Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Quick Hits: 2/2/11

Hey X-Maniacs, as promised, here's a bonus Quick Hits post. Be warned though, I go over 6 comics here, 4 DC books and 2 Marvel books, and the best score out of the bunch was a VERY mediocre 6 1/2. So yeah, not exactly the best bunch of books... But hey, good or bad, let's get on with it!

Action Comics #897:

Summary: Lex, Robot Lois and one of Lex's scientists head to Arkham since he's been getting readings that one of those black spheres was in the cell of none other then the Joker. Lex meets the Joker, who naturally plays mind games first, before revealing that he did indeed have one of those spheres. Joker tells Lex that he'd allow Lex to experiment on the sphere, provided Lex expanded its size so Joker could enter it. Lex does this and Joker nearly goes in, but is taken aback by the sphere, telling Lex that if he kept abusing the sphere there could be terrible consequences. By this point the sphere has turned white and Lex storms out, deciding he'd have that room locked down. With Lex gone, the Lois Robot throws the scientist into the sphere, where he appears to die. Lex rushes back in, and Robot Lois blames Joker, who doesn't deny it. We end with Larfleeze deciding he needed to hunt down Lex.

Thoughts: Well, I did enjoy Joker's interactions with Lex, as I expected. My problem with this comic was the fact that I just didn't understand what Joker and Lex were talking about... I mean it was fun, but I'd have enjoyed it SO much more had I understood what was going on. Oh, plus I deducted 1/2 from my final score because of the Larfleeze appearance. I REALLY hate that thing.

Score: 6 out of 10.You're a weird one, Joker...


Wonder Woman #606:

Summary: That centaur thing from last issue moves in for the kill on Wonder Woman, but WW is saved by an Amazon. The centaur kills the Amazon, which puts WW into a rage, leading to her killing the centaur. From there, WW heads to the house of her friend and discovers that her friend's son was abducted by a man-bull creature. A sign for the Morrigan was also left at the scene, telling WW and her Amazons who was responsible for the abduction. WW and crew head to a rundown temple where they are attacked by an army of reanimated corpses.

Thoughts: I just can't get into this story... I just can't. I've tried and tried, but I just don't like it. Sorry, I'm sure there are some people who are enjoying JMS's WW work, but I am definitely not one of them. The story is plodding, and I just want to know why WW has turned into what she is now. Nothing else about this story really matters.

Score: 5 out of 10.Wonder Woman: Teenage Amazon sure does have a temper!


Justice Society of America #47:

Summary: Green Lantern(Alan Scott)leaves his hospital room and heads to the emerald city on the moon, hoping to heal his broken neck. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to work. Dr. Fate has captured Thunder's soul, preventing it from passing on to the afterlife, with the hope that Dr. Midnite could fix her body so she could return to it. The rest of the team mill about trying to figure out who had killed the town's mayor and Thunder, and the man responsible, Dr. Chaos, calls Mr. Terrific and tells him that he'd help Terrific reverse the disease that was stealing Terrific's intelligence, provided Terrific freed Scythe, who was responsible for all of the devastation early on in this storyline. This issue ends with Flash(Jay Garrick), Dr. Midnite and Wildcat confronting Dr. Chaos, but learning that somebody had freed Scythe.

Thoughts: Kind of like the Wonder Woman comic, I've grown real tired of this storyline. The sooner it's over, the better. I don't like Scythe, or the whole, “super-terrorist” storyline, and I don't know WHERE Dr. Chaos even came from! So far Marc Guggenheim's JSA run has REALLY disappointed me.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.My "To do" list is nearly identical, except I have "Blackmail JT" at the bottom.


Green Arrow #8:

Summary: All sorts of people have headed to Starwood Forest to investigate it. From STAR Labs, to the JSA, to Lexcorp, to Poison Ivy. Each group of people want to see exactly what the forest is, and how it does the things it does. Meanwhile, in the forest, Green Arrow and Galahad run into Jason Blood, who reveals that he had managed to separate himself from Etrigan. Etrigan attacks the trio, but ends up getting bound by the trees in the forest. With Etrigan captured, Galahad hears some disturbance nearby and head off, finding a bunch of STAR Labs scientists studying the forest. Galahad attacks, but is confronted by Dr. Midnite and Mr. Terrific. They manage to drag Galahad out of the forest and he goes crazy, collapsing. By this time, GA arrives on the scene, scolds the JSA members and drags Galahad back into the forest. Blood decides that it wasn't right for him to separate from Etrigan, since Etrigan would have nobody keeping an eye on him and decides to try to re-bond with Etrigan. Etrigan doesn't like the idea of being stuck with Blood again, and this issue ends with the Phantom Stranger appearing before the two enemies.

Thoughts: Meh. I don't care about Galahad, GA, OR Starwood Forest. The best thing about this comic was the battle between Blood and Etrigan(who I've always been quite a fan of). Phantom Stranger? Once again, meh. This was yet another comic I just didn't seem able to get into.

Score: 5 out of 10.Um, isn't Etrigan supposed to rhyme?


Secret Avengers #9:

Summary: In order to rescue his lady love, Sharon Carter, Steve Rogers decides to meet with the man who kidnapped her, John Steele. Steele wants to exchange Carter for Shang-Chi, and Steve agrees, but naturally with a plan. Steve and Shang meet with Steele and a bunch of his Shadow Council goons, and the two sides trade, with Steve sending Shang over while Steel allows Sharon to head to Steve. With Sharon safe, the Secret Avengers burst out of a building and head towards the Council goons, while Steve attacks the much stronger Steele. Steele realizes that his numbers would eventually be overrun by the Avengers, so he reveals that he had rigged the entire building they were on top of to explode. With no choice, the Secret Avengers are forced to allow Steele to take Shang and escape. Shang winds up locked in a prison, where his father announces that he'd be absorbing Shang's lifeforce to extend his own unnatural life. This issue ends with one of the Shadow Council cannon fodder revealing that they were actually Moon Knight, who had snuck into the Council's base, giving Steve and the Secret Avengers an in.

Thoughts: This issue was okay, but I just don't like Shang-Chi... I've NEVER liked him, and I don't care about him OR his crazy father. I seem to be saying this a lot during post, but again, the sooner this storyline is over, the better!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.You know I'm going to post the Steve Rogers fight scene in this series every time!


Namor #6:

Summary: While studying the mystical amulet worn by Loa, some demons spring out and drag Namor away. Namor wakes up in a desert and is confronted by several horrible sights, including several scorpions with skull heads, and the decapitated heads of the soldiers he led on failed attacks on the surface world. After some wandering, Namor realizes that he had been dragged into Hell by those demons, who reveal that they were the spirits of several dead Atlantian kings. Back in Atlantis, Namor's subjects, as well as Emma Frost and Dr. Nemesis are trying to figure out what happened to Namor. This issue ends with Dr. Doom strolling in, announcing that he wanted to help his old ally Namor escape from the dark realm he had been sucked into.

Thoughts: I actually liked this comic a lot. The Namor in Hell portions were much better than the parts with that annoying Emma Frost and the equally annoying Dr. Nemesis. As for Loa, I don't care about her one way or the other. My biggest gripe with this issue was the ultra vain Dr. Doom walking into Namor's throne room with the top of his head exposed... Doom ALWAYS has his head covered... ALWAYS! I've read LOADS of Fantastic Four comics(as well as other series)with Doom, and he NEVER shows his deformed head/face. Only his robots can see that, never another living being. I get that Doom didn't want to wear his cape and cowl under water, but why wasn't he wearing a full metal mask? That one little thing made me deduct a 1/2 from the final score here, because it just seemed so wrong.

Score: 6 out of 10.Why is the top of Doom's head showing?!?!?

48 comments:

  1. Couldn't agree more about Lex and Joker. I loved their interaction but there were too many inside "jokes" between the two I guess that left me confused. I'm sure we'll find out later, but it hurt the understanding here.

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  2. Yeah, I mean I didn't hate that comic at all, but I can't help but feel it could have been SO much better! Oh well...

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  3. Agreed, one thing I can say is between Action comics and you liking that Batman and Robin arc, we're becoming pretty big Paul Cornell fans.

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  4. Not only that, but Cornell will always get goodwill from me since he was the guy who wrote the Dark X-Men mini-series for Marvel... You know, the mini-series that brought Nate Grey back! For that I'll always give him some leeway.

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  5. I didn't know that. SO he's your Judd Winick in a way. Well he's a damn good writer so I'm a fan. Right now I'd say he, Fabian, Judd, Slott and Bryan are my favorite writers right now.

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  6. Have you read Cornell's Captain Britain series? I heard that one was quite good, and people were pretty sad to see it go when it got cancelled.

    I've never been a huge Shang-Chi fan either, but I think that's just because I don't know that much about him. It seems like whenever he shows up you're just expected to know all about him, and I really don't. It doesn't help that they've never released any trades or anything reprinting his original series (not even a lame black-and-white Essential!). I want to give him a chance, but Marvel has never really given me the chance to get to know him.

    And yeah, that non-helmeted Doom thing is pretty weak. I'll be interested to hear if there's an explanation next issue. But that Namor series has been decent so far, huh? When they first announced it I was pretty skeptical, but now it seems kind of promising (other than the Doom thing).

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  7. Ha! Yes, I guess in a way Cornell would be my Winick, wouldn't he? :P

    After Dark X-Men came out I really wanted to pick up that Capt. Britian and the MI-13 series, but alas, like many other books I've wanted, I never wound up picking it up. Maybe one day...

    Great point, Marc! Where exactly did Shang-Chi really get most of his exposure? I remember he was in some X-Men storyline in the late 90's that I hated, but where exactly did he first appear, etc... I really know almost NOTHING about the guy, which is weird.

    I guess Doom's head was exposed because he didn't want to wear his cape and cowl in the water. I mean that's fine and good, but why didn't he have the full metal head guard on that Kristoff wore while he was pretending to be Doom? That exposed head thing bothered the HELL out of me!

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  8. I haven't read Captain Britain and MI13 either but I'd like to. I know there was a lot of vampire-related stuff in that series...so as a fan of Curse of the Mutants, you'd probably enjoy it!

    Shang-Chi had a long-lived ongoing series in the 1970s to mid-1980s, but I've never read any of it since, as I mentioned, Marvel has never bothered to collect it. It's too bad, because I've heard it was really good. Alas, I guess we're just never meant to know anything about that character...

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  9. Yeah, I know that CB/MI-13 had a rather large vampire storyline running through it, and it IS written by Cornell, but I've just never been much of a fan of the Excalibur characters... To be honest, if Capt. Britain wasn't named in the title, I'd probably be WAY more likely to have picked it up when it came out. Hell, I'd have grabbed it if it was Pete Wisdom and the MI-13 in a heartbeat! I just have this irrational dislike for Capt. Britain... Maybe it's because of Psylocke, maybe it's because of Chris Claremont and his bizarre obsession with Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers... I don't know what it is, but some force has always kept me from getting those trades...

    HA! Shang-Chi, the greatest mystery in the history of the Marvel U! That's so weird, because Marvel basically releases EVERYTHING in some form of collected edition. Maybe after his Secret Avengers appearance he'll finally get some sort of collected treatment.

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  10. Yeah, I get what you mean about the Excalibur characters. That series always gave me a weird vibe, and I still get it whenever I see some of the characters from it portrayed in certain ways. Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler are still pretty cool in my book, though.

    I think the Captain Britain angle is probably what made me not pick it up yet too. Pete Wisdom would indeed be an easy sell, for me at least. Cornell also did a MAX miniseries starring Pete Wisdom, which supposedly sets up some plot points for Captain Britain and MI13....so I'm pretty sure Pete's a part of that series in some capacity.

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  11. Lmao wait... I skipped that JSA review since I don't read it... so I JUST realized you said Blackmail JT. I see I have to pay more attention to the posts with comics I don't read now, you sneaky jerk, you. Lol

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  12. Out of all the Excalibur characters, I'd probably have to say I only really liked Nightcrawler, and we all know what happened to him! I just never liked Kitty Pryde. And that's ALL because of the way Claremont writes female characters. Plus the whole creepy pedophile sub-plot between Kitty and Colossus. Yeah, she's one character I've always hated, and I can't ever see that changing. Unlike X-23 and Damian, there's just too much history for me to ignore with her.

    I loved Pete Wisdom. He has always seemed way more interesting than Capt. Britain... I'm telling you, I KNOW I would have picked up Pete Wisdom and The MI-13!

    HA! See that, JT, I always hide little easter eggs in like all of my reviews! You skip a review, and you potentially miss the easter egg! :D

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  13. I feel like you're exaggerating. Lol do you REALLY ALWAYS put an easter egg in? If so, I'm gonna start going over this blog with a fine-toothed comb, as opposed to my lax, somewhat average toothed-comb.

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  14. HA! Yes, EVERY SINGLE post I put up has at least 6 or 7 easter eggs in it! Seriously! For reals! :P

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  15. Lol I don't believe you.... I really don't. But I guess I have to take your word for it and look for them. If I find them do I win anything? :P

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  16. I'll take that, it's better than the complete LACK of respect you've always had for me. :P

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  17. I wouldn't say "COMPLETE"... I'd say... "ALMOST complete"! :D

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  18. Lol well what garnered that TINY biut of respect? :P

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  19. You caught me, I was actually lying! :D

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  20. Lmao, you are SUCH an ass. Yeah... your Hawke on DA:2 DEFINITELY needs to be a bad guy. :P

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  21. I wonder exactly how many times you've called me an ass or a jerk. I bet it's well into the hundreds by now! That should PROBABLY tell me something about myself, and yet it doesn't! :D

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  22. You know what's funny, it probly IS in the 100s, ya jerkass. Remember that ep of Simpsons where Homer joined that cult with the Batman song replaced by lea-der! I just thought of it cause he said "Outta my way, Jerk-ass!"

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  23. I actually do remember that! Man, like it's not bad enough to be called a jerk and an ass, now I'm a Jerk-ass....

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  24. Yeah, that's until I can think of something even worse to call ya buddy :D Any ideas?

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  25. I don't know, jerk-ass is pretty good... Maybe... Wait a minute, why would I GIVE you names to call me?!?

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  26. Haha, the fact that you almost did gives me endless delight.I could always alternate between Jerk-ass, Street Trash, and Street Jerk.

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  27. "street jerk" How come we have so many things ro call me?!

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  28. And why am I talking like Scooby-Doo?!?

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  29. Lmao, that made my day Raggy! THERE you GO! Do you look like Shaggy X? I mean you're tall, lanky, long hippy hair. It sound like you look like Shaggy.

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  30. Hmm... Maybe I do... My hair is a bit longer, and I'm usually sporting more facial hair, but I guess that's pretty close... Yoinks, whenever you think of Scooby-Doo you'll probably think of me now! :D

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  31. Haha, and you eat whole Digorno's, which explains your munchies. Yep, thats you to a T. Man... my mind is blown now. And speaking of facial hair, what do you rock, a beard, goatee, sideburns?

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  32. Well right now I'm pretty scruffy since I haven't shaved in like a week and a half... Usually it's a goatee and sideburns of varying lengths, depending on the mood I'm in. Like right now I'll probably go with the REALLY long sideburns since that'll give me less to shave come tomorrow! Yep, as we've established, I am a lazy, lazy man...

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  33. Lol I hasn't shaved for like three weeks so I had the bushy beard with stuff getting caught in it when I went to sleep like lint so I just shaved it low. I'm almost as lazy as you but not King Lazy like yourself.

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  34. Nobody can match up to me, the comic blogging machine/laziness king! :D Hmm, those two things really don't seem like they should go together, but strangely enough they do!

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  35. I was about to say, shouldn't you have to drop one of those monikers for the other one to be true? :P

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  36. Yes, I'm an oxymoron... And please, no jokes about that!

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  37. You make it too easy X. So instead, I'll just ask you this question. You, Me, Marc and Kello, which of us would be Hank, Bill, Boomhauer and Dale. Go.

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  38. Where do you come up with this stuff?!? :D

    Hmm, Kello would be Bill. Marc would be... Dale? I'd HAVE to be Boomhauer(or at least old X would...), which would leave you as Hank! Well you do the Hank voice so well I guess that's a natural. Okay, who exactly would you go with, and WHERE did this question even come from?!

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  39. Lol I'd actually go with the exact same picks. And as for where that question came up? I literally have NO idea... It just popped into my head. You know you love my random questions :P

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  40. "You know you love my random questions" God help me, I do... :D So you'd be Hank, huh... Interesting... Would that make Lisha Peggy?

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  41. Haha it would, which she'd probably enjoy cause she could say "I am Lisha Ann!" and "Ho Yeah!" and other things. Although Bill does stalk Peggy....

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  42. Well, it IS Kello we're talking about! :D

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  43. Lmao, you said it, not me X. Laaaaaadybird.... come get your din din.

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  44. Would it bother you if Kello was stalking Lisha? Because if the answer is no, I may just become Bill! :D

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  45. Lmao. Anyone can stalk Lisha all they want, but she's with me baby! Woooooo Besides, I already know you're Bill when it comes to that... ya jerk-ass.

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  46. HA!!! I don't even have a response to that, JT... :D

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  47. Haha, I figured you'd say a Bill line but I can't think of anything at the moment, so well played :P

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