I'm not really sure about anybody else, but I've really been enjoying this mini-series. Of course I'm a huge fan of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's writing, so I had a feeling going in that this had the potential to be pretty good. So far I'd peg War of Kings better than Annihilation: Conquest, but not quite as great as the original Annihilation was. However, after the events of last issue, I get the feeling by the time this mini-series ends, it may just give Annihilation a real run for its money as the best Marvel intergalactic x-over ever.
-With the death of longtime Shi'ar Empress, Lilandra, the Inhumans decide that they have to make one final play to defeat Vulcan and his forces. Black Bolt orders Attilan launched towards the Shi'ar home galaxy.
-Vulcan on the other hand rejoices at the news of Lilandra's assassination, gloating to his men about her finally being out of his hair. One of Vulcan's advisers tells the mad emperor that Chandilar(the Shi'ar homeworld)has erupted in civil war, with pro-Vulcan forces battling pro-Lilandra forces on the streets. The advisor tells Vulcan he won't be able to wage war against the Kree/Inhumans as well as his own dissatisfied subjects, and Vulcan orders the advisor executed. HA! I love Emperor Vulcan! The Darkhawk, Raptor, tells Vulcan that he'll deal with the unrest on Chandilar, but he orders Vulcan to stay put.
-Vulcan, being totally insane, doesn't like taking orders from anybody, and upon learning of the launch of Attilan, he orders his main fleet to meet the Inhumans, with Vulcan himself leading the charge.
-Crystal and her husband Ronan meet the rest of the Inhuman royal family in the throne room of Attilan, and she demands to know why they were in flight. Medusa explains that they intend on launching a bomb filled with Terrigen Mists and powered by Black Bolts voice directly into the heart of the Shi'ar star system. Medusa and Black Bolt figure that exposure to the Mists will transform the Shi'ar into fellow Inhumans and thus stop the war. Crystal begs Black Bolt to reconsider, and Ronan also asks Black Bolt not to take this action, since the Kree are unable to be transmuted by the Mists, and therefore would become an underclass in Inhuman society. Black Bolt agrees to think upon Crystal and Ronan's pleas, but makes no promises.
-Back on Chandilar, Gladiator and the Starjammers are leading the push by the pro-Lilandra forces, with Gladiator being especially hurt by Lilandra's death. Gladiator cuts through most the evil Chancellor Araki's Death Commando's and winds up killing the corrupt old man.
-As Attilan enters Shi'ar airspace, Black Bolt launches the bomb to the dismay of Ronan and the outright horror of Crystal. After the bomb takes flight, Medusa is told that Black Bolt has to remain with the bomb until it detonates, meaning he'll wind up dying once he powers the device. Medusa pleads with Back Bolt to come back and to find another way, but he simply says "Goodbye" and the bomb begins to power-up. However, before the bomb can detonate, Vulcan busts through the casing, coming face to face with Black Bolt, and ending this wonderful comic.
Oh baby was this great! This comic had me from cover to cover. Everything was just so brilliantly done. With the final issue of this mini-series containing the epic battle between Vulcan and Black Bolt(FINALLY!)it should go without saying that I can't wait for the release of that comic! Personally, I'm hoping Vulcan wipes the floor with Black Bolt and conquers the Inhuman/Kree empire. I hate the Inhumans! With that said though, I get the feeling Vulcan is going to be the one who winds up kicking the bucket as this mini-series comes to an end. I really hope that isn't the case, but I'm not really sure how much more can be done with Vulcan as the leader of the Shi'ar empire... I don't believe the Inhumans are going to use the bomb and transform everyone into Inhumans either though. So, what that basically means is that I have NO idea as to how this mini is going to end! And you know what? I couldn't be happier! I'm going to sit back and enjoy whatever Dan and Andy throw at me to conclude this series. For a score, I'll go with a 10 out of 10. Yes, the vaunted perfect score. Remember what I said in the intro about this series not quite reaching the levels of awesomeness the original Annihilation obtained? After this issue, I think War of Kings has reached that level!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
My top ten favorite comic book moments.
What makes a classic, timeless comic book moment? I'll be damned if I know! What I do know is what I like, and that's what this list will contain. The following list details those comic book moments that have stuck out in my mind. These are some of the scenes that have made me into the comic book fanatic typing these lines today. Before I get started though, a quick disclaimer. These are the moments I actually remember offhand. I'm sure there are tons of great moments I'm forgetting, so this list is far from perfect.
One more thing before I get started, comments are(as always)highly appreciated. Tell me what you think about my list(whether you agree or disagree)and please, tell me which moments caused you to realize, "Yes, I'm a comic book fan!". First off, some honorable mention. These are a few moments that nearly made the top ten, but were just edged out.
-The breaking of the Batman
-The death of Superman
-The wedding of Cyclops and Jean Grey
-The aftermath of the nuclear blast in "Kingdom Come"
-The battle between Geoforce and Deathstroke from "DC: Last Will and Testament"
-The death and subsequent funeral of Ted Knight
-The "death" of Batman
10)The Return of Bart Allen(from Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #3)- When I began reading DC comics a little over a year ago, the first complete DC series I purchased was Peter David's "Young Justice". It was that series that first introduced me to Bart Allen, who was using the moniker of Impulse at the time. I immediately became a fan of Bart, and went on to buy the "Impulse" series along with the current run of "Teen Titans", where Bart became Kid Flash. After the events of the "Infinite Crisis" x-over, Bart wound up aging several years and succeeded Wally West as the Flash. Unfortunately, Bart's run as the Fastest Man Alive was short lived, as he was killed by his crazed clone, Inertia with help from the Rogues. Needless to say, I was bummed. Bart was dead, and since he wasn't one of the big name DC characters, I had little reason to believe he'd ever make a return. Imagine my delight upon reading the "FC: LoTW" mini-series and slowly realizing that all signs were pointing towards Bart making a comeback. Then on the final page of FC: LoTW #3, Bart made his triumphant return to the DCU. The smile on my face after closing the back cover of that comic was literally from ear to ear.
9)The stand-off between Jason Todd, Batman and the Joker(from Batman #650)- I have a confession to make... I'm a big fan of Jason Todd. Yes, I'm a fan of the most reviled Robin in the history of the Batman comic book series. I thought Jason's death at the hands of the Joker in the "A Death in the Family" storyline was unnecessarily brutal, and I was quite pleased to learn that Jason wound up returning to life after the events of "Infinite Crisis". Of course, once Jason came back, you had to know it was just a matter of time before he ran into the man who "killed" him, the Joker. This reunion of sorts took place in earnest in Batman #649. Sure, Jason ran into the Joker once before after his return and proceeded to beat him with a crowbar, but that meeting lacked any real satisfaction, since the Joker wasn't in his right mind at the time(is the Joker ever really in his "right mind?). In Batman #649, Jason manages to capture the Clown Prince of Crime, tying him up and holding him hostage. The real fireworks take place in Batman #650, as Jason and his former mentor, the Batman battle each other. During the battle, Jason leads Batman to the location where he was holding the Joker hostage, and asks how Batman could possibly allow the Joker to continue to live after what the Joker had done to Jason. The dialogue between Batman and Jason was extremely well done(nice job Judd Winick!)and the scene climaxes with Jason holding the Joker in front of himself while holding a gun to the Joker's head, leaving only his head exposed to Batman. Jason tells Batman he was going to kill Joker on the count of three and the only way Batman could prevent the death of his arch-enemy was to hit Jason with a(fatal)head-shot. Jason gets to two-and-a-half, and Batman throws a Batarang that catches Jason in the throat, freeing the Joker to blow up the building the three were in. The thing that pulled me into this scene was the way Jason just couldn't comprehend why the Batman couldn't/wouldn't kill the Joker after Jason's death. That scene has to be one of the most emotionally charged, dramatic stand-offs in recent comic book history.
8)The decapitation of Magneto(from New X-Men #150)- This is really a pretty easy moment to explain. Magneto disguises himself as a teacher at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, secretly puts together an army of evil students, and tears the X-Men apart from the inside out. Mags then takes over New York City, and pretty much runs amok. Eventually the X-Men manage to confront Mags, and he kills off Jean Grey with a electro-magnetic pulse wave. Jean's death sends Wolverine into one of his patented berserker rages, and Wolvie actually beheads Magneto with his claws! Magneto's death at the hands of Wolverine was really perfect. It fit Wolvie's character fully, and it was really the ideal way to end that particular storyline. Magneto killed off Jean Grey, one of the most beloved of all the X-Men. Magneto's punishment definitely fit his crime. Then Marvel brought Mags back... In like 2 months time! For some reason, everything Grant Morrison did during his New X-Men run had to be undone, so Chris Claremont brought Mags back in the pages of "New Excalibur". But wait, how did Magneto survive decapitation??? Marvel simply explained Mags death away by blaming the Scarlet Witch... Sure, why not blame Wanda, she gets blamed for everything else!
7)Superman vs. Thor(From Avengers/JLA #2)- It's time for another confession. I really don't like Thor. I can't even really explain why, but I've never liked him. Didn't like him when I was a kid, and I don't like him now. Maybe it's the way he speaks, maybe it's the fact that he always turns up to save the day, maybe it's his holier-than-thou attitude, or maybe it's just his hair. I don't know. When Superman and Thor met in battle in Avengers/JLA #2, I was totally expecting a stalemate. Sure, common sense tells me Superman would win, but I figured there was no way Marvel would let Thor look inferior to Superman... Boy was I wrong! The two powerhouses fought for three pages, neither one giving or gaining any ground, until Thor swung Mjolnir at Superman, and Supes stopped the momentum of the hammer with his bare hand! Thor(and myself!)was stunned by the fact that Supes had halted the progress of Mjolnir, and Supes used that momentary lapse of concentration to knock out the arrogant God of Thunder! And when I say "knocked out", I mean KNOCKED OUT! Sure, after Thor was KO'ed, a group of angry Avengers attacked Supes and took him down, but in a one-on-one fight, Superman proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was indeed mightier than Thor.
6)The Death of Captain Marvel(From the Marvel Graphic Novel, "The Death of Captain Marvel")- This really isn't so much a single moment as much as it is the entire graphic novel. The backstory here is that while fighting c-list villain Nitro, Captain Marvel is exposed to a carcinogenic which eventually leads to Captain Marvel getting incurable cancer. The "Death" graphic novel chronicles Mar-Vell's final days on Earth as well as Saturn's moon Titan, the home of the Eternals. Like I stated earlier, there's not really one particular moment that grabs my attention in this story, it's the overall feel of the story. From the start of this GN, you KNOW Captain Marvel is going to die. When I first purchased this comic a few years ago, I knew going in Mar-Vell would die. He's been dead for over twenty years. However, knowing he was destined to perish did little to soften the blow. As someone who has been touched by the big C, Captain Marvel's losing struggle with cancer is particularly touching, and Jim Starlin did an amazing job of capturing the dignity Mar-Vell faced his death with... Jeez, just thinking about this GN is making me bleary-eyed! This graphic novel definitely provided me with one of the most emotionally draining experiences I ever had reading a comic book. Without a doubt, "The Death of Captain Marvel" is a credit to the comic book medium.
5)Legion killing Professor Xavier(From X-Men #41)- This is one of those comic books that still manages to give me goosebumps to this day. That's how awesome it is. The set-up here is Prof. X's son, Legion, goes back in time to kill Magneto in an attempt to make his father's life easier. Legion figures no Magneto would mean no hardship for the Professor. So Legion uses his immense mutant powers to travel into the past, but is pursued by a couple of the X-Men, who are trying to prevent his callous act of murder. Not only do the X-Men fail, Legion himself winds up killing the wrong man! As Legion prepares to deliver the killer blow to Magneto, Prof. X leaps in the way, taking Legion's deadly payload himself. While the X-Men and Legion stand around dumbfounded, reality itself begins to crystallize and break all around them as the Universe re-writes history. Eventually the crystal wave arrives in the present, and the X-Men who remained behind watch helplessly as their very existences are wiped away. Not only was Prof. X's death and the subsequent crystallization effect a truly awesome sight to behold, but it was the death of Prof. X which heralded the beginning of the greatest comic book crossover of all-time, "The Age of Apocalypse"!
4)Professor X mindwipes Magneto(From X-Men #25)- This action took place during the X-Men 30th anniversary storyline, "Fatal Attractions". If not for the Age of Apocalypse, Fatal Attractions would be my favorite comic book x-over of all time. Prof. X's mindwipe of Magneto actually wound up having some far reaching ramifications in the Marvel Universe, eventually leading to the Onslaught x-over. Why would Prof. X mindwipe his old friend you ask? Well, the simple answer is that Magneto really had it coming. Over the course of Fatal Attractions, Magneto builds a new space station home(Avalon), tears Cable apart(literally!), taunts the X-Men at the funeral of Illyana Rasputin, encourages Colossus to betray the X-Men, kills all power to the planet Earth, and finally, the coup de grace, tears the Adamantium right off of Wolverine's bones. After Magneto nearly killed the ol' Canucklehead, Prof. X finally realized it was time to stop treating Magneto with kid gloves. The panel where Prof. X unleashes the totality of his mental abilities was really a sight to behold, as was Magneto's reaction, one of total surprise. That act helped me realize that Prof. X wasn't just some old guy who sits in a wheel chair bossing the X-Men around, he was a real force to be reckoned with!
3)Hal Jordan vs. Sinestro(From Green Lantern #25)- Hal Jordan and Sinestro have a long history, and have butted heads on numerous occasions. However, to me, their fight towards the end of the Sinestro Corps War storyline was the defining battle between these two arch-enemies. After Sinestro and his Corps had attacked the Green Lantern headquarters on Oa, the villain decided to set his sights on the planet Earth. Hal and Sinestro's climatic battle ended up taking place in the rebuilding Coast City, Hal's hometown. Although Kyle Rayner was also on-hand for the big fight, it was Hal and Sinestro who stole the show. After their rings were drained, Hal and Sinestro resorted to a dirty, visceral, no-holds-barred brawl. The fight was wrought with emotion as the two former friends tore into each other with any object they could get their hands on. It was truly a wonderfully ugly street fight. In the end, Hal managed to knock Sinestro out cold, and proceeded to arrest his one time mentor. That fight is probably my favorite comic book battle of all-time.
2)Magneto is revealed to be Xorn(From New X-Men #149)- This was one of the first scenes I thought about when I decided I wanted to do this list. I've already spoken at length about what led to this scene in #8 of this list, so I'm not going to repeat the backstory. The way Grant Morrison and Phil Jimenez actually played out Magneto's shocking revelation was what made this scene into an unforgettable classic. It was just Prof. X and Xorn alone in a classroom at the school when Xorn began to show the ability to close doors and lock windows with but a thought. Xorn then took away the Professor's ability to walk(prior to this scene, Xorn had "cured" Xavier's paralysis)and began to make Magneto-ish statements. From there, the scene switches to Xorn, who proceeds to take off his helmet, revealing the familiar visage of Magneto. The way the whole scene played out was just perfectly done, and to me anyway, totally and completely unexpected!
1)Magneto tears the Adamantium out of Wolverine(From X-Men #25)- The first time I read X-Men #25, I was 12 years old and I was really hitting my stride as a young comic book fan. That's probably why this event had such an impact on me(and still does to this day). Here was Wolverine, far and away the most popular X-Man, facing off against Magneto, the greatest adversary the X-Men have ever dealt with. From the start of X-Men #25, there was a feeling that the confrontation between Magneto and the X-Men was going to lead to something special. It had to! With all Magneto had done, and the promise made by Prof. Xavier that Magneto wouldn't harm anybody ever again, this comic book just had a big event feel. That big event came when Magneto, distracted by the combined telepathic assault of Prof. X and Jean Grey, was attacked by Wolverine, who cut an "X" shape right into Magneto's chest. After getting over the initial shock that Wolverine would assault him in such a manner(remember, Wolvie and Mags served as teammates together in the 80's), Magneto grabs a hold of Wolverine with his magnetic powers and tears every last drop of Adamantium from his body while quoting Aeschylus' Greek Tragedy, "Prometheus Bound"(which I obviously didn't realize as a 12 year old!). The panel where Magneto is standing in the background with his fist clenched, magnetic energy coursing from his body, and Wolvie is in the foreground, literally being torn apart is without a doubt my all-time single favorite comic book panel. Andy Kubert more than did himself proud with that piece of art. After Magneto's vicious assault on Wolverine, I was hooked on comics big time. Today, I can point back to that scene as the defining moment in my comic book collecting career. Without a doubt the biggest, most important comic book moment in my life was Magneto's destruction of Wolverine.
Huh, I didn't realize just how X-Men heavy my favorite moments list was until finishing up. I guess that just goes to show how important the X-Men were/are to me. Well, those are my favorite comic book moments, what are yours?
One more thing before I get started, comments are(as always)highly appreciated. Tell me what you think about my list(whether you agree or disagree)and please, tell me which moments caused you to realize, "Yes, I'm a comic book fan!". First off, some honorable mention. These are a few moments that nearly made the top ten, but were just edged out.
-The breaking of the Batman
-The death of Superman
-The wedding of Cyclops and Jean Grey
-The aftermath of the nuclear blast in "Kingdom Come"
-The battle between Geoforce and Deathstroke from "DC: Last Will and Testament"
-The death and subsequent funeral of Ted Knight
-The "death" of Batman
10)The Return of Bart Allen(from Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #3)- When I began reading DC comics a little over a year ago, the first complete DC series I purchased was Peter David's "Young Justice". It was that series that first introduced me to Bart Allen, who was using the moniker of Impulse at the time. I immediately became a fan of Bart, and went on to buy the "Impulse" series along with the current run of "Teen Titans", where Bart became Kid Flash. After the events of the "Infinite Crisis" x-over, Bart wound up aging several years and succeeded Wally West as the Flash. Unfortunately, Bart's run as the Fastest Man Alive was short lived, as he was killed by his crazed clone, Inertia with help from the Rogues. Needless to say, I was bummed. Bart was dead, and since he wasn't one of the big name DC characters, I had little reason to believe he'd ever make a return. Imagine my delight upon reading the "FC: LoTW" mini-series and slowly realizing that all signs were pointing towards Bart making a comeback. Then on the final page of FC: LoTW #3, Bart made his triumphant return to the DCU. The smile on my face after closing the back cover of that comic was literally from ear to ear.
9)The stand-off between Jason Todd, Batman and the Joker(from Batman #650)- I have a confession to make... I'm a big fan of Jason Todd. Yes, I'm a fan of the most reviled Robin in the history of the Batman comic book series. I thought Jason's death at the hands of the Joker in the "A Death in the Family" storyline was unnecessarily brutal, and I was quite pleased to learn that Jason wound up returning to life after the events of "Infinite Crisis". Of course, once Jason came back, you had to know it was just a matter of time before he ran into the man who "killed" him, the Joker. This reunion of sorts took place in earnest in Batman #649. Sure, Jason ran into the Joker once before after his return and proceeded to beat him with a crowbar, but that meeting lacked any real satisfaction, since the Joker wasn't in his right mind at the time(is the Joker ever really in his "right mind?). In Batman #649, Jason manages to capture the Clown Prince of Crime, tying him up and holding him hostage. The real fireworks take place in Batman #650, as Jason and his former mentor, the Batman battle each other. During the battle, Jason leads Batman to the location where he was holding the Joker hostage, and asks how Batman could possibly allow the Joker to continue to live after what the Joker had done to Jason. The dialogue between Batman and Jason was extremely well done(nice job Judd Winick!)and the scene climaxes with Jason holding the Joker in front of himself while holding a gun to the Joker's head, leaving only his head exposed to Batman. Jason tells Batman he was going to kill Joker on the count of three and the only way Batman could prevent the death of his arch-enemy was to hit Jason with a(fatal)head-shot. Jason gets to two-and-a-half, and Batman throws a Batarang that catches Jason in the throat, freeing the Joker to blow up the building the three were in. The thing that pulled me into this scene was the way Jason just couldn't comprehend why the Batman couldn't/wouldn't kill the Joker after Jason's death. That scene has to be one of the most emotionally charged, dramatic stand-offs in recent comic book history.
8)The decapitation of Magneto(from New X-Men #150)- This is really a pretty easy moment to explain. Magneto disguises himself as a teacher at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, secretly puts together an army of evil students, and tears the X-Men apart from the inside out. Mags then takes over New York City, and pretty much runs amok. Eventually the X-Men manage to confront Mags, and he kills off Jean Grey with a electro-magnetic pulse wave. Jean's death sends Wolverine into one of his patented berserker rages, and Wolvie actually beheads Magneto with his claws! Magneto's death at the hands of Wolverine was really perfect. It fit Wolvie's character fully, and it was really the ideal way to end that particular storyline. Magneto killed off Jean Grey, one of the most beloved of all the X-Men. Magneto's punishment definitely fit his crime. Then Marvel brought Mags back... In like 2 months time! For some reason, everything Grant Morrison did during his New X-Men run had to be undone, so Chris Claremont brought Mags back in the pages of "New Excalibur". But wait, how did Magneto survive decapitation??? Marvel simply explained Mags death away by blaming the Scarlet Witch... Sure, why not blame Wanda, she gets blamed for everything else!
7)Superman vs. Thor(From Avengers/JLA #2)- It's time for another confession. I really don't like Thor. I can't even really explain why, but I've never liked him. Didn't like him when I was a kid, and I don't like him now. Maybe it's the way he speaks, maybe it's the fact that he always turns up to save the day, maybe it's his holier-than-thou attitude, or maybe it's just his hair. I don't know. When Superman and Thor met in battle in Avengers/JLA #2, I was totally expecting a stalemate. Sure, common sense tells me Superman would win, but I figured there was no way Marvel would let Thor look inferior to Superman... Boy was I wrong! The two powerhouses fought for three pages, neither one giving or gaining any ground, until Thor swung Mjolnir at Superman, and Supes stopped the momentum of the hammer with his bare hand! Thor(and myself!)was stunned by the fact that Supes had halted the progress of Mjolnir, and Supes used that momentary lapse of concentration to knock out the arrogant God of Thunder! And when I say "knocked out", I mean KNOCKED OUT! Sure, after Thor was KO'ed, a group of angry Avengers attacked Supes and took him down, but in a one-on-one fight, Superman proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was indeed mightier than Thor.
6)The Death of Captain Marvel(From the Marvel Graphic Novel, "The Death of Captain Marvel")- This really isn't so much a single moment as much as it is the entire graphic novel. The backstory here is that while fighting c-list villain Nitro, Captain Marvel is exposed to a carcinogenic which eventually leads to Captain Marvel getting incurable cancer. The "Death" graphic novel chronicles Mar-Vell's final days on Earth as well as Saturn's moon Titan, the home of the Eternals. Like I stated earlier, there's not really one particular moment that grabs my attention in this story, it's the overall feel of the story. From the start of this GN, you KNOW Captain Marvel is going to die. When I first purchased this comic a few years ago, I knew going in Mar-Vell would die. He's been dead for over twenty years. However, knowing he was destined to perish did little to soften the blow. As someone who has been touched by the big C, Captain Marvel's losing struggle with cancer is particularly touching, and Jim Starlin did an amazing job of capturing the dignity Mar-Vell faced his death with... Jeez, just thinking about this GN is making me bleary-eyed! This graphic novel definitely provided me with one of the most emotionally draining experiences I ever had reading a comic book. Without a doubt, "The Death of Captain Marvel" is a credit to the comic book medium.
5)Legion killing Professor Xavier(From X-Men #41)- This is one of those comic books that still manages to give me goosebumps to this day. That's how awesome it is. The set-up here is Prof. X's son, Legion, goes back in time to kill Magneto in an attempt to make his father's life easier. Legion figures no Magneto would mean no hardship for the Professor. So Legion uses his immense mutant powers to travel into the past, but is pursued by a couple of the X-Men, who are trying to prevent his callous act of murder. Not only do the X-Men fail, Legion himself winds up killing the wrong man! As Legion prepares to deliver the killer blow to Magneto, Prof. X leaps in the way, taking Legion's deadly payload himself. While the X-Men and Legion stand around dumbfounded, reality itself begins to crystallize and break all around them as the Universe re-writes history. Eventually the crystal wave arrives in the present, and the X-Men who remained behind watch helplessly as their very existences are wiped away. Not only was Prof. X's death and the subsequent crystallization effect a truly awesome sight to behold, but it was the death of Prof. X which heralded the beginning of the greatest comic book crossover of all-time, "The Age of Apocalypse"!
4)Professor X mindwipes Magneto(From X-Men #25)- This action took place during the X-Men 30th anniversary storyline, "Fatal Attractions". If not for the Age of Apocalypse, Fatal Attractions would be my favorite comic book x-over of all time. Prof. X's mindwipe of Magneto actually wound up having some far reaching ramifications in the Marvel Universe, eventually leading to the Onslaught x-over. Why would Prof. X mindwipe his old friend you ask? Well, the simple answer is that Magneto really had it coming. Over the course of Fatal Attractions, Magneto builds a new space station home(Avalon), tears Cable apart(literally!), taunts the X-Men at the funeral of Illyana Rasputin, encourages Colossus to betray the X-Men, kills all power to the planet Earth, and finally, the coup de grace, tears the Adamantium right off of Wolverine's bones. After Magneto nearly killed the ol' Canucklehead, Prof. X finally realized it was time to stop treating Magneto with kid gloves. The panel where Prof. X unleashes the totality of his mental abilities was really a sight to behold, as was Magneto's reaction, one of total surprise. That act helped me realize that Prof. X wasn't just some old guy who sits in a wheel chair bossing the X-Men around, he was a real force to be reckoned with!
3)Hal Jordan vs. Sinestro(From Green Lantern #25)- Hal Jordan and Sinestro have a long history, and have butted heads on numerous occasions. However, to me, their fight towards the end of the Sinestro Corps War storyline was the defining battle between these two arch-enemies. After Sinestro and his Corps had attacked the Green Lantern headquarters on Oa, the villain decided to set his sights on the planet Earth. Hal and Sinestro's climatic battle ended up taking place in the rebuilding Coast City, Hal's hometown. Although Kyle Rayner was also on-hand for the big fight, it was Hal and Sinestro who stole the show. After their rings were drained, Hal and Sinestro resorted to a dirty, visceral, no-holds-barred brawl. The fight was wrought with emotion as the two former friends tore into each other with any object they could get their hands on. It was truly a wonderfully ugly street fight. In the end, Hal managed to knock Sinestro out cold, and proceeded to arrest his one time mentor. That fight is probably my favorite comic book battle of all-time.
2)Magneto is revealed to be Xorn(From New X-Men #149)- This was one of the first scenes I thought about when I decided I wanted to do this list. I've already spoken at length about what led to this scene in #8 of this list, so I'm not going to repeat the backstory. The way Grant Morrison and Phil Jimenez actually played out Magneto's shocking revelation was what made this scene into an unforgettable classic. It was just Prof. X and Xorn alone in a classroom at the school when Xorn began to show the ability to close doors and lock windows with but a thought. Xorn then took away the Professor's ability to walk(prior to this scene, Xorn had "cured" Xavier's paralysis)and began to make Magneto-ish statements. From there, the scene switches to Xorn, who proceeds to take off his helmet, revealing the familiar visage of Magneto. The way the whole scene played out was just perfectly done, and to me anyway, totally and completely unexpected!
1)Magneto tears the Adamantium out of Wolverine(From X-Men #25)- The first time I read X-Men #25, I was 12 years old and I was really hitting my stride as a young comic book fan. That's probably why this event had such an impact on me(and still does to this day). Here was Wolverine, far and away the most popular X-Man, facing off against Magneto, the greatest adversary the X-Men have ever dealt with. From the start of X-Men #25, there was a feeling that the confrontation between Magneto and the X-Men was going to lead to something special. It had to! With all Magneto had done, and the promise made by Prof. Xavier that Magneto wouldn't harm anybody ever again, this comic book just had a big event feel. That big event came when Magneto, distracted by the combined telepathic assault of Prof. X and Jean Grey, was attacked by Wolverine, who cut an "X" shape right into Magneto's chest. After getting over the initial shock that Wolverine would assault him in such a manner(remember, Wolvie and Mags served as teammates together in the 80's), Magneto grabs a hold of Wolverine with his magnetic powers and tears every last drop of Adamantium from his body while quoting Aeschylus' Greek Tragedy, "Prometheus Bound"(which I obviously didn't realize as a 12 year old!). The panel where Magneto is standing in the background with his fist clenched, magnetic energy coursing from his body, and Wolvie is in the foreground, literally being torn apart is without a doubt my all-time single favorite comic book panel. Andy Kubert more than did himself proud with that piece of art. After Magneto's vicious assault on Wolverine, I was hooked on comics big time. Today, I can point back to that scene as the defining moment in my comic book collecting career. Without a doubt the biggest, most important comic book moment in my life was Magneto's destruction of Wolverine.
Huh, I didn't realize just how X-Men heavy my favorite moments list was until finishing up. I guess that just goes to show how important the X-Men were/are to me. Well, those are my favorite comic book moments, what are yours?
Green Arrow and Black Canary #22
This issue provides us with the conclusion of the "Peace and Quiet" storyline. As this story has unfolded I've found myself getting more and more into it. This comic is written by Andrew Kreisberg. Oh, and this is one of those "Second Feature" books DC has been touting. So, who is in the second feature you ask? It's none other than Green Arrow... Yep, that's right, the co-star of this comic is the Second Feature. Jeez, here I was hoping they'd use the Second Feature to spotlight Connor Hawke or Speedy, but no, DC decides to feature one of the title characters... Lame.
-The first feature in this comic dealt primarily with Black Canary and her origin. It also dealt with the origin of the villain responsible for stealing the hearing from Star City, Discord. The origin really wasn't much more than a look at Dinah's first meeting with Wildcat. Dinah discovered her Canary Cry, her mother called Ted, Ted tried to convince Dinah to become a hero, Dinah's mom didn't want her following in her footsteps, etc. Nothing really Earth-shattering.
-Discord came from money and decided to become a musician, against the wishes of his father. Things worked out for Discord(he became a member of the Star City Orchestra)until Dinah accidentally destroyed his hearing with an ill-timed Canary Cry. After losing his hearing, Discord created a device that gave him a degree of electronic hearing, however this "hearing" lacked any tone. With his music career destroyed, Discord did what any logical person would do, he decided to take revenge on the world and the person he blamed for his loss of hearing, Black Canary.
-After the explosion that ended the last issue, Discord and Dinah are knocked off the roof of the building they were fighting on, but Dinah manages to save the both of them from becoming street pizza.
-After landing, Discord tries to kill Dinah, but she defeats him with ease, knocking him out and leaving him for the cops. Dinah's feature ends with her realizing that it was due to her he lost his hearing and apparently his mind.
-Ollie's feature dealt with his relationship with his crazy stalker, Cupid. Now that sound has returned to Star City, Ollie decides to arrest Cupid, but needless to say she isn't exactly willing to go to prison.
-While Ollie is trying to arrest Cupid, they hear a cry of murderer and go to investigate. The two enter an apartment and find a woman bleeding all over the floor with a butcher knife jutting out of her chest. Ollie realizes there's nothing that can be done to help the woman(she's lost too much blood), so Cupid comforts the dying woman. The woman's boyfriend(who was in the next room)tells the two archers that his girlfriend was freaking out due to the loss of sound in Star City, so he had decided to stab her. Boy, what a nice guy...
-Cupid attacks the guy and gets ready to remove his brain Ancient Egyptian style and Ollie stands back and does nothing to stop her. Before Cupid can do any real damage to the murderer, the cops arrive and taser Cupid, knocking her out. The cops ask Ollie why he was standing back doing nothing, and he tells them(unconvincingly)that he was about to step in.
-Later, Ollie returns home and Dinah tells him she heard about what happened between Ollie, Cupid and the murderer. Dinah reads Ollie the riot act and tells him that he seriously needs to take a break from being Green Arrow because lately he's been making all the wrong moves... Yeah, that coming from the woman who caused Discord to lose his hearing and go crazy! This issue ends with Dinah taking Ollie's mask and throwing it on the floor and leaving him standing alone in thought.
I have to say, I really enjoyed this story. When Andrew took this series over, I gave him a load of grief, but it seems he's starting to hit his stride in this book. I could have done without the Black Canary origin stuff(it didn't really add anything to the story)but everything else was quite good. Discord's origin was well-done, even though the way he lost his hearing does still bug me a little bit. I still find it difficult to believe Dinah would use her Canary Cry in such a haphazard manner, but what's done is done.
I especially liked the Second Feature with Ollie and Cupid, mainly because of the way it left whether Ollie was going to step in and help the murderer up in the air. Although he claims he was going to step in and stop Cupid from killing the murderer, I'm not too sure. Remember, back in the 80's, Ollie tended to flat out kill bad guys with little remorse. Hell, in some of those older Green Arrow comics, Ollie acted like a blond Punisher! With Dinah realizing what she has caused to happen regarding Discord and Ollie teetering ever closer to the edge of sanity, the next few issues of this series should be pretty good. For a score, I'll give this book an 8 1/2 out of 10. Hopefully Andrew can keep up his recent streak of good issues.
-The first feature in this comic dealt primarily with Black Canary and her origin. It also dealt with the origin of the villain responsible for stealing the hearing from Star City, Discord. The origin really wasn't much more than a look at Dinah's first meeting with Wildcat. Dinah discovered her Canary Cry, her mother called Ted, Ted tried to convince Dinah to become a hero, Dinah's mom didn't want her following in her footsteps, etc. Nothing really Earth-shattering.
-Discord came from money and decided to become a musician, against the wishes of his father. Things worked out for Discord(he became a member of the Star City Orchestra)until Dinah accidentally destroyed his hearing with an ill-timed Canary Cry. After losing his hearing, Discord created a device that gave him a degree of electronic hearing, however this "hearing" lacked any tone. With his music career destroyed, Discord did what any logical person would do, he decided to take revenge on the world and the person he blamed for his loss of hearing, Black Canary.
-After the explosion that ended the last issue, Discord and Dinah are knocked off the roof of the building they were fighting on, but Dinah manages to save the both of them from becoming street pizza.
-After landing, Discord tries to kill Dinah, but she defeats him with ease, knocking him out and leaving him for the cops. Dinah's feature ends with her realizing that it was due to her he lost his hearing and apparently his mind.
-Ollie's feature dealt with his relationship with his crazy stalker, Cupid. Now that sound has returned to Star City, Ollie decides to arrest Cupid, but needless to say she isn't exactly willing to go to prison.
-While Ollie is trying to arrest Cupid, they hear a cry of murderer and go to investigate. The two enter an apartment and find a woman bleeding all over the floor with a butcher knife jutting out of her chest. Ollie realizes there's nothing that can be done to help the woman(she's lost too much blood), so Cupid comforts the dying woman. The woman's boyfriend(who was in the next room)tells the two archers that his girlfriend was freaking out due to the loss of sound in Star City, so he had decided to stab her. Boy, what a nice guy...
-Cupid attacks the guy and gets ready to remove his brain Ancient Egyptian style and Ollie stands back and does nothing to stop her. Before Cupid can do any real damage to the murderer, the cops arrive and taser Cupid, knocking her out. The cops ask Ollie why he was standing back doing nothing, and he tells them(unconvincingly)that he was about to step in.
-Later, Ollie returns home and Dinah tells him she heard about what happened between Ollie, Cupid and the murderer. Dinah reads Ollie the riot act and tells him that he seriously needs to take a break from being Green Arrow because lately he's been making all the wrong moves... Yeah, that coming from the woman who caused Discord to lose his hearing and go crazy! This issue ends with Dinah taking Ollie's mask and throwing it on the floor and leaving him standing alone in thought.
I have to say, I really enjoyed this story. When Andrew took this series over, I gave him a load of grief, but it seems he's starting to hit his stride in this book. I could have done without the Black Canary origin stuff(it didn't really add anything to the story)but everything else was quite good. Discord's origin was well-done, even though the way he lost his hearing does still bug me a little bit. I still find it difficult to believe Dinah would use her Canary Cry in such a haphazard manner, but what's done is done.
I especially liked the Second Feature with Ollie and Cupid, mainly because of the way it left whether Ollie was going to step in and help the murderer up in the air. Although he claims he was going to step in and stop Cupid from killing the murderer, I'm not too sure. Remember, back in the 80's, Ollie tended to flat out kill bad guys with little remorse. Hell, in some of those older Green Arrow comics, Ollie acted like a blond Punisher! With Dinah realizing what she has caused to happen regarding Discord and Ollie teetering ever closer to the edge of sanity, the next few issues of this series should be pretty good. For a score, I'll give this book an 8 1/2 out of 10. Hopefully Andrew can keep up his recent streak of good issues.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Batman and Robin #2
Well, here's the second issue of Grant Morrison's Batman and Robin series. The last issue was weird. REALLY weird. Hopefully Grant cuts back on the weird and gives us a great story.
-We open with Dick and Damian meeting up with Commissioner Gordon at Police Headquarters. While talking with the Commish about the weirdness from last issue, some cops tell Gordon that there's some kind of attack occurring at the Police Station where Toad was being held. After hearing this, the Dynamic Duo takes off and heads to the station.
-Upon arriving at the station, the Dynamic Duo runs into a variable freak show. Dick takes out the dude with the flaming head and the three guys stuck together, while Damian attacks the fat guy dressed in a tutu... I don't know where Grant gets this stuff from!
-Damian repeatedly dismisses Dick's orders and beats the hell out of the fat guy, proceeding to beat him even after he was secured. Gordon and the cops arrive and warn Damian to cease his assault, but he refuses to listen. Finally Dick pulls the brat away, and the police discover that Toad was killed in his cell.
-Dick and Damian head back to the Bunker(the replacement for the Batcave)and they get into a heated argument over Damian disobeying orders, and Dick not being Bruce. Damian finally has enough and leaves, and Dick whines to Alfred about how much he hates trying to be the Batman. Alfred tells Dick to think of being the Batman as a performance, similar to the way he used to preform as a child in the circus. Dick seems to like that idea, and he goes off after Damian.
-This issue ends with Damian finding Pyg's hideout(an abandoned amusement park)where he winds up getting jumped by nearly 20 freaks dressed up like dolls.
I thought this issue was better then the last issue by a wide margin. Grant totally nailed the reluctant Batman issue that I knew would eventually pop up. Dick doesn't want to be Batman. He never has. He hated it before, and during the Battle for the Cowl storyline, he was the last Robin to don the cape and cowl. Alfred's suggestion to look at Batman as one big performance was really a stroke of genius. That one idea should help Dick with his new found role. He doesn't actually have to become the Batman like Bruce did, he just has to play the role of Batman. Brilliant!
I still hate Damian with a passion, but by now I realize that's probably never going to change. This must be how the majority of Batman fans felt about Jason Todd back in the 80's. I just can't find a single redeeming character trait in Damian. He's possibly the most unlikable character in comic books today!
Since I did like this comic, I figure I'll end this review on a positive note. Grant's humor in this issue was understated but dead-on! I got a kick out of the cop saying to the Commissioner that he thought Batman and Robin used to be taller, and I couldn't help but chuckle when one of the cops looked in at Toad's dead body and stated, "He croaked.". He croaked... HA! Well, I thought it was funny... Anyway, for a score, I'll give this comic an 8 out of 10. I'd like to go higher, but I just can't get past my overwhelming hatred for Damian... His very presence brings down my enjoyment of this comic book.
-We open with Dick and Damian meeting up with Commissioner Gordon at Police Headquarters. While talking with the Commish about the weirdness from last issue, some cops tell Gordon that there's some kind of attack occurring at the Police Station where Toad was being held. After hearing this, the Dynamic Duo takes off and heads to the station.
-Upon arriving at the station, the Dynamic Duo runs into a variable freak show. Dick takes out the dude with the flaming head and the three guys stuck together, while Damian attacks the fat guy dressed in a tutu... I don't know where Grant gets this stuff from!
-Damian repeatedly dismisses Dick's orders and beats the hell out of the fat guy, proceeding to beat him even after he was secured. Gordon and the cops arrive and warn Damian to cease his assault, but he refuses to listen. Finally Dick pulls the brat away, and the police discover that Toad was killed in his cell.
-Dick and Damian head back to the Bunker(the replacement for the Batcave)and they get into a heated argument over Damian disobeying orders, and Dick not being Bruce. Damian finally has enough and leaves, and Dick whines to Alfred about how much he hates trying to be the Batman. Alfred tells Dick to think of being the Batman as a performance, similar to the way he used to preform as a child in the circus. Dick seems to like that idea, and he goes off after Damian.
-This issue ends with Damian finding Pyg's hideout(an abandoned amusement park)where he winds up getting jumped by nearly 20 freaks dressed up like dolls.
I thought this issue was better then the last issue by a wide margin. Grant totally nailed the reluctant Batman issue that I knew would eventually pop up. Dick doesn't want to be Batman. He never has. He hated it before, and during the Battle for the Cowl storyline, he was the last Robin to don the cape and cowl. Alfred's suggestion to look at Batman as one big performance was really a stroke of genius. That one idea should help Dick with his new found role. He doesn't actually have to become the Batman like Bruce did, he just has to play the role of Batman. Brilliant!
I still hate Damian with a passion, but by now I realize that's probably never going to change. This must be how the majority of Batman fans felt about Jason Todd back in the 80's. I just can't find a single redeeming character trait in Damian. He's possibly the most unlikable character in comic books today!
Since I did like this comic, I figure I'll end this review on a positive note. Grant's humor in this issue was understated but dead-on! I got a kick out of the cop saying to the Commissioner that he thought Batman and Robin used to be taller, and I couldn't help but chuckle when one of the cops looked in at Toad's dead body and stated, "He croaked.". He croaked... HA! Well, I thought it was funny... Anyway, for a score, I'll give this comic an 8 out of 10. I'd like to go higher, but I just can't get past my overwhelming hatred for Damian... His very presence brings down my enjoyment of this comic book.
Justice League: Cry for Justice #1(of 7)
A seven issue mini-series... That's kind of weird. Usually it's 4, 6 or even 8 issues. Oh well, I really don't care how many issues there are, as long as this mini meets my high expectations. The main JLA book has become almost unreadable lately, so I'm looking to this mini to give me a fix of the good JLA. With the awesome James Robinson doing the writing here, I'm really expecting big things.
-This issue begins with Hal Jordan complaining to the assembled Justice League that the League is letting down the people of Earth by waiting for villains to strike before taking action. Hal wants to go after the villains before they get the opportunity to hurt anyone else, starting with Libra and his Secret Society from "Final Crisis". Superman is SHOCKED by Hal's aggressive stance, but Hal pulls the Green Lantern card and tells Supes that since the Earth falls under his jurisdiction he's going to stamp out groups of villains such as the Secret Society before they get the chance to do anymore harm. Supes tells Hal that he won't allow Hal to run off half-cocked after the enemies of humanity. Before any fireworks can erupt, Green Arrow jumps to Hal's aid, and the two leave the rest of the League to find "justice".
-Next we head to the old Atom(Ray Palmer)and the new Atom(Ryan Choi)as they beat down Killer Moth and his gang. It seems that Killer Moth was somehow involved with the torture death of a scientist friend of Ray, and Ray wants answers as to who Moth was working for. After some quick torture(Ray shrinks down, climbs up Moth's nose and then begins to grow!), Killer Moth reveals that he was working for Prometheus. Ray then sends Ryan back to Ivy Town, telling him he'll be going after Prometheus personally to make him pay for his actions.
-From there we go to Opal City(!!!!!), where we find Starman #3(the blue one, Mikaal Tomas)who has gone to a funeral parlor to mourn the death of his boyfriend, Tony. Tony was killed simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he was caught in the middle of a fight between STAR Labs and some unnamed villains. After leaving the funeral parlor, Mikaal throws a quick temper tantrum before deciding to avenge the death of his beau.
-We end this issue in the African Congo where Congorilla is mourning his dead tribe. Congrilla also wants revenge on some unnamed parties for those deaths.
Congorilla... Are you kidding me? What the HELL is with DC's obsession with talking monkeys??? I don't get it. I guess I never will. With the exception of the useless Congorilla, I enjoyed all of the other stories that will(eventually)link all of these heroes in their various quests for justice. I'd have to say my favorite story was the Hal/Ollie one. Those guys sure do love each other. It's really quite heartwarming. Or extremely strange. Anyway, I have to say a smile crept across my face when Ollie stood up for his man after Superman's weird, veiled threat. What was up with THAT? As a Green Lantern, Hal has every right to go after crime on Earth, since it falls under his bubble of protection. Jeez Supes, chill out! For me, this comic book was worth its price just to see Hal bitch out the Justice League while they all stood around dumbfounded.
Needless to say, I was thrilled to see James reach into his Starman books to pull out the Mikaal Tomas Starman. You're not going to find a bigger fan of James' Starman work than me, and when I saw the scene in this comic move to Opal City, I was nearly beside myself with excitement. Hell, I even picked up on the mention of Jake "Bobo" Benetti! God was Starman a great series... Anyway, any bit of Starman James can inject into this mini can only enhance things. Of course I'd love to see Jack Knight pop up, but it seems James isn't keen on bringing us any new Starman material. That's too bad.
Before I go any further, I'd be remiss not to mention the fact that Mauro Cascioli's artwork was simply beautiful. There's nothing more to say about it. It was beautiful. This was definitely a set-up issue. We were given some background into a few characters, but little else. While I would have liked some action, I'm still quite pleased with what this issue gave us. Well, with the exception of Congorilla... For a score, I'll give this comic an 8 1/2 out of 10. Beautiful artwork and a very good story makes this an easy comic to recommend.
-This issue begins with Hal Jordan complaining to the assembled Justice League that the League is letting down the people of Earth by waiting for villains to strike before taking action. Hal wants to go after the villains before they get the opportunity to hurt anyone else, starting with Libra and his Secret Society from "Final Crisis". Superman is SHOCKED by Hal's aggressive stance, but Hal pulls the Green Lantern card and tells Supes that since the Earth falls under his jurisdiction he's going to stamp out groups of villains such as the Secret Society before they get the chance to do anymore harm. Supes tells Hal that he won't allow Hal to run off half-cocked after the enemies of humanity. Before any fireworks can erupt, Green Arrow jumps to Hal's aid, and the two leave the rest of the League to find "justice".
-Next we head to the old Atom(Ray Palmer)and the new Atom(Ryan Choi)as they beat down Killer Moth and his gang. It seems that Killer Moth was somehow involved with the torture death of a scientist friend of Ray, and Ray wants answers as to who Moth was working for. After some quick torture(Ray shrinks down, climbs up Moth's nose and then begins to grow!), Killer Moth reveals that he was working for Prometheus. Ray then sends Ryan back to Ivy Town, telling him he'll be going after Prometheus personally to make him pay for his actions.
-From there we go to Opal City(!!!!!), where we find Starman #3(the blue one, Mikaal Tomas)who has gone to a funeral parlor to mourn the death of his boyfriend, Tony. Tony was killed simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he was caught in the middle of a fight between STAR Labs and some unnamed villains. After leaving the funeral parlor, Mikaal throws a quick temper tantrum before deciding to avenge the death of his beau.
-We end this issue in the African Congo where Congorilla is mourning his dead tribe. Congrilla also wants revenge on some unnamed parties for those deaths.
Congorilla... Are you kidding me? What the HELL is with DC's obsession with talking monkeys??? I don't get it. I guess I never will. With the exception of the useless Congorilla, I enjoyed all of the other stories that will(eventually)link all of these heroes in their various quests for justice. I'd have to say my favorite story was the Hal/Ollie one. Those guys sure do love each other. It's really quite heartwarming. Or extremely strange. Anyway, I have to say a smile crept across my face when Ollie stood up for his man after Superman's weird, veiled threat. What was up with THAT? As a Green Lantern, Hal has every right to go after crime on Earth, since it falls under his bubble of protection. Jeez Supes, chill out! For me, this comic book was worth its price just to see Hal bitch out the Justice League while they all stood around dumbfounded.
Needless to say, I was thrilled to see James reach into his Starman books to pull out the Mikaal Tomas Starman. You're not going to find a bigger fan of James' Starman work than me, and when I saw the scene in this comic move to Opal City, I was nearly beside myself with excitement. Hell, I even picked up on the mention of Jake "Bobo" Benetti! God was Starman a great series... Anyway, any bit of Starman James can inject into this mini can only enhance things. Of course I'd love to see Jack Knight pop up, but it seems James isn't keen on bringing us any new Starman material. That's too bad.
Before I go any further, I'd be remiss not to mention the fact that Mauro Cascioli's artwork was simply beautiful. There's nothing more to say about it. It was beautiful. This was definitely a set-up issue. We were given some background into a few characters, but little else. While I would have liked some action, I'm still quite pleased with what this issue gave us. Well, with the exception of Congorilla... For a score, I'll give this comic an 8 1/2 out of 10. Beautiful artwork and a very good story makes this an easy comic to recommend.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Captain America Reborn #1(of 5)
Yay, my comic book order finally arrived at my door today. I've got a lot of very good looking books to get through, but first and foremost is this comic, Captain America Reborn #1. I've been both looking forward to and dreading this comic since I heard it was coming out, and now that I finally have it in my hands, I can't wait to dig into it. The creative team for this mini is Ed Brubaker and Bryan Hitch! This should be good.
-We open with a flashback of Cap storming the beaches of Normandy back in WWII. Then we get a flashback of Cap getting killed after the events of Civil War.
-In the present, Bucky and the Black Widow break onto the HAMMER helicarrier in search of the Time Platform Dr. Doom traded the Red Skull. Following the schematics they received from Nick Fury, the two heroes head to the storage room that should contain not only the destroyed Time Platform, but pieces of Armin Zola as well. Bucky and the Widow find neither, and Bucky begins to smell a trap. He is proven right a few moments later when Ares and Venom, along with a mess of HAMMER agents arrive on the scene to arrest them.
-Sharon Carter and the Falcon head to Pym, and proceed to tell him everything Sharon can remember about her time spent as the Red Skull's captive. She also reveals to Pym that Zola and the Skull were trying to pull Cap out of the timestream using the Time Platform, and that the gun she used to "kill" Cap actually fired some kind of unstable bullets which froze Cap's body in the exact moment in time he was shot(or something like that).
-Norman Osborn has managed to repair Zola, and Zola reveals that due to Sharon's interference when he and the Skull were trying to transfer Cap to the present, Cap has become lost in time(or something like that!). This issue ends with Cap reliving various moments from his life while trying to figure out what's the matter with him.
I actually liked this issue. I did have some problems with the story, and some of the reasoning used by some characters bugged me, but all in all, this was a good, enjoyable first issue. First off, I'll tackle my issues with the story. I really don't like the whole "Cap's lost in time!!!" thing. It just seems to... Convenient I guess. I was expecting something more from a writer of Ed's immense talents. Cap being lost in time just feels uninspired to me. Plus the fact that I didn't understand what the hell Armin Zola has talking about didn't help matters... Damn those mad scientists and their incomprehensible mumbo-jumbo!
My other main problem is the entire idea of bringing Cap back at all. It just doesn't make sense from the Red Skull's point of view. I'm sure as this mini-series progresses we'll find out the Skull had some kind of nefarious reason as to why he wanted to bring Cap back to life, but my complaint is why would the Skull even bother? Its already been established that the Skull has always craved Cap's death at his hands, so why wouldn't he have just been satisfied by the fact that it was his master plan that resulted in Cap's death? Why bring back your worst enemy? My only guess is that the Skull wanted to personally finish Cap off, but still, the man was dead! Why not leave well enough alone? For a score I'll give this comic a 9 out of 10. This was a very strong first issue to this series, and I'll be waiting anxiously to find out what issue #2 has in store for us.
-We open with a flashback of Cap storming the beaches of Normandy back in WWII. Then we get a flashback of Cap getting killed after the events of Civil War.
-In the present, Bucky and the Black Widow break onto the HAMMER helicarrier in search of the Time Platform Dr. Doom traded the Red Skull. Following the schematics they received from Nick Fury, the two heroes head to the storage room that should contain not only the destroyed Time Platform, but pieces of Armin Zola as well. Bucky and the Widow find neither, and Bucky begins to smell a trap. He is proven right a few moments later when Ares and Venom, along with a mess of HAMMER agents arrive on the scene to arrest them.
-Sharon Carter and the Falcon head to Pym, and proceed to tell him everything Sharon can remember about her time spent as the Red Skull's captive. She also reveals to Pym that Zola and the Skull were trying to pull Cap out of the timestream using the Time Platform, and that the gun she used to "kill" Cap actually fired some kind of unstable bullets which froze Cap's body in the exact moment in time he was shot(or something like that).
-Norman Osborn has managed to repair Zola, and Zola reveals that due to Sharon's interference when he and the Skull were trying to transfer Cap to the present, Cap has become lost in time(or something like that!). This issue ends with Cap reliving various moments from his life while trying to figure out what's the matter with him.
I actually liked this issue. I did have some problems with the story, and some of the reasoning used by some characters bugged me, but all in all, this was a good, enjoyable first issue. First off, I'll tackle my issues with the story. I really don't like the whole "Cap's lost in time!!!" thing. It just seems to... Convenient I guess. I was expecting something more from a writer of Ed's immense talents. Cap being lost in time just feels uninspired to me. Plus the fact that I didn't understand what the hell Armin Zola has talking about didn't help matters... Damn those mad scientists and their incomprehensible mumbo-jumbo!
My other main problem is the entire idea of bringing Cap back at all. It just doesn't make sense from the Red Skull's point of view. I'm sure as this mini-series progresses we'll find out the Skull had some kind of nefarious reason as to why he wanted to bring Cap back to life, but my complaint is why would the Skull even bother? Its already been established that the Skull has always craved Cap's death at his hands, so why wouldn't he have just been satisfied by the fact that it was his master plan that resulted in Cap's death? Why bring back your worst enemy? My only guess is that the Skull wanted to personally finish Cap off, but still, the man was dead! Why not leave well enough alone? For a score I'll give this comic a 9 out of 10. This was a very strong first issue to this series, and I'll be waiting anxiously to find out what issue #2 has in store for us.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Uncanny X-Men #512
This issue of Uncanny focuses on Beast and his X-Club(which should be a welcome break from Cyclops and that annoying Emma Frost). This comic is written by Matt Fraction.
-This issue details the X-Club taking a trip back in time to get a blood sample from Dr. Nemesis' parents. Beast reasons that since Nemesis was one of the first modern mutants, his parents blood may have some kind of special quality that Beast and his genius' could exploit to help mutantkind out.
-While in the past, Beast and his team manages to locate Nemesis' folks, but it seems Nemesis' parents have managed to run afoul the Hellfire Club.
-One of Sebastian Shaw's predecessors, who was a member of the Club, builds an early Sentinel to defend humanity from the mutant menace or the Ubermensch that Friedrich Nietzsche wrote about. Yipes, Nietzsche in a comic book?!?
-Upon learning of the presence of Beast and the X-Club, Shaw kidnaps Nemesis' father and steals a power source he was perfecting, using the power source to fuel the Sentinel. Shaw then sends the robot after Beast and company.
-The X-Club manages to destroy the Sentinel and defeat Shaw, but Nemesis' father winds up dying, and his mother is forced into bed rest due to the fact that she was pregnant with Nemesis at the time.
-The X-Club manages to obtain a blood sample from Nemesis' parents and they ask Nemesis' mother to bury the blood sample in Golden Gate Park, where they'll be able to dig it up after returning to the present. The X-Club returns to the present and head to Golden Gate Park, where they discover Nemesis' mother successfully buried the blood samples, but that the sleeping Celestrial choose that very spot to attach itself to the planet, meaning that after everything that they went through, the blood sample is still just out of reach... This issue ends with Dr. Nemesis returning to the past to help deliver himself, but being unable to prevent his mother's death during the labor, which is either really sad or really creepy if you ask me.
To be perfectly frank, reading this comic was kind of a waste of time. While the story was OK, it didn't really lead to anything. Beast's foray into the past was a failure because he still isn't any closer to figuring out a way to fix/save mutantkind. The story falls apart further when you realize that Beast could just head to the past at a different time(a time when Nemesis' parents weren't being harassed by the Hellfire Club)and get a hold of the blood samples then. In other words, why doesn't Beast just continue to head back in time until he finally manages to get his hands on these blood samples? Exactly what is stopping him? The story itself just kind of bugged me. For a score, I'll give this issue a 6 out of 10. If you turn your brain off, you could probably enjoy this comic, but once you really start to think about things, the story just falls flat.
-This issue details the X-Club taking a trip back in time to get a blood sample from Dr. Nemesis' parents. Beast reasons that since Nemesis was one of the first modern mutants, his parents blood may have some kind of special quality that Beast and his genius' could exploit to help mutantkind out.
-While in the past, Beast and his team manages to locate Nemesis' folks, but it seems Nemesis' parents have managed to run afoul the Hellfire Club.
-One of Sebastian Shaw's predecessors, who was a member of the Club, builds an early Sentinel to defend humanity from the mutant menace or the Ubermensch that Friedrich Nietzsche wrote about. Yipes, Nietzsche in a comic book?!?
-Upon learning of the presence of Beast and the X-Club, Shaw kidnaps Nemesis' father and steals a power source he was perfecting, using the power source to fuel the Sentinel. Shaw then sends the robot after Beast and company.
-The X-Club manages to destroy the Sentinel and defeat Shaw, but Nemesis' father winds up dying, and his mother is forced into bed rest due to the fact that she was pregnant with Nemesis at the time.
-The X-Club manages to obtain a blood sample from Nemesis' parents and they ask Nemesis' mother to bury the blood sample in Golden Gate Park, where they'll be able to dig it up after returning to the present. The X-Club returns to the present and head to Golden Gate Park, where they discover Nemesis' mother successfully buried the blood samples, but that the sleeping Celestrial choose that very spot to attach itself to the planet, meaning that after everything that they went through, the blood sample is still just out of reach... This issue ends with Dr. Nemesis returning to the past to help deliver himself, but being unable to prevent his mother's death during the labor, which is either really sad or really creepy if you ask me.
To be perfectly frank, reading this comic was kind of a waste of time. While the story was OK, it didn't really lead to anything. Beast's foray into the past was a failure because he still isn't any closer to figuring out a way to fix/save mutantkind. The story falls apart further when you realize that Beast could just head to the past at a different time(a time when Nemesis' parents weren't being harassed by the Hellfire Club)and get a hold of the blood samples then. In other words, why doesn't Beast just continue to head back in time until he finally manages to get his hands on these blood samples? Exactly what is stopping him? The story itself just kind of bugged me. For a score, I'll give this issue a 6 out of 10. If you turn your brain off, you could probably enjoy this comic, but once you really start to think about things, the story just falls flat.
Daredevil #119
This is part 4 of the "eturn of the King"storyline and is written by Ed Brubaker.
-This issue has more of DD running around but accomplishing nothing. His alliance with Kingpin is beginning to fall apart, as it seems that Kingpin has been using the Owl as his proxy(behind Daredevil's back)to trick the Hand into doing his dirty work, ie. kill off the mobsters who have sprouted up in NYC while he's been out of country.
-Foggy tells Dakota that DD has been missing since Foggy fired him, and that he's worried about Matt. Dakota decides to find DD in order to prevent him from making any more dumb decisions.
-Daredevil tries to find Kingpin, but runs into Master Izo instead, who wants to show Matt something.
-Lady Bullseye reveals to the Owl that she knows Kingpin has been directing him, and she demands to meet Fisk. Before going to see Fisk she sends several members of the Hand to kill Foggy. While Fisk and Lady Bullseye are meeting, Dakota manages to follow Kingpin's gofer, Turk, back to Fisk's hideout. Dakota watches the meeting between Fisk and Lady Bullseye, until Lady Bullseye makes her and the Owl swoops in and knocks Dakota out, ending this issue.
There, that wasn't all that bad. This comic was good, but the delay between issue #118 and this one kind of hurt the flow of the story for me. I kept forgetting what happened last issue, and that definitely took away from the overall enjoyment of this issue. What I did understand I liked, with the exception of Matt himself. He was really acting stupid/whiny this entire issue. He makes a mess of his life, cheats on his wife, makes a deal with his arch-nemesis and then whines about it all... Ugh, enough already Matt! You've made your bed, now sleep in it! For a score I'll give this comic a 7 1/2 out of 10 and hope that the next issue comes out in a more timely fashion.
-This issue has more of DD running around but accomplishing nothing. His alliance with Kingpin is beginning to fall apart, as it seems that Kingpin has been using the Owl as his proxy(behind Daredevil's back)to trick the Hand into doing his dirty work, ie. kill off the mobsters who have sprouted up in NYC while he's been out of country.
-Foggy tells Dakota that DD has been missing since Foggy fired him, and that he's worried about Matt. Dakota decides to find DD in order to prevent him from making any more dumb decisions.
-Daredevil tries to find Kingpin, but runs into Master Izo instead, who wants to show Matt something.
-Lady Bullseye reveals to the Owl that she knows Kingpin has been directing him, and she demands to meet Fisk. Before going to see Fisk she sends several members of the Hand to kill Foggy. While Fisk and Lady Bullseye are meeting, Dakota manages to follow Kingpin's gofer, Turk, back to Fisk's hideout. Dakota watches the meeting between Fisk and Lady Bullseye, until Lady Bullseye makes her and the Owl swoops in and knocks Dakota out, ending this issue.
There, that wasn't all that bad. This comic was good, but the delay between issue #118 and this one kind of hurt the flow of the story for me. I kept forgetting what happened last issue, and that definitely took away from the overall enjoyment of this issue. What I did understand I liked, with the exception of Matt himself. He was really acting stupid/whiny this entire issue. He makes a mess of his life, cheats on his wife, makes a deal with his arch-nemesis and then whines about it all... Ugh, enough already Matt! You've made your bed, now sleep in it! For a score I'll give this comic a 7 1/2 out of 10 and hope that the next issue comes out in a more timely fashion.
Must post reviews.....
OK, it's time for me to get serious here. I usually buy well over 30 comics a month, and after I read each new issue I post a review. Lately I've been reading and reviewing one comic a day. Simple arithmetic tells me that I've got to start to pick up the pace or my "to read" pile is going to continue to grow ever larger. In an effort to get more comics posted on this blog, I've got to start cutting down on the size of my reviews... Dramatically! To do this I'm going to try to streamline the actual review portion of my posts. I'll still analyze and score 'em like I normally do, I'm just going to cut down on the wordage. Or try to at least. See, I'm a very wordy writer, so it's quite difficult for me to cut down on the number of words I use. However, for the sake of expediency, I will try my best. Let's see how things work out as I get ready to review Daredevil #119.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Green Lantern Corps #38
I honestly wasn't planning on posting anything tonight. After putting my list of villains up(which you can conveniently find here)and rearranging my comic book collection(that took me a legit two hours, and I'm still not done!!!), I was just going to read a few other blogs I follow and call it a night. Then the mail came and GLC #38 arrived... This has easily been one of my favorite comics month in and month out, so how could I NOT read it? This issue is written by Peter Tomasi and drawn by Patrick Gleason.
-The Green Lanterns who were on Oa during the destruction of the Battery Shell are completely frozen, until Kilowog manages to get the Lanterns moving on search and rescue operations.
-Soranik, tries to remove Sinestro's mark from her face but proves unable to. Although she doesn't want to believe it, she confides that she DOES believe Sinistro's claims that he is indeed her birth father.
-The Daxamites begin to rout Mongul's Sinestro Corps and Mongul decides to pull up stakes and abandon Daxam. Before he leaves though, Mongul ominously announces plans to conquer a planet that would give the Sinestro Corps a home as well as a symbol of their power. Hmm...
-The rest of the Guardians return from Okaara to find Oa stripped of Battery Shell. The Guardians are none to happy about this development, and they order the Alpha Lanterns to begin secretly executing the captured Sinistro Corps members who were involved in the Sciencell breakouts.
-Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner get wind of what the Alpha Lanterns were up to and stand between the shackled prisoners and the Alpha Lanterns. Kyle tells the Alphas that the Green Lantern Corps has never killed unarmed prisoners before and that they won't begin to now. Guy and Kyle continue to complain about the fact that the executions are being carried out in secret, which prompts Scar and the rest of the Guardians to transport the Alphas, Guy and Kyle, and the prisoners to the surface, where the Guardians announce the executions will be public.
-Kyle tries to state why the Corps shouldn't go down this path, but Scar explains that the GLC must be all will and no heart. The Guardians then transport the pair back home to Earth and proceed with the now public executions. This issue then ends with an asteroid in Sector 666 exploding and hundreds of Black Lantern rings being sent out into the cosmos.
This issue was a bit of a letdown to me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but this issue felt more like a clean-up/set-up issue instead of the conclusion to an awesome six-part storyline. For example, after the events of last issue, I figured the jig was up when it came to Scar and the Guardians. I mean, she was responsible for the destruction of the Battery Shell, but the Guardians were STILL oblivious to her actions! How stupid are the little blue guys??? They really believe the destruction was from the Sceincell riots, and not some outside force?
I was also kind of bummed by the fact that the stuff occurring on Daxam was only given two pages... I was enjoying the battle for Daxam and I was hoping for more, not just a page of Mongul stating he was leaving... For a score, I'll give this issue a 9 out of 10. Yes, after all those complaints I still gave this comic a 9. Don't get me wrong, this was a very good comic. Probably better than like 85% of the stuff I'll wind up reading all month. However this issue was a bit of a step back from the 10's I've been giving this series in recent months. With all that said though, I'd still recommend this issue highly.
-The Green Lanterns who were on Oa during the destruction of the Battery Shell are completely frozen, until Kilowog manages to get the Lanterns moving on search and rescue operations.
-Soranik, tries to remove Sinestro's mark from her face but proves unable to. Although she doesn't want to believe it, she confides that she DOES believe Sinistro's claims that he is indeed her birth father.
-The Daxamites begin to rout Mongul's Sinestro Corps and Mongul decides to pull up stakes and abandon Daxam. Before he leaves though, Mongul ominously announces plans to conquer a planet that would give the Sinestro Corps a home as well as a symbol of their power. Hmm...
-The rest of the Guardians return from Okaara to find Oa stripped of Battery Shell. The Guardians are none to happy about this development, and they order the Alpha Lanterns to begin secretly executing the captured Sinistro Corps members who were involved in the Sciencell breakouts.
-Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner get wind of what the Alpha Lanterns were up to and stand between the shackled prisoners and the Alpha Lanterns. Kyle tells the Alphas that the Green Lantern Corps has never killed unarmed prisoners before and that they won't begin to now. Guy and Kyle continue to complain about the fact that the executions are being carried out in secret, which prompts Scar and the rest of the Guardians to transport the Alphas, Guy and Kyle, and the prisoners to the surface, where the Guardians announce the executions will be public.
-Kyle tries to state why the Corps shouldn't go down this path, but Scar explains that the GLC must be all will and no heart. The Guardians then transport the pair back home to Earth and proceed with the now public executions. This issue then ends with an asteroid in Sector 666 exploding and hundreds of Black Lantern rings being sent out into the cosmos.
This issue was a bit of a letdown to me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but this issue felt more like a clean-up/set-up issue instead of the conclusion to an awesome six-part storyline. For example, after the events of last issue, I figured the jig was up when it came to Scar and the Guardians. I mean, she was responsible for the destruction of the Battery Shell, but the Guardians were STILL oblivious to her actions! How stupid are the little blue guys??? They really believe the destruction was from the Sceincell riots, and not some outside force?
I was also kind of bummed by the fact that the stuff occurring on Daxam was only given two pages... I was enjoying the battle for Daxam and I was hoping for more, not just a page of Mongul stating he was leaving... For a score, I'll give this issue a 9 out of 10. Yes, after all those complaints I still gave this comic a 9. Don't get me wrong, this was a very good comic. Probably better than like 85% of the stuff I'll wind up reading all month. However this issue was a bit of a step back from the 10's I've been giving this series in recent months. With all that said though, I'd still recommend this issue highly.
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