Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Comic Gazing for: 3/24/10

Hooray, my comic book order finally arrived today! After school, I happily tore into it, and was... surprised by the lack of new comics in it... That order contained those two real light weeks of books on the 3rd and the 10th. I had a few back issues in there which should be pretty good though, and I'm REALLY looking forward to reading a few of the new books I did get(REBELS #14 & Dark X-Men #5 would be at the very top of my list), so life is good for me. See, it doesn't take much to make me happy!

Other then that, I ordered a new PS3 game today, since Gamestop was having a 20% off any new PS3 games sale. While I've been THOROUGHLY enjoying NHL 2010(maybe the best hockey game EVER, and I've played 'em all!), I figured I might as well take advantage of the sale while it was in effect(Spring Break is rapidly approaching you know!). So what did I buy? Well I was going to pick up God of War 3(even though I'm one of the few PS2 owners who never played GoW 1 or 2), but my amigo JT(of the awesome Jason Todd's Comic Spot)managed to convince me to pick up Dragon Age Origins instead. I'm a sucker for two types of games because of their long replay value, sports titles and RPG's, which is what Dragon Age is. So if the game sucks, I'll be coming after you JT!

Before I get into this week's picks, I'm adding a NEW feature to my Comic Gazing post! Yeah I know, AWESOME! After I do my write up for each comic, I'll give a number on a scale of 1 to 10 denoting just how much I'm looking forward to reading each comic. Alright, enough small talk, it's time to go Comic Gazing!

Batman: Streets of Gotham #10: FINALLY we get Paul Dini and his Zsasz storyline back, which I've been looking forward to for the past two or three months now! Interest Level: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Green Lantern #53: Well, I know this comic will have something to do with Blackest Night, I just don't know what... All I do know is that I'm going to be pretty happy when Blackest Night ends, although I will admit to being just a bit pissed that Blackest Night is going to immediately lead into Brightest Day, ANOTHER multi-part x-over event... Come on already DC, how about a little bit of a break between "EPIC" crossovers! Interest Level: 8 out of 10.

Justice League: Rise of Arsenal #1: Now this one has me a bit torn... I am and have always been a huge Roy Harper fan, and when he lost his arm in Cry for Justice #5(?)I was seething... How the hell do you maim one of your deepest characters?!? BUT, if nothing else, the maiming of Roy Harper(which is in the early running for worst comic book moment of the year!)seems to be shining some attention on the character... I don't know what DC is going to do with a one armed archer(that's kind of like the one legged man in an ass-kicking contest, isn't it?), but here's hoping Roy actually gets something mainstream from this... Interest Level: 9 out of 10.

Superman/Batman #70: The last issue of this series was OK, and I'm kind of/sort of interested in seeing where the story goes, which is the only reason I'm buying this comic... If things don't pick up dramatically here though, I may drop this book in favor of Supergirl, which impressed me when I read the past two issues. Interest Level: 6 out of 10.

Superman #698: All I know is that if Superman doesn't return to this series with issue #700, I riot! I think the great Mon-El/Flamebird and Nightwing experiment of 2009 should definitely end, and Supes should take his spot back in Action Comics as well as this title. Why not have Mon and Nightwing/Flamebird move over to the Adventure Comics title and split time with Superboy there? Interest Level: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Avengers The Initiative #34: I love this series... I really do. I've enjoyed it from the beginning, and as it rapidly approaches it's end, I have to admit that I am getting a bit sad. Christos Gage has been pumping out very strong stories here, and in my humble opinion, he is currently doing the best Avengers related comic book. When the Avengers titles are relaunched after Siege, I'm all for Christos taking over the main Avengers book. Interest Level: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Captain America #604: It's Captain America and it's written by Ed Brubaker... Do I really need to say anything more? If you have even a passing interest in Marvel Comics or Captain America, you should be buying this series. 'Nuff said! Interest Level: 9 out of 10.

Deadpool #21: This is THANKFULLY the final part of the Hit-Monkey storyline... I've already gone over my hatred of all things monkey in several prior posts, so I'll spare you guys from more of my monkey venom, but yeah, I hate monkeys... Interest Level: 7 out of 10.

Mighty Avengers #35: One word: ULTRON!!! Ultron is my all-time favorite Avengers foe, and whenever he(it)pops up in an Avengers comic, I'm always excited... Well, except for when BENDIS turned Ultron into a female robot, but let's all disregard that for the sake of my sanity... Interest Level: 9 out of 10.

New Avengers #63: Oh god no, it's another installment of New Avengers... WHY?!? *sigh* Well, as an Avengers fan I'm obligated to read this garbage, even though I know it's going to be painful... Interest Level: 1 out of 10.

Thor #608: This is a Siege x-over issue, and it should feature Ragnarok(the evil Thor clone from Civil War), so although I don't normally pick up Thor comics, I'm really excited about this one! Interest Level: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Thunderbolts #142: This is also a Siege x-over comic, which is why I'm picking it up. The last issue was pretty good, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this one will follow suit. Interest Level: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Uncanny X-Men #522: Yay, Shadowcat looks to be returning with this issue...... And just so you know, that last line is LITERALLY dripping with sarcasm. I HATE Shadowcat so much it hurts, and the fact that she is ALREADY being brought back, while Jean Grey continues to rot in her grave just proves that the writers of Marvel's mutant titles hate me. Interest Level: 1 out of 10.

X-Factor #203: I have to admit that I'm glad the last storyline with the Fantastic Four is over, because X-Factor works better(to me at least)somewhat disconnected from the rest of Marvel's heroes. So long as Peter David is at the helm here, I have little doubt that this should be a good to great comic though. Interest Level: 7 1/2 out of 10.

And that's it. 14 new books this week, which is pretty much perfectly normal for me. Shockingly, this is the second straight week Marvel is taking more of my money then DC, this time by a count of 9 to 5! After months of DC domination, Marvel seems to be making quite the comeback in the battle for my attention/cash. Granted, two of the Marvel books should be absolutely atrocious, but still, even if I was to eliminate those two comics, Marvel would still be winning. Now the question becomes, when will DC break Marvel's grip and retake the top spot? Only time will tell... That's it everyone, until next time, Long Live The Legion!

12 comments:

  1. This is a Hell of a post. I got my blog plugged, you finally got your comics and I was able to convince you to get Dragon Age, which you are going to LOVE. If ya don;t like it, I'll um... write an article about anything of your choosing.

    As for your upcoming comics I gotta say I'm with you on the thoughts about Arsenal, I'm hoping this helps him because I still think taking his arm was really dumb...

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  2. I figured you'd like the plug! You plug me on your blog enough, so that's the least I could do! Plus, if I didn't you'd just start plugging it yourself! :-)

    I'm pretty big on RPG's, so I'm pretty confident I'll enjoy Dragon Age. It's just a matter of finding the time to play it that's going to be a problem, especially if it's as deep as you say it is!

    Yeah, the Arsenal thing is def something that shouldn't have happened, but if it leads to an Arsenal series or him getting a bigger spot in the DCU, maybe it'll have been for the best... I mean, if nothing else, can't Cyborg or somebody get the guy a robotic arm?

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  3. Lol The funny thing is, you know I most definitely would plug it myself. But thanks again :P

    Yeah, I had to wait like a month after I got it just to find the time to enjoy it but it's pretty rich with a nice storyline. I read some dude had logged over 300 hours and still wasn't done with it.

    Funny thing is I read an interview on IGN after Roy lost his arm and they said he definitely won't be getting a cybernetic arm. So I don't know what's gonna happen, but like you said, maybe it's for the best? Only time will tell I guess.

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  4. Well, like I said, Spring Break is rapidly approaching(April 3-April 11!)so I figure I'll probably break out Dragon Age as a change up from the NHL game, which I've been playing for months now!

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  5. From the previews it seems as if he gets a mechanical arm.

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  6. Yeah, I noticed in one of the comics I read(I think the Rise and Fall Special)while the heroes are standing over Roy's bed, Cyborg is sitting in the corner tinkering with a mechanical arm. Now if Roy does get a robotic arm(which I hope does actually happen), what exactly was the purpose of maiming him in the first place?

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  7. To make Green Arrow kill people?
    To have Dinah be all pathetic? Again...
    To, erm, I dunno. Tell a stupidly annoying story with my favourite characters >:(

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  8. Yeah, the whole Cry for Justice mini, along with the Rise and Fall stuff must piss you off even more then most other people seeing as that you're such a big GA fan Nagash... Putting the GA and BC stuff aside for a moment, I'm still fuming over the way Roy and Lian were treated in that rubbish. Simply horrible.

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  9. I like the entire dynamic of them all. Green Arrows I and II, Dinah, Roy, Speedy and their associated friends and family, like Lian etc. But nooooo, that has to go sploodybye and caused NERDRAGE in soooo many people. And how many times does Star City need to get blown up?
    It's been twice in a few years: first Merlyn and Doctor Light blow it up, then a wall is erected in the city causing massive social upheaval, and then, this year, Prometheus blows it up AGAIN.
    AAAARGH

    I wouldn't have minded if they'd just have Roy maimed and his arm lost, as that can be easily treated. It would just be the story of him regaining his ability to shoot. Which could have been told much better with Conner too. Maybe they could've had Roy being a one armed archer, ala The Dark Knight Returns GA.

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  10. Hey that's right, I'd forgotten about that Infinite Crisis x-over where Light and Merlyn blow up Star City! So not only does the story suck, it's not even very original!

    I'll one up you, I'd have been fine with Roy getting maimed AND with Star City blowing up(AGAIN!), because both of those events would have provided more then enough fuel to further whatever storylines DC had planned for Roy and Ollie. I also like your idea of Roy learning to shoot one armed like GA in the Dark Knight books. Why not, that gimmick isn't being used. Plus like you say, that story fits into some of the characters better. You could have Ollie out on his rampage still, while Dinah with her moral support, Connor with his Budhist ways to calm Roy down and Lian as emotional support. Jeez, you should have tried to pitch that to DC!

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  11. If I've read it, I'll remember it ;)

    Exactly. But noooo, shock value is too important to the damn editors of both DC and Marvel to tell some proper stories. Especially DC - there's been far too many deaths recently

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  12. "If I've read it, I'll remember it ;)" Well that's better then me... I've forgotten more comic book storylines then most normal people will read in a lifetime!

    Let's hope that with the end of Blackest Night DC finally starts to cut down on the number of deaths. I mean, we've had a whole major x-over that basically revolved around death, so here's hoping they step back a little bit.

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