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By fnord12 | January 27, 2009, 10:06 AM | Comics & Video Games | Link War Machine #2 - I was thinking that the problem i have with this book isn't really this book's fault. I really don't like what's happened to James Rhodes; the whole cyborg thing. I understand why they did it; they wanted to make him less like Iron Man. But now he's basically Deathlok, and is that any better? Now that Iron Man has Extremis (does he still?) it would have been cool to see Rhodey in a big, clunky old school set of armor, closer to the original Iron Man or the Hulkbuster suit. Make him the Hulk of the armored heroes or something. But parts of what i don't like about this book are the book's fault. There's been no effort to make Rhodey a likable character. The set-up for this series, by Gage, set War Machine up so that he'd be the guy that was unaffected by the shut-down of Stark Tech, but there wasn't anything i saw that made him so driven to hunt the bad guys in an obsessed Punisher sort of way. Pak needs to give him supporting characters that actually like him and develop out his personality some more. James Rhodes used to be a down-to-earth counter balance to Stark. He's more working class and he's got a military background. There's a lot to do with him. These issues have been all fights, and they've been uninspiring fights with non-super powered opponents - and yet they've been so difficult that Rhodes' whole body has been destroyed (and i hope we don't get Wolverine syndrome here, where War Machine constantly gets his limbs blown off just because he can survive it). But next issue has him fighting a super-powered opponent, so i've been tempted to go for one more issue, even though i know i'll be disappointed. And yeah, merging your broken torso onto a tank is pretty badass. Guardians of the Galaxy #9 - Very good. I don't know that the War of the Kings had anything to do with this, but it's a great plot, it's funny, it makes great use of obscure characters, and i like the art. Dark Avengers #1 - Let's state here that Deodato, who for a long while was a joke, has become a superstar again. Not that it's happened with this issue; his work on the Thunderbolts was great as well. I'm just happy to see great art on an Avengers title for the first time in a while. Although this book is really still the Thunderbolts, isn't it? Well, it's still good. I liked the recruiting scenes and the "presenting" of the Avengers to the public. I'm even tempted to pick up the appearances of Wolverine's son as much as i hate the idea that he exists (but min tells me not to). One minor quibble: they made a big show of giving Ultra Girl Ms. Marvel's original costume in the Initiative book, so it's weird that Moonstone is using it now. By fnord12 | January 26, 2009, 11:08 PM | Comics | Link Been a while... War of the Kings Saga - Ugh. If the purpose of this was to justify the fact that i haven't been reading any X-Men or Inhumans comics, it worked. What the hell's been going on over there?!? What a mess of stupid ideas. And I know it's just a Saga issue, but can't they try to make it a little less dry? Recaps don't have to be such a boring read, do they? I mean, our D&D recaps are fascinating, right?!? Secret Invasion: War of the Kings - I demand that House of M: Civil War: Planet Hulk: Secret Invasion: War of the Kings be released. In the meantime, i can't say i find the motivation/characterization of Black Bolt and the other Inhumans to be all that believable, and Vulcan just makes me roll my eyes. I'd have been able to enjoy it more if i could have gotten into the whole Crystal "My family's insane and i'm the only one who sees it" angle, but the fact that they kept drawing her like a bimbo with her ass sticking out kind of ruined that for me. Guardians of the Galaxy #8 - Now this was better, so there's still hope for the Kings crossover. Kind of a lot going on at once, though, and not in a Claremont "5 subplots simmering nicely" sort of way. More of an MTV schizophrenic jumping from one thing to another without really giving too much attention to any one thing sort of way. And get these kids off my lawn. Avengers: Inititative #19 - I have to tell you i can't keep track of all these teams and all these new characters. When i first started reading this book i thought that was sort of the point, that you've got all these faceless recruits and they didn't really matter and we were gonna focus on the lives of a few of the training staff, and for the most part that's still true but sometimes those montage scenes (And here's what the Texas Rangers are up to! And here's the Georgian Nerfherders!) get to me. And min's right, it doesn't matter if you give him a gun and let him hang out with the Skrull Kill Krew and try to have him act like a badass: he's still Triathlon and there's nothing he can do about it. This book's good enough that i can't bring myself to drop it but if it got canceled i'd probably be happy. Avengers: Initiative #20 - Poor Henry Pym. Dressing up a robot like his dead wife so he can have conversations with her. He's a mixed up man. I'll let min talk about the head tiltling. From my perspective the art's just not very good, and i think it's the fat lips and faces that make everyone look like they have down syndrome as much as the heads that must be veeeeery heavy. Fantastic Four #562 Hey! You know what's really bizarre?!? The Invisible Woman at her own funeral! I mean, isn't that weird?? Because it's her own funeral! Didn't Millar come up with a clever idea? After all, it's the Invisible Woman at her own funeral. I just wish he was a little less subtle about it so that every reader would realize how awesome an idea it was. Maybe he could try to have tried to mention twice on every page instead of just once. Daredevil #114 - Good good good. Mid-plot, so hard to comment on it, but Brubaker, if you're listening, we managed to get min reading the book again so don't blow it by going back to making everything depressing. Captain America #45 I'm sorry, but Brubaker makes Batroc cool, and that's just impressive. War Machine #1 Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmdrop*! X-Force #10 - Ok, really: Hrimhari? This truly is just an X-Men Greatest Hits series. That's fine when it's taking the time to do something with the hits, but now we're getting into this MTV schizophrenic mode (why are you still on my lawn?) where it's like And here's Hrimhari! And Warpath is fighting the Demon Bear! With Ghost Rider! And here's the Right! And the Legacy Virus! Wowowowowow! I don't know, i just feel like so much is happening and nothing is happening at the same time. Nova #20 - Well, i was hoping that Robbie Rider becoming a Nova Corp guy was just a fakeout, but it seems like it's for real. I don't like it, especially the ease with which he and the other new recruits seem to have mastered powers that took Rich many many issues to learn. But this is still good, and i liked all the downtime stuff with the New Warrior a lot. Hercules #124 - Marvel's best comic. It turns out i haven't actually read Mighty Avengers #20 or Age of Sentry #4 yet, so you'll just have to wait for the definitive judgments on those (but it'll probably be "Avengers: Good downtime dialogue issue, which plays to Bendis' strengths unlike all the recent 'epic' plotting he's been doing" and "Sentry: More stupid Silver Age tributes. Kinda cute but i don't need 6 issues of it and i'm glad we're dropping it"). To make it up to you, here's some bonus trade reviews: Marvel Zombies - I thought this was quite good. Much more to it than i expected. Funny, and of course bizarre, but also interesting and serious in its own way with good characterization. I can't imagine how there can be two sequels, though. Wisdom: Rudiments of Wisdom - Some great ideas, and some great set-ups, but really poor delivery and conclusions. And the team is really not very fleshed out and they all come off as fairly unlikeable (except John the Skrull, i like him). I did like seeing all the old supporting characters from Masters of Kung Fu, though. (P.S., i'm actually only halfway through this trade, so maybe it'll get better). By fnord12 | January 22, 2009, 10:20 PM | Comics | Comments (7)| Link
By fnord12 | January 15, 2009, 1:11 PM | Comics | Link By fnord12 | January 9, 2009, 3:25 PM | Comics | Link Anything less is treason. By fnord12 | January 8, 2009, 5:09 PM | Comics
& Liberal Outrage | Link By fnord12 | January 6, 2009, 8:57 AM | Comics | Comments (1)| Link
The runner-up is not pleased with his assistants. By fnord12 | January 5, 2009, 10:57 AM | Comics | Comments (7)| Link |