"No longer like a toad in these foul cellars will I secret the venom of hatred -- for you shall bring me love!" - Erik
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« Comics: May 2011 | Main | Comics: July 2011 » ComicsSuperMegaSpeed Reviews Hulk #35 - Well, at least this was a deliberate set-up by a Watcher, and not just some bizarre coincidence. It wasn't bad. Captain America Corps #1 - This is such a bizarre silly concept. And the art is so bad. I think this isn't just Captain America types being pulled from around the multi-verse. I think they're deliberately going for ugly ones. It's going to be a plot point, mark my words. As for the story, i'm pretty sure it doesn't make much sense. (Even ignoring the fact that there's a world without Captain America and yet they've got an Ameri-droid, which i guess is a deliberate part of the plot). Not sure how we're getting five issues out of this. But it's Roger Stern. We'll see. Avengers #14 - Yeah, just treading water during Fear Itself. I don't mind the talking heads bit. But i don't really think Jarvis would really think that this nonsense was more frightening to him than the time that Mr. Hyde beat him nearly to death. Avengers Academy #15 - OK, i'm worried this book is going a little too far down the melodrama route. Two issues ago the team was raring to be treated like adults and go after super-villains. Now they're full of self-doubt and in need of a pep talk ever other panel. I guess that's what a defeat by the Sinister Six and then Ruby Tuesday will do to you. But it just felt like it was all too much sap. Oh well, i'm blaming the Fear Itself crossover for now; it's generally been a great book. Captain America #619 - Good story. I really wish the art was better. I miss Epting. Now it's time for the reset to status quo, but i think that'll be a good change of pace. New Mutants #26 - I thought this was really good. I was definitely disappointed by the art, especially Sugar Man. Say what you will about Chris Bachalo, he can draw cool visuals, and i've always thought Sugar Man look great. In this story he wasn't nearly monstrous and weird. He looked kind of small and not freaky enough. But the story is well written. Prolly my book of the week. Alpha Flight #1 I really don't like Marrina. I've gone from "Hmmm, she's got a totally different personality than she used to and i don't really like that they did that but i'll live with it..." to "WTF is up with this bratty unlikeable character?". Beyond that i thought this was good enough for a Fear Itself tie-in. Does every bad guy have a hammer now? Even Attuma? Or "Nerkkod" - which should have set us up for an "It's not Attoooma" joke, except it is Attuma. I'm obviously not following Fear Itself, but i thought it was like, a couple of select bad guys get hammers and that brings them up to Thor's level. But apparently it's hammers for everybody! And Alpha Flight took him out easy enough, considering he's supposed to be Thor level. Although i did like the way Guardian beat him. So, again, pretty good for a tie in with an event i'm not getting. Except Marrina. Blech. Thunderbolts #159 - Bad art. Four different kinds of bad art. But i liked all the stories quite a bit. I especially like the classic literature (or should i say League of Extraordinary Gentleman) way they're writing Mr. Hyde. By fnord12 | June 27, 2011, 9:28 PM | Comics | Comments (1)| Link A benign if motley bunch, you may think. But they were enough to provoke an international diplomatic rebuke, it emerged on Wednesday, after they featured in an impudent make-over of a Soviet war memorial. Members of Russia's government were said to be seething. An unidentified street artist struck last weekend, daubing paint on a high-relief statue in Sofia, Bulgaria, to transform the monument's Red Army soldiers into a tableau of storybook characters. The artist's caption spray-painted on the statue read: "In step with the times." You know what this makes me think of? Those weird packs of figures they sell in Chinatown that consist of completely unrelated characters. You get something like Superman, Batman, Spider-man, and a Power Ranger. By min | June 22, 2011, 3:19 PM | Comics & Ummm... Other? | Link Annihilators #4 - The main story wrapped up pretty well. I guess Quasar's annoying self-doubt was actually set up for some character development and not just whining, so that's good. And we get a little Cosmo at the end. Overall, i thought this was a little weaker than past Abnett/Lanning space books, but it was still good, and i see that there's another series already in the works that's based on Earth, which could be interesting. I assume it's by Abnett/Lanning but the ad doesn't actually say so. Hrmm. Anyway. Random observation: a whole planet of Dire Wraiths, and not a single male? What's up with that? Regarding the Rocket Raccoon/Groot back-up: i did not like it, sir. New Avengers #13 - There have been some Cranky Pants complains that Mike Deodato is not a good story teller, but i don't see it. His action sequences are entirely readable and pretty cool. Ms. Marvel flies in at Superia , Superia pulls a gun, and in the next panel you see Marvel blasted away in the background while Cage fastball-specials Danny. Next two panels show Danny flying through the air and then Iron Fisting through a plane. And then Ms Marvel, recovered, catching Danny. Nice little fight sequence. A page later, Dr. Strange magicks away Superia's briefcase, a scene which could easily be confusing but Deodato pulls it off pretty well. I don't know what the problem is. At least we can all agree that the Chaykin art is horrible, and that the whole 1950s Avengers plot was absolutely unnecessary. "Superia has a super-soldier formula" does not require a continuity insert where Sabertooth and Kraven the Hunter were the original Avengers. Still, this issue was pretty good - i like the idea of Mockingbird getting a super-soldier upgrade, i'm enjoying the double-agent guessing regarding Victoria Hand, and Bendis is good at writing the team interactions. I know he was worried about how i'd rule on this, but i'm giving Bendis the go-ahead to continue writing the Avengers books for a while, and of course Deodato may stay on art. By fnord12 | June 14, 2011, 7:55 PM | Comics | Comments (1)| Link Link: By fnord12 | June 14, 2011, 10:25 AM | Comics
& Movies | Comments (2)| Link Should've taken his daughter to the kitchen for some some popcorn or candy when Spider-Man wasn't on screen. By fnord12 | June 13, 2011, 7:31 PM | Comics
& Movies | Comments (2)| Link In my Teen Titans post below, i was waiting for someone to challenge me regarding my comment on the number of DC reboots. And honestly, i don't really know enough to back up my claim, other than vague references to Crises and Zero Hours. Luckily, Chris Sims lays it all out for us. By fnord12 | June 9, 2011, 3:04 PM | Comics | Link Ta-Nehisi Coates gets a guest post in the New York Times, and uses the X-Men First Class movie as the starting point for a conversation on race. And here's a follow-up on his own blog. Spoilers, i guess, but i haven't seen the movie yet and they didn't bother me. Update: Update II: More from Yglesias. Update III: And here's Ezra Klein. By fnord12 | June 9, 2011, 10:40 AM | Comics
& Liberal Outrage | Link Being a Marvel Zuvembie, i obviously don't have any direct stake in the DC reboot, although i think it's funny that DC is rebooting their continuity again. This time for real! But i'm actually sympathetic to what they're trying to do. In theory. In practice, i don't know what to make of this Teen Titans cover: I guess if the goal of this reboot is to make the comic more accessible and appealing to a wider and younger audience, i would have expected the art to look a little more clean and familiar. Like, i dunno... this? Not like a reject from 1990s Image. As Mike Sterling's pal Andrew says, "As parody, I'd have classified it as too over-the-top". By fnord12 | June 9, 2011, 10:00 AM | Comics | Comments (2)| Link By fnord12 | June 7, 2011, 4:49 PM | Comics | Link Hulk #34 - So i thought this issue was going to be a fight with Omegex the World Ender, but instead it's a weird parallel version of Planet Hulk, which i opted to not read the first time and the fact that basically the same thing would happen again is completely unbelievable (and don't give me any "it's comics, it's all unbelievable" guff). The good news is this is a two parter so it'll be over soon, but i've just about had it with this book. Heroes For Hire #8 - Well, that's it for Spider-Man and this stuff just really isn't very good, so sorry Abnett & Lanning: i love you guys on the space books, but we're out of here. Herc #4 - I don't know if i'm missing anything due to not getting Fear Itself, but i feel like i am. I'm also a little confused - we took Hercules' godlike powers away to give him more street level adventures, and yet here it is issue #4 and he's fighting... Greek gods? I dunno. The Cranky Pants must be in full effect today cause i didn't really love this either, but i'll stick with it and hope it gets better after Fear Itself and/or this current plotline. We also have a Man-Bull problem - he's roaming free here, but he's also currently escaping in a jailbreak in this month's issue of Thunderbolts. Slaves to continuity my cranky-pantsed ass. Thunderbolts #158 - Unless there's more than one Man-Bull. They're certainly drawn differently enough. This was good though. I liked Juggernaut on the Thunderbolts but i also like classic bad-guy Juggernaut so i guess if Fear Itself eventually re-establishes the old status quo it'll be good for something. Beyond that, i like the new team of bad guys and the conflicts that are getting set up there. Avengers Academy #14.1 - I honestly don't mind that this book seems to come out once a week. I enjoyed the Corporate Molecule Man bad guy and his manipulations but also the fact that Finesse figured him all out. Good stuff even if it felt a little too status-quo maintaining: i would have thought at least one of the team, probably Striker, would have been tempted by "The Alchemist's" offer. Also: seeing the team get beat by the Sinister Six last time was cool enough, but i also enjoyed them getting thrashed by Ruby Tuesday at the beginning of this issue. Am i some sort of twisted sicko that likes watching teenagers get beaten up by super-villains? No, i just think that if a group is meant to be a team of newbies, they should act like a team of newbies. By fnord12 | June 6, 2011, 10:28 PM | Comics | Comments (2)| Link I hope you're familiar with Apartment 3-G. If you're not, you're missing out on true artistic brilliance. By fnord12 | June 1, 2011, 6:33 PM | Comics | Comments (3)| Link |
