyclops thinks, anyway). Cyclops is being written as really unreasonable but that's in line with his characterization lately, and Cap is also too unwilling to discuss alternatives (like, could we maybe just keep an eye on Hope instead of demanding to take her into custody pre-emptively?). But we've all seen worse set-ups for hero vs. hero fights. I wanted to say that putting Bendis on scripting was playing to his strengths, but i'm afraid i can't. Because Captain America doesn't say, "Thor, could you do us a favor and see if anything is following him?". Cap has "a voice that could command a god", not "a voice that could ask a god a favor." JRJR's stylized art is toned back a bit, with things looking a little more conventional, and i think that's the right move for this series. The one thing that bugs me is Captain America's nose, of all things. It looks like Romita is using Marvel vs. Capcom conceptual art as the model. Maybe that's the right move, in anticipation of mainstream interest. Anyway, i have low expectations for this event, but so far they are met or exceeded (and it's worth noting that i feel like i read about half the book in preview form already).

P.S. What were the little AR logos that appeared at the bottom of many of the pages?

Avengers Academy #28 - I should probably be annoyed by a "we all share our thoughts and sing Kumbaya" resolution, but i wasn't because i feel like it was done really well. It's not so much that Gage has a handle on these characters; he just seems to be able to find the essence of any characters he's working with. Which really makes me doubt my decision to not read X-Men Legacy (which will be remedied for the AvX crossover, at least). The other thing about Gage is that he's the sort of guy that thinks "Hrmm, the Runaways have a dinosaur. And Reptil can turn into a dinosaur. So why not have them get together and meet Devil Dinosaur. Oh, and Victor was created by Ultron? I guess that makes Henry Pym his grandfather." So he's got that Roy Thomas/Mark Gruenwald eye for connections, but he's also really good with characterization and plotting. It's a great combo! I was also really intrigued by the Moonboy & Devil Dinosaur/Celestial teaser/throwaway.

Hulk #50 - So they were going to have that cross-over with Venom and X-23 and Ghost Rider but then they decided to just put it all into "point" issues of Venom instead. Which is fine with me, except now the Hulk book is building off of that storyline. And there's not even a footnote or anything, so it had me thinking i missed something. Which, i guess, i did. Anyway, good stuff. "I knew this would turn into some hippie smoke-up" is perfect General Ross. And i liked the Red She-Hulk/Defenders reference. I was surprised that the green Hulk's somewhat inexplicable ability to see astral forms was never referenced considering that's what's happening to the Red Hulk now, but i guess it's entirely unrelated. I enjoyed the back-up story as well. Note for future self for my Marvel Timeline project: this is the first time Daredevil becomes aware that the Red Hulk is on the Avengers.

New Mutants #40 - Again, if you focus on Warlock i'm going to love it. The fact that this issue was basically 85% techno-babble accompanied by pictures of Warlock running from the Ani-Mator didn't escape my notice, but i still enjoyed it. And while the ending was a bit too neatly wrapped up, that was sort of the point, right? What's important here is that Bird-Boy is now available for Gage to have to join Avengers Academy.

Thunderbolts #172 - Now we know why this time travel story has been dragging a bit, by some measurements. It's so this issue could sync up with the Thunderbolts 15 year anniversary! Well done. I enjoy the continued side-speculation about the metaphysics of time travel. Acknowledging the changes to Mr. Hyde head-on was nice. I think i used the phrase "head-on" because that scene of Hyde headbutting Goliath's giant nose was pretty memorable.

By fnord12 | April 13, 2012, 9:16 AM | Comics


Comments

You get the cover i'm given.

I think those AR things are so you can scan them with an app on your phone for extra content.

Quite the forced set-up, but if all you want is fighting, then it work.