Fear Itself #4 & Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #3

Well, there's no doubt which two comics I'll be reading first today. I'm not even going to waste any time with an introduction here. Let's just get right into it.

Fear Itself #4(of 7):

Summary: Thor is cast out of Asgard by Odin since Thor was insistent on attempting to save humanity from the Serpent's influence. Unfortunately for anybody who cares about good comic book stories, he was too late to save Bucky Barnes, who is, officially, dead... Thor meets up with Nick Fury, Iron Man, Black Widow and Steve Rogers, and he informs them of a prophecy that states that he would have to face this Serpent, and they would both die in the process. Since it had been prophesied, Thor tells his allies to stay out of the battle so they don't end up as casualties of what is, ultimately, an Asgardian battle. Steve dons his old Captain America outfit and tells Thor that he'd be on the front lines with his friends fighting until the end. While that's going on, the Serpent possessed Attuma is gathering more and more energy for the Serpent until the Serpent's lair is finally lifted from the bottom of the ocean floor, and the Serpent stands fully powered. As for the heroes, Steve Rogers... or I guess I should start saying Cap, once again... heads to New York to face down the Serpent powered Sin, Iron Man heads to Broxton, Oklahoma to seek an audience with Odin, and Thor heads to the Serpent's lair to confront the madman. Upon meeting the Serpent, he informs Thor that he was in actuality Odin's brother(Thor's uncle), and that Odin had stolen his rightful place as the head god of Asgard. After that deception, Odin locked his brother away in the bowels of the Earth until he was awakened by Sin. The Serpent, well aware of the prophecy that a battle between Thor and himself would kill them both, tries to convince Thor to join him against that liar Odin, but Thor refuses, which leads to the Serpent teleporting Thor to the location of his two strongest warriors, the Hulk and the Thing, ending this issue.

Thoughts: So that's that. Bucky's dead....... I don't even have the words to express how disappointed I am about that fact. I'll take some time to gather my thoughts on that and do a post about it later. As for this issue, it was okay. It was more of a set-up issue, almost a breather after the needless death of Bucky last issue. Pieces were moved around the board, there were a few revelations, but that was really it. Eh. I'm too pissed off to go into much more detail about this issue right now, but like I said, I'll have a Fear Itself #4 post up up in a few hours looking more in depth at this one.

Score: 8 out of 10.Fuck you, Marvel. Bucky deserved better than this.


Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #3(of 6):

Summary: This issue gets started with the Heavy Hitters, led by Hardball(who just so happens to be my favorite Initiative character, just so you know...), being tasked with doing the impossible, stopping the Serpent powered Juggernaut and saving Las Vegas. The Hitters initial moves work out well, as they manage to lead Juggy into a big hole they dug outside of Vegas, but Juggy manages to pop out of the ground. From there we head around the country to other heroes, with Prodigy trying unsuccessfully to get Gravity back into the battle, while Thor Girl and Cloud 9 are still puzzled as to why Prodigy sent government agents to torture Thor Girl(he actually had no idea what those agents were doing, and had them imprisoned once found out). Back in Vegas, Juggy is tearing through everything thrown in front of him, so Hardball takes a page out of Speedball's book and puts one of his energy balls under Juggy, hoping to blast him out of town. While the blast does send Juggy skyward, it doesn't send him out of town, just into the storm drains below Vegas where several families were hiding. The heroes arrive on the scene and Hardball tells his team to clear the civilians out, figuring he'd have enough power left to hold Juggy back for 10 seconds or so. The team reluctantly does as ordered, and Hardball surrounds himself with a massive ball of energy. Distracted, Juggy lifts his hammer and brings it down on the energy ball, raising a huge cloud of dust. When the dust clears, Juggy has left Vegas and continued his trek westward, while Hardball lays motionless in the rubble.

Thoughts: You know, if Marvel is trying to piss me off by killing off all of my favorite characters during this Fear Itself stuff, they're doing a fantastic job. What the goddamn hell?!? First Bucky NOW Hardball?! As with last month, I don't know for SURE that Hardball is dead, but from the looks of things, yeah, he didn't survive that. And quite frankly, if he didn't, I'll be holding Sean McKeever's favorite, Gravity, to blame, since he was too afraid to rejoin the battle this issue. My anger notwithstanding, the rest of this comic was pretty good. You get a good feel for who Hardball was, as we get his origin story, and in the end(if that really was his end), you get the sense of the type of hero he was/is/could have been. The other stuff, with Thor Girl and Cloud 9, and the strange government officials who were hunting Thor Girl adds some extra intrigue, but unfortunately, it seems like Hardball will simply be used as a plot device to get Gravity back into the battle, and if that's the case, that's bullshit, in plain English.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.If that's the end of Hardball, you haven't seen ANY ranting yet!

New Comic Day! July 6th edition.

Hey all, once again, it's Wednesday, which means it's time for a brand new installment of New Comic Day! I've picked up a pretty good amount of comic books today, but the comics I'm most psyched for would be the FOUR Fear Itself related books I grabbed! So over the next two days, expect a WHOLE load of Fear Itself related stuff on this blog, as we get the fallout from Fear Itself #3, the next part of the exceptional Youth in Revolt tie-in, as well as two new Wolverine-centric tie-ins, a self-titled mini-series and an X-Force tie-in. So yeah, the next two days around here should be hopping! But I'm getting ahead of myself... Let's take a look back at last week's comics and how they did... Last week's Pick of the Litter was Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6, and it continued to dazzle me, EASILY getting a perfect 10 out of me. On the other hand, last week's Runt of the Litter was FF #5, which wasn't great, but wasn't that bad, getting a middle of the road score of 6 1/2. And now, a new addition to my weekly New Comic Day post, it's average score time!!! Yes, I am SUCH a math nerd... Anyway, last week's average score amongst the comics I read was a 7.07, so basically a perfectly, middle of the road score overall last week. While certain comics(Uncanny X-Men #539!) pulled that score down, others(Children's Crusade #6 & Ultimate X #5) made up the difference, and as far as I'm concerned, any week I average over a 7 is a good week!

Okay, that takes care of last week, let's take a look at this week. Here are the books I picked up a few hours ago... Irredeemable #27, Batman and Robin 325, Secret Six #35, Superboy #9, Titans Annual #1, Vengeance #1, Fear Itself #4, Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1, Fear Itself: Wolverine #1, Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #3, Heroes for Hire #9, Thunderbolts #160, Uncanny X-men #540 & X-23 #12.. So once again, a good amount of books, mainly Marvel comics, and plenty of comics I'm really looking forward to. The top comic? My Pick of the Litter? That's easy. Fear Itself #4 hands down. Depending on what we find out this issue(and if you read Fear Itself #3, you KNOW what I'm talking about!), I'll probably either love or hate this comic... Passionately... We'll see... As for this week's Runt, I'm going to go with Uncanny X-Men #540. I'm sorry to any Kieron Gillen fans, but I just don't like his writing. I haven't actually liked anything he's ever written, and honestly wish he'd move on to less mainstream comics than the X-books, because I think he needs some more seasoning before trying his hand at one of Marvel's premier titles. But that's just my opinion. And I think that's probably going to do it for this week. By the end of the day, I'll have my review for Fear Itself #4 up, possibly another Fear Itself comic, and don't be shocked if I bust out a bonus post talking about Fear Itself #4 by the end of the night. I think that takes care of everything for this week, so I'll leave you all with this week's random scan before giving a hearty, X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!I see Bruce is letting his inner Batman free here...

Captain America #619 & Silver Surfer #5

I wasn't planning on reviewing anything else today, but since Captain America(my very last subscription comic) came in the mail today, it gave me the excuse to finally get that issue of Silver Surfer from 2 weeks ago out of the way. So here's a bonus post before tomorrow's Fear Itself festivities.

Captain America #619:

Summary: Off the grid since she knows Bucky is in dire trouble in the Russian Gulag he'd been tossed in, Black Widow begins to concoct a plan to spring Bucky. That's all fine and good, the only problem is that she only has one day to spring Bucky. To that end, BW meets with a former KGB agent and assists in clearing out his enemies in exchange for the weaponry she'd need to break into the jail. As for Bucky, an ex-KGB agent who had the Gulag's warden in his pocket uses some advanced machinery to dig into Bucky's mind, back to his Winter Soldier days. The ex-KGB agent learns from Bucky's subconscious that there were three Russian sleeper agents hidden in America with the same training Bucky had as the Winter Soldier, all waiting to be activated to attack America. With this information, the ex-KGB agent tells Bucky he intended to sell the identity and code words that would turn the sleeper agents on to any of America's enemies with deep enough pockets. With no further use for Bucky, he tells Bucky that tonight would be his last, as there was one final opponent Bucky would be fighting in the Gulag's cage matches... That night, the Gulag's guards toss Bucky into the cage and force him to fight a giant named the Unicorn, who could fire massive blasts from the third eye on his head. Realizing he couldn't remain in the jail, especially with the information of the three sleeper agents out there, Bucky leads the Unicorn around the cage, getting him to fire a blast into the Warden's office, which overlooked the cage. With the Gulag now thrown into chaos, Bucky gets out of the cage and tricks the Unicorn into firing a blast into the officers quarters, which causes the heating devices inside to explode, setting the entire outside of the Gulag on fire. At this moment, BW arrives on the scene, and begins to make her way inside the burning prison. On the other hand, Bucky is trying desperately to escape from the prison, with several armed guards following after him. Before the guards can shoot Bucky in the back, BW arrives and blasts the guards, smuggling Bucky out of the prison to a waiting nearby helicopter. Back in the US, Steve Rogers and Nick Fury manage to find the Russian sleeper agents(they had been hunting for them due to some of Fury's contacts), and shut them down. Upon arriving back at his base, Steve learns from the president and a few of his advisors that Bucky had escaped from the Gulag after destroying much of it. Steve tries to argue that there had to be extenuating circumstances for Bucky to act in such a manner, and the president tells Steve that he'd do everything in his power to help Bucky, but that there was no way he could allow Bucky to be Captain America anymore. After the meeting, Steve meets with Nick Fury, who tells him that while Steve had done a good job in Fury's former position, he didn't have the constitution to continue dealing with the bureaucracy that was SHIELD. This issue ends with Fury telling Steve that there was a different position Steve was needed in once again...

Thoughts: Goddammit... You know, this issue was the perfect segue from Bucky being Captain America to a new identity... It was all set up PERFECTLY! I mean Ed Brubaker set the stage for Steve Rogers returning to the Captain America mantle, with Bucky becoming something else... And then Fear Itself #3 happened... I mean, in light of THIS issue, the events of Fear Itself #3 don't even make sense! Why was Bucky even Captain America in FI #3?! Dumb. Well, if this was truly the end of Bucky, he went out on a high, and I'll always remember him leaving with his longtime love, the Black Widow, on a helicopter, planning the next chapter of his life. Dammit... What a waste.

Score: 9 out of 10.This is how I want to remember Bucky... Rushing off with Black Widow into the sunset.


Silver Surfer #5:

Summary: Ugh. So the Silver Surfer's power cosmic has been restored to him thanks to Reed Richards, but this time he also gets to keep his heart as well. So he's no longer simply an emotionless whatever it is Greg Pak thought he was. Man, Greg Pak is an awful writer... Anyway, for the sake of my sanity, I'm going to fly through the rest of this review. The Seeker tries to defend the High Evolutionary from the FF, the Surfer doesn't want the FF to hurt the Seeker, since she's his cosmic girlfriend now, Galactus arrives on the scene and allows the High Evolutionary to leave with his spaceship, but not the Seeker. From there, Galactus releases the Surfer from his duties as Galactus's herald, since he had emotions again. Galactus then decides to eat the moon, because he has no herald. Surfer pledges himself to Galactus's service again to save the moon, takes the Seeker's cosmic powers away from her, and leaves with Galactus, while she heads back to Earth with the FF.

Thoughts: This was, by FAR, the worst Silver Surfer story I've EVER read. And I've read a lot of Silver Surfer stories! A Silver Surfer love story... Get the hell out of here! Oh, and now he has emotions... Because THAT'S gonna make him SO much better or something. There are certain writers that I'm honestly surprised continue to get high profile jobs at Marvel, and Pak is one of them. I'm just stunned that he was handed a mini-series that should have been a lay-up to write, and turned it into Surfio and Seekerette. Ugh, let's just move on so I can bury this issue into the deepest recesses of my mind and pretend I never read it.

Score: 2 out of 10.Nope, not even Galactus himself could save this one for me.

X-Men: Prelude to Schism #4 & Uncanny X-Men #539

These are the last two new comics in my pile(well expect for Silver Surfer #5, which I STILL haven't gotten to!), which works out perfectly, since tomorrow I'll be picking up a nice new batch of comics from the comic shop!

X-Men: Prelude to Schism #4(of 4):

Summary: Okay, I'm not really going to recap this issue since it's basically the SAME thing as the first three issues, just told from Wolverine's point of view. We get some snippets of Wolvie's past, find out once again that there is some HUGE, MAJOR, and still unnamed threat fast approaching Crazy Mutie Island, and that Lord Summers was going to stand and battle this HUGE, MAJOR unnamed threat, much to Wolvie's approval.

Thoughts: Yeah, that's about all I have to say about that one. If you missed the first three issues of this mini-series then I'd recommend snagging this issue, since it'll fill you in nicely leading into Schism... I guess... But for me, this issue quickly got on my nerves as it was more of the same. I KNOW there's a big threat approaching Crazy Mutie Island! I KNOW Lord Summers is going to keep the X-Men on the island to try to fight it off! What I don't know is what this threat is! Still!! According to Namor, whatever it is was prophesied thousands of years ago, so I doubt it's a wild Sentinel invasion(ala Genosha), which was my initial guess. What more can I say? I'll be picking up Schism in the coming weeks, but no thanks to this mini-series.

Score: 5 out of 10.Look at that, Lord Summers even stands like a dictator now!


Uncanny X-Men #539:

Summary: Oh goody, this issue stars our Lord and Savior Hope!!! I was JUST thinking to myself, “You know what I need more of? Our Lord and Savior Hope! One monthly self-titled book is nowhere NEAR enough of Our Lord and Savior Hope!!” Yeah, that's sarcasm. *sigh* I might as well get this over with fast... Our Lord and Savior Hope goes shopping with some of her useless teammates. They get jumped and Our Lord and Savior Hope gets abducted by the Crimson Commando... REALLY?! Wow... It seems the Crimson Commando heard that Our Lord and Savior Hope can give mutants their powers back with a touch(wait, no she can't!), and he wants some of that. Our Lord and Savior Hope, being the toughest thing this side of Wolverine himself, tells Commando to shove it with strawberries, so he wanders away to figure out a way to make her help him... Or something... I really don't care. Anyways, Wolverine decides to hunt down Our Lord and Savior Hope, and finds her, sneaking her out of Commando's stronghold. Naturally Commando figures out what's transpired and heads out with his goons to recapture Our Lord and Savior Hope. After blowing Wolvie up with a missile(or something), Commando decides that NOW was the best time to try to torture Our Lord and Savior Hope into helping him. Our Lord and Savior Hope is too tough to cave to Commando's torture tactics, and holds out long enough for Wolvie to patch himself together and behead Commando and kill his goons. From there Wolvie tells Our Lord and Savior Hope that he doesn't want to get too close to her because if she ever goes crazy he'd be the one who'd have to kill her... Or something.

Thoughts: Well, this issue made it official. Kieron Gillen hates me... Yep, after suffering through several issues of Breakworld, Colossus and Shadowcat, we now get an issue starring Our Lord and Savior Hope, who, you might have noticed, I hate with a blinding passion. I hate this whole asinine, “Hope is our mutant messiah!!!” garbage, but unfortunately, Gillen loves it, and since he's the guy writing Uncanny X-Men, we get Our Lord and Savior Hope in this issue, as well as her own comic. I can't wait until Jason Aaron gets his own X-title, because it HAS to be better than this crap...

Score: 1 1/2 out of 10.Pfft, like a simple gun could scare Our Savior Hope!

The Iron Age #1 & FF #5

We head back to the Marvel Universe to take a look at the first issue of the Iron Age mini-series event and the latest installment of FF. One of these books was thisclose to a perfect score... If you're curious as to which one, read on!

Iron Age #1(of 3):

Summary: With the Earth destroyed in the present thanks to the machinations of Dr. Birch, it's up to a time displaced Tony Stark to try to undo the damage to the present, starting in the past. To that end, Tony needs to find several pieces of the time platform which brought him to the past and figures what better place to look for help than from his younger self... Unfortunately, Tony's younger self is in the middle of his raging alcoholic stage, and can offer no help to his older self. Disgusted by his drunken younger counterpart, Tony grabs a spare Iron Man outfit and flies off towards Avengers Mansion to seek help from his Avengers teammates. Tony enters the mansion and comes across several of his former teammates and asks to talk to Captain America and Thor. The team points Tony to the meeting room, where Cap, Thor and Wasp were discussing what to do with Tony in light of his recent(for them) alcohol-driven behavior. Tony is unprepared for the shock of seeing the Wasp alive again, and winds up falling over since he wasn't used to piloting his older, clunkier armor. Tony gets up and starts to tell the trio of Avengers that he was a future version of Tony Stark and he needed help in saving the future... Can you guess what the three Avengers think after hearing that? Figuring Tony was on a drunken bender again, Thor tells him that he wouldn't allow Tony to run around in his armor, possibly endangering others. Realizing he was in major trouble, and not wanting to waste any time being imprisoned by his teammates, Tony decides to fight his way out of the Mansion, BARELY succeeding. With no help coming from the Avengers, Tony tries Reed Richards at the Baxter Building, but learns Reed was out exploring another dimension. Wracking his brain for a genius to help him fix the time platform that brought him to the past, Tony decides to meet with Hank Pym, who had left the Avengers during this time due to personal reasons... Reasons that included Tony shacking up with his ex-wife, Wasp! Needless to say, Pym isn't happy to see Tony, but Tony manages to convince Pym that he was actually a future version of Tony Stark, not the current drunken gigolo version. Pym reluctantly decides to help Tony search for the broken time platform components, and their search leads back to New York... And Ultron!! It seems that Ultron has discovered the piece of the time platform and is in a pitched battle with the Avengers since Ultron wanted to use the piece of the platform to head back to the dawn of humanity and kill the first humans, thereby destroying all of humanity... That is SO awesome! Tony and Pym arrive on the scene and join the battle, and thanks to Tony's knowledge of this particular version of Ultron(this is Tony's past and all), Tony is able to guide Pym through Ultron's body, allowing Pym to retrieve the piece of the time platform and destroy Ultron from the inside out. From there, Pym hands the piece of the time platform over to Tony, and Tony is suddenly shunted through time again, since the time platform was attempting to reassemble itself. Tony now finds himself in England, and has to take on the STRIKE organization in order to reach the next piece of time platform. Eventually Tony convinces Capt. Britain to help him, and the two heroes manage to retrieve the piece of platform, which sends Tony into the timestream again, ending this issue.

Thoughts: Can you tell which story I enjoyed more? First things first. The Avengers story was written by Christos Gage, while the Captain Britain story was done by Rob Williams. On top of that, I am a HUGE Avengers fan(especially the old school roster in this issue), and have never been that fond of Capt. Britain, who has always come across as whiny, arrogant and annoying to me. Now, if this issue only contained the Avengers story, it's an EASY perfect score. Probably one of the easiest perfect scores I've given out all year. The story was PURE 80's Avengers perfection. I mean you can tell Gage KNOWS those Avengers characters! It was literally like picking up one of my old Avengers trades or back issues and reliving a past story! That's how good this issue was! Every character's voice sounded just right. Thor, Cap, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Capt. Marvel, Wasp, even Starfox! I mean I can't compliment Gage's work enough here. Add the AWESOME dialogue between Tony and his younger self, throw in a battle with Ultron(my favorite Avengers villains, fyi), and you have a perfect comic book... Until you reach the second story... I hate to say it, but the second story annoyed me so much that I found myself skipping large portions of it simply so it would end. I don't like Captain Britain. I don't care about STRIKE or whoever this Vixen woman was supposed to be. There was one good moment where Tony came across the unconscious form of a younger Dr. Birch and had to weigh whether he should kill him in the past in order to possibly prevent what Birch does in the future, but that was the only part of the second story I enjoyed. To close this review out all I'm gonna say is this... Christos Gage has been awesome as the writer of Avengers: The Initiative and Avengers Academy... Isn't it about time he gets a shot writing one of the main Avengers series? I know Marvel loves Bendis and all, but damn can Gage write himself some AWESOME Avengers stories!

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.I loved EVERYTHING about this page! From Hawkeye's banter with Ultron, to Ultron's plan, to Cap calling Ultron insane.


FF #5:

Summary: Sue confronts Mole Man and Evil Reed #1 at the site of Old Atlantis, and is blasted by Evil Reed #1, since she thought he was her husband. Whoops. While that's going on, Alex Power is getting his arm broken by some of Mole Man's creatures, leaving Spidey to deal with Mole Man's army of creatures. That goes about as well as would be expected(that's to say not very well at all!), and Evil Reed #1 finishes a big ray gun that destroys Old Atlantis, since that helps the Coalition of Evil Reed Richards's's's somehow... I'm still a bit foggy on the details... Anyway, with Old Atlantis destroyed, Evil Reed #1 and Mole Man take off, leaving Sue to contact Namor for help in relocating the now homeless old Atlantians. From there Sue, Alex and Spidey return to the Baxter Building, where Sue voices her displeasure about Reed keeping secrets from her, namely the fact that he knew there were evil alternate versions of himself running amok. From there, the Evil Reeds and Mole Man head to the Forever City and make some sort of a deal with the denizens of the city. Before they can begin working on whatever it is they're working on, Attilan returns to Earth and begins to land at the site of the Forever City. Oh yeah, and leading the Inhumans on Attilan? The supposedly dead Black Bolt.

Thoughts: Boooo! Of all the Fantastic Four's various allies and enemies, I think I dislike the Inhumans the most. I was perfectly fine with Black Bolt being dead, because as I just stated, I don't like the Inhumans. So that page really hurt my enjoyment of this issue. Well that and the fact that I'm still not completely clear on what the Coalition of Evil Reeds are up to... I THINK they're trying to destroy this Earth to get to another dimension or something, but obviously I don't care enough about this storyline to remember what was going on from one issue to the next! Hey, when you read like 60 new comics a month and a zillion back issues, a few small details end up getting forgotten!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Evil Reed #1's line here pretty much made this issue for me.

Gotham City Sirens #24 & Wonder Woman #612

Two more DC comics before I head back to Marvel for tomorrow. Both comics here have female leads, and both have been good lately, surprisingly so in the case of Wonder Woman. Okay, enough rambling, on with the reviews!

Gotham City Sirens #24:

Summary: We get started with Poison Ivy wrapping Joker up in some vines and demanding Harley Quinn ditch Mistah J and escape Arkham with Ivy. Harley distracts Ivy long enough for Joker to cut his way and then betrays Ivy, beating her up and tossing her back into the hole she came from. With Ivy out of the way, Joker and Harley continue tearing through the Asylum, killing guards and inmates alike. Batman(Bruce Wayne) and Catwoman enter the Asylum and begin to smash heads as they make their way towards Joker and Harley, who have blindfolded themselves, figuring Bats would come for them in the darkness. Joker guesses correctly, as Bats kills the power before confronting Joker and Harley. Since the demented duo were already blindfolded, the sudden darkness doesn't have the intended effect on them, and they're prepared for the arrival of Bats and Cats. Unfortunately for Joker and Harley, Bats anticipated Joker's actions, and has the lights suddenly brought back on, blinding Harley and Joker, ending their little rampage. From there, Bats and Cats have Harley and Joker locked back up at the Asylum. We end this issue with Poison Ivy waking up to Catwoman and Batman, with Catwoman telling Ivy she was also getting sent to Arkham with Harley, effectively putting an end to the Sirens.

Thoughts: Um, was this the last issue or something? Weird... I mean by the end of this issue, there was only one Siren left standing, Catwoman... I mean I like CW and all, but I liked the dynamic of Cats, Harley and Ivy together... Ah well. As usual, this was an above average read. My only complaint would be how swift the Joker/Harley-Batman/Catwoman showdown was. I mean we were building up to this big tag team main event, and it's all over over the course of a few short pages. I personally could have went for an entire issue of Bats and Cats battling the demented duo all throughout Arkham, but alas, it was not to be. If this was the last issue of this series, I'll definitely miss it, if not, then cool, I'll be reading issue #25 next month!

Score: 8 out of 10.I was kind of hoping for more in the first Batman/Joker fight since RIP...


Wonder Woman #612:

Summary: Before the final standing member of the Morrigan can suck the life out of Wonder Woman, a half dead Artemis manages to shoot an arrow through the Morrigan's neck, killing her, Artemis and blowing up the upper portion of the building the three women were in. For some inexplicable reason, WW's talking cat helps her out of the rubble and directs WW back towards the doorway from last issue. Before WW can open the door(which is adorned with WW's symbols), Zeus and his fellow gods approach WW and warn her that the force she'll be facing on the other side of the door is insanely powerful and draws it's strength from the world's despair(huh, sort of like me!). After her pep talk from the gods, WW opens the door and enters, finding herself surrounded by stone images of her dead fellow Amazons. The stone creations try to bury WW underneath them, but she manages to fight them off. Free of the stone creatures, WW turns around and is confronted by her corrupted doppleganger, Nemesis.

Thoughts: Yeah, I was one of those people who complained about the changes WW underwent 12 issues back. “Why change the costume? Why change the origin? Why change the villains? Why change Wonder Woman?” I didn't get it. Looking back, there are still a few things I don't get/like about this storyline(the talking cat is one of them...), but overall? I find myself really enjoying this storyline and eagerly anticipating the ending. Sure, J. Michael Straczynski's Superman run has been beyond abysmal, but his WW run has REALLY come together! The reveal that Nemesis was old school Wonder Woman really wasn't a surprise, it was pretty much spelled out over the last two issues, but actually seeing WW in all her former glory, preparing to take on the JMS version of the character? Awesome. Next issue should reveal to us why/how WW went crazy and caused the altered reality that's been going on these past 12 issues, as well as give us a WW vs WW fight... What more could I ask for?

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.It's about time!

Batman Incorporated #7 & Detective Comics #878

It looks like I'll be taking care of my DC comics this weekend, starting with Batman Inc and Detective Comics. Batman Inc will probably be uber-confusing, as is most of Grant Morrison's work, but hopefully it'll be uber-confusing in a good way! If that makes any sense... As for Detective, I've been really enjoying Scott Snyder's run, and with only a few more Dick Grayson-as-Batman comics left before he gets the shaft in September, I might as well enjoy Dick's remaining time in the spotlight while I can.

Batman Incorporated #7:

Summary: This issue basically focuses on the Native American Batman, Man-of-Bats and his sidekick/son, Little Raven. Basically Raven is sick and tired of serving as his old man's sidekick, thinking Man-of-Bats was delusional, while Man-of-Bats was sure the gangs on his reservation were becoming more organized. After watching his dad beat up some chump who was kicking a dog, Raven quits, and heads back to his place to pack up and leave. As for Man-of-Bats, he takes a ride with the cops to bring the idiot criminal to the police station. Before Raven can leave, he's met by Batman(Bruce Wayne), who tells him that the Leviathan had set it's sights on anybody wearing a Bat costume, which included Man-of-Bats... Now realizing his father wasn't a crazy crackpot, Raven and Bats hop on some horses(yes, really), and go racing after Man-of-Bats. As for Man-of-Bats, he learns that one of the cops who picked him up worked for the Leviathan, and was taking him out to the desert to kill him with the help of some other Leviathan followers. Man-of-Bats fights off most of the attackers, but winds up getting stabbed in the gut. Before the gang can finish him off, Raven and Bats come riding to the rescue like something out of an old western movie... Okay then... Once the gang members are dealt with and Man-of-Bats is taken to the hospital, Bats offers the financial support of the Batman Inc. organization to Raven before heading off to the next problem.

Thoughts: Meh. For a change, I understood practically every page of this one, but the story never really caught on for me. I mean it was okay, but I don't know, I expect better than okay from Grant Morrison. I expect epic... And by epic, I mean epically good, OR epically bad! This was just meh. Oh well. Maybe next month's offering will be better, although with a title like “Nightmares in Numberland”, I'm not holding my breath...

Score: 6 out of 10.Hi-ho Batman! Away!!!


Detective Comics #878:

Summary: Batman(Dick Grayson) has been captured by a bunch of pirates, led by the enigmatic Tiger Shark, and brought to the pirate's yacht. The pirates taunt Bats for a while, so Bats head-butts Tiger Shark(HA!), which leads to the pirates throwing Bats into a tank with a giant killer whale. Bats manages to break out of the tank with one of his bat-gadgets, and goes chasing after Tiger Shark, but is unable to stop Tiger Shark from getting away via a mini-submarine. Tiger Shark blows up the yacht hoping to kill Batman, but needless to say, it takes more than an exploding yacht to kill Batman off. From there, Dick Grayson goes to speak with James Gordon(Commissioner Gordon's son), since Commissioner Gordon was hoping Dick would get a good feel for how James was holding up mentally. While the two are talking, Dick has an epiphany about the killer whale case, and leaves James, heading to the penthouse of Tony Zucco's daughter(whose name escapes me right now... now if DC had an introduction page, that wouldn't happen!). Bats reveals that Zucco's daughter had been playing both Batman and the cops to deal with her enemies, Roadrunner and Tiger Shark. Zucco's daughter naturally denies any wrongdoing, so Bats leaves her, but let's her know she was now on his radar. This issue ends with James Gordon mutilating a man who bullied him as a child.

Thoughts: Eh. No problems here. This was the embodiment of a perfectly acceptable comic book, nothing more, nothing less. We had a fight scene, the real villain of the piece was revealed and managed to outsmarted the hero, and we set up the next storyline, the culmination of the James Gordon stuff. So while this issue didn't blow me away or anything, it was alright, and that's all I really ask for...

Score: 7 out of 10.What can I say? Watching people get randomly head-butted makes me smile...

Wolverine: The Best There Is #7 & Incredible Hulks Annual #1

Two more Marvel comic books to get through before I switch things up and start going through the DC comics I picked up last Wednesday. As for the two Marvel comics in question? I really don't have much to say about them until I read 'em.

Wolverine: The Best There Is #7:

Summary: Having been doused with pretty much every disease possible the past few issues, it's safe to say Wolverine's healing factor is a bit taxed. On Crazy Mutie Island, Beast(who I thought left Crazy Mutie Island on bad terms with Lord Summers) is looking over Wolvie and reporting his findings back to Lord Summers and Her. They decide to lock down the lab Wolvie was in to prevent anything Wolvie was carrying from escaping before retiring to their quarters for the night. Upon waking up, Wolvie simply leaves the lab and heads to the kitchen and begins to eat everything in sight to help his healing factor out. Lord Summers, Beast and Her decide to leave Wolvie alone, so he heads into the living room and hangs out with Dazzler... Okay... The two talk for a while, and Dazzler makes Wolvie a new costume, since he didn't want to wear anything from his room. After that's done, Wolvie heads out and locates the woman who led him into the past few issues of madness, but she is promptly killed by some guy I don't know and Monark Starstalker??? Wha?!?

Thoughts: This is a strange series... When it all comes together it's really enjoyable(like the last two issues), but when it doesn't, it's as confusing as hell... This issue was more the latter. Sure, there were a few places where I laughed out loud while reading, but for the most part? Confusing as hell. Meh, maybe things will make more sense come the next issue.

Score: 5 out of 10.......


Incredible Hulks Annual #1:

Summary: This is the third part of the Identity Wars storyline that ran through this years Spider-Man and Deadpool annuals. Since I'm in a rush, I'm not gonna recap those issues, but luckily for you, I'm sure I have them posted on the blog, so it should be a simple matter to find them! We learn that alternate Bruce Banner had become the Sorcerer Supreme of his world, and had managed to banish his Hulk half to Hell. That's all fine and good, but when 616 Bruce Banner arrived in the alternate dimension, his Hulk half went to Hell, and alternate Bruce's Hulk was set free... Yes, it IS very confusing. Alternate Hulk wants to kill alternate Bruce, so alternate Bruce(at the recommendation of Spidey) casts a spell that makes Deadpool look like alternate Bruce, which causes alternate Hulk to attack Pool. With some time to think, alternate Bruce comes up with a plan to re-banish his Hulk, but needs Bruce to allow the Hulk back into his body. Realizing that alternate Hulk was way worse than his own Hulk, Bruce agrees. Alternate Bruce casts a spell, and summons the Hulk, who attacks alternate Hulk. Eventually, through some magical chicanery, alternate Bruce forces alternate Hulk back into his body, and turns back to himself. Temporarily in control, he orders the Hulk to snap his neck before alternate Hulk took control again, which he does, ending the threat of alternate Hulk. From there, Spidey discovers a note from the now dead(?) alternate Bruce, telling the trio to head to Parker Labs the next day. When the time comes, the trio head to the appointed spot and discover alternate Peter Parker, apparently returned from Hell, thanks to alternate Bruce. Alternate Peter is sorry for all the evil he committed, and helps return the trio of heroes to their proper dimension, ending this story.

Thoughts: Well, this storyline sure took a nosedive! I really enjoyed the first two parts of this story, the Deadpool and Spidey ones, but this issue just fell flat for me. For whatever reason, I just couldn't get into the Bruce Banner: Sorcerer Supreme stuff. Deadpool was more or less an afterthought here, and even Spidey didn't do all that much. I guess with this being a Hulk annual, that makes sense, but with me not exactly being a Hulk fan, it all just didn't work for me. Add a story with too many Hulks and Bruce Banners, and yeah, this comic wasn't my cup of tea.

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.It's Hulk vs Hulk! How original!