Daken: Dark Wolverine #11:
Summary: Having gotten himself addicted to the new designer drug that can actually beat his healing factor(the drug is called Heat), Daken decides to work his way up the Heat drug pusher ladder until he discovers where Los Angeles' crime bosses were holding a secret meeting to discuss who was killing their men(it's Daken!). Upon arriving at the secret meeting place, Daken(now in his Dark Wolverine guise), offers to help the crime families stay safe from this new threat(him), as well as help them pull off the largest heist in US history, attacking a convoy carrying $26 million dollars. Prior to barging in on the meeting, Daken had used the drug to force the head of the company carrying the money to give up all sorts of details on the way the money was transported. Obviously, the crime bosses are intrigued by Daken's offer, and agree to send some of their most senior men to assist him. The day of the robbery, Daken gets high(again...), and leads the charge against the convoy, making his way to the van carrying the money. Upon opening it he comes face to face with the company's secret weapon to prevent robberies, Taskmaster(!!). Oh, and there was a back story detailing an FBI agent named Donna Kiel, who I figure will become Daken's major foe while he stays in LA.
Thoughts: Uh huh... I've got to say, I am NOT enjoying this “Daken on drugs!” storyline in the least. Yes, I get that he likes the drugs because they are able to beat his healing factor, offering him a challenge of sorts, but the Daken I became such a fan of doesn't seem likely to take something that causes him to lose control. Some of his earliest appearances dealt with Daken fighting his natural impulse to cut loose like his father and remain in control of his actions. I don't get it, and I don't like it. I do like the prospect of a Daken/Taskmaster showdown, because Taskmaster is, for lack of a better word, badass, but I get the feeling that fight is going to be marred by the fact that Daken is high... A normal Daken vs Taskmaster throwdown is one of those comic book battles I'd happily pay $5 to read about. Junkie Daken vs Taskmaster? Not as great a draw...
Score: 6 out of 10.
Yes Taskmaster, he is high...Captain America #1:
Summary: While attending the funeral of Sharon Carter's aunt Peggy, Steve Rogers(or Captain America again... I guess...), Dum Dum Dugan, Nick Fury and Sharon are targeted by a gunman off in the distance. After saving Dum Dum from the sniper's bullet, Steve charges after the sniper, but is unable to catch up... Although he DOES recognize the gunman as an old ally from WWII. Upon telling Fury this, they all talk about how this gunman, Codename: Bravo, must have waken up... We then get a WWII flashback showing that Peggy Carter dumped Bravo for Steve, possibly explaining the lingering animosity... I guess. Back in the present, Steve, Fury and Sharon visit some old man in a secret nursing facility and bemoan the fact that they weren't informed that he had waken up, since he seemed somehow linked to Bravo. While leaving the nursing home, the trio are attacked by what seems to be a Hydra cell, being commanded from afar by Bravo. The attack on Steve and company appears to be a misdirection, as the Hydra agents manage to kidnap the old man from earlier from the nursing home. This issue ends with Bravo chatting with Baron Zemo about how they hated Captain America or some such clichéd super-villain vehicle...
Thoughts: Yup, I didn't enjoy this comic AT ALL. There were just plot holes EVERYWHERE, which is something I'd NEVER expect from an Ed Brubaker written comic book! I hated the fact that Steve is magically Cap again, I hate the fact that ANOTHER unknown ally of Cap's from WWII has returned to torment him, and I hate the fact that Ed Brubaker seems obsessed with undoing all of the good work Fabian Nicieza did with Baron Zemo by turning him back into a regular, run of the mill super-villain. So yeah, I didn't enjoy this. And that's coming from somebody who routinely sings the praises of Brubaker! I don't know, maybe after a couple of months, after the whole mess with Bucky has settled down a bit, I'll be ready to read about Steve as Cap again... But right now? Seeing Steve in that Cap uniform again, with NO thought given to Bucky only serves to piss me off... Royally...
Score: 5 out of 10.
Bucky? What the hell is a Bucky??
ooh bad day man bad day sorrys
ReplyDeletei agree completly on the daken stuff but i loved this cap issue
one thing Zemo already got turned back to a run of the mill villian in a previous cap story the one where he revealed all the winter soilder stuff to the media witch led to bucky going to trial
and with the red skulls gone they gotta go back to caps other best stand by villian and i agree that its his background is unoriginal bur i did like that they at least created a whole new character
and this guy bravo does at least seem like he may be cooler and moore interstng than John steele was
and not to seem knowitallish steve isnt just magicly cap again he returned to the mantel in fear itself and with bucky dead the country needs a cap america so he is it and also this is a good while after fear itself cus paris seems rebuilt.
oh one single thing that bothered me is when the doc mentioned that sheild no longer exist........ SENSE WHEN hasnt the agency steves been runing sense the begining of the heroic age been refered to as sheild again sense Hammer was demolished? so unless sheild gets shut down at the end of fear itself that line has me qlueless
I picked up both of these bt have yet to read them. In way i do the COMPLETE opposite of you and read my less excited for issues first! So i have yet to read either of these. I am glad that wolverine and cyclops didn't just all of a sudden turn on each other in the first issue. Schism has to be HUGE though because it will be ending (at least for a short period) uncanny x-men for a while.
ReplyDelete-With that being said I also have yet to rea Captain america #1. I will slightly agree with what moveartman stated though. Fear itself since the very beginning has been terrible time-line wise for the marvel universe. Issue 1 for example has betty and bruce just talking and hanging out, yet in the hulk books they HATE each other and are fighting still. So basically what I am trying to say is that Cap #1 will be confusing because Steve is back in the cap duds, there is no mention of bucky but there are hints at other things that could have happened. Therefore some major stuff goes down in Fear itself and this cap book suffers from it because of how much they can/can't reveal. Reading alot of Brubaker I can almost gurantee that depending on what happens in Fear itself, the bucky death/mourning will take place in the new cap 6th series books. I feel that onece FI is over with, it will be revisited and we will get some nice story telling on caps part during those fateful days! at least thats what i'm hoping for. All i can say is that I LOVE Mcnivens art, on nearly anything.
-Looking forward to your reviews on iron age 2 and dark knight 3. I enjoyed dark knight 3, but can't help not fully diving into the plot because of the stupid reboot. Have yet to read iron age 2. Anyway happy reading!
Yeah, I remember the Zemo-Bucky stuff in that issue of Cap, Movieartman, and I hated it there to! I just like the idea of Zemo attempting to reform, while thinking that he's a)better than everybody else, and b)knows what's best for everybody. In his appearances in New Thunderbolts he had WAY more depth than in the Brubaker Cap issues, which is weird since Brubaker is a MASTER of writing compelling characters. John Steele is kind of my problem with Bravo actually... I mean in the past few years, Brubaker has brought in Bucky, Steele and Bravo, all allies of Cap's during the war as adversaries of his in the modern age. I'd kind of prefer seeing a new type of foe for Cap, instead of "Old ally goes bad!!" again. And again, I understand that Steve became Cap again in FI #4, but the utter lack of mentioning of Bucky kind of bothered me, but you know what a big Bucky fan I am! Oh, and I picked up on the SHIELD thing too, but I honestly don't think Steve was leading SHIELD! In the most recent Captain America handbook it doesn't actually say Steve leads SHIELD... It says he was named a federal official in charge of America's super-heroes and elite intelligence resources. I honestly don't think the organization Steve was running was ever explicitly called SHIELD though... That might be worth looking into...
ReplyDeleteYou know Cap, a lot of people I know read their comics the same way you do. Me? I simply can't wait to read the stuff I'm really psyched for, although that oftentimes leaves me with some bad comics to read later on in the week! Schism was good in that we suddenly didn't get Wolvie at Lord Summers throat. I can see they're going to slowly build up the dissension between the two, which is fine, but right now, Wolvie seems completely on the same page as Summers. Yeah, I mean IF Bucky stays dead(and the jury's still out on that one), I'm sure Brubaker will have an awesome story to tell, but seriously, if you're just a Cap fan who isn't reading Fear Itself, you go from Bucky being Cap in the last Cap series, to Steve being Cap again, with NO explanation! Maybe that's another hint that Bucky may come back... If he was dead, you'd think Steve would think something like, "I've been to too many funerals lately" or something akin to that. Iron Age 2 came out yesterday?! I asked the shop owner about that issue and he said he didn't get any copies, so he didn't think it had been released! Dammit!!
Yea i can see your point in that. If you aren't reading FI you will be like wait what? why is cap steve rogers again? The bok is perfectly accessible for new fans in that there are flashbacks and things of that nature which, people leaving the theater will love to read more about. I think brubaker had to have gotten roped up by the executives for this isuuse. I read it and enjoyed it for what it was. But I do agree that after the cap run on the 5th series it doesn't even compare. I think the first arc or two will be akin more toward new fans/movie goers, and then eventually brubaker will do what he does best and turn it into another great story. One thing I love about brubakers cap books is the pacing. Not too slow and not too fast, and I LOVE that he always write cap (steve rogers) in the beginning of his 5th run and this one as not just a "man out of time" but aman running out of time. There is always something cap has to dicover/make happen before time runs out and brubaker is perfect for writing those stories! So while the first issue wasn't the big perfect relaunch we were expecting, I think new fans will love it, and us continuity readers are in for a treat eventually!
ReplyDelete-ANother treat we are in for is Cap and bucky #1- Brubaker telling ww2 stories? I'm allll over it!
-Last but not least, while i enjoyed thor somewhat, haven't seen green lantern and i liked x-men first class for what it was. Captain America: The first avenger looks to be all kinds of awesome. WW2 action with the commandos, the cosmic cube, the futuristic weaponry, it has sort of an indiana jones tone to it, yet its going to have a kind of steam punk feel. love it!
Oh and yes Iron age 2 came out and i freakin loved it. If you are a fan of old stories, and i know you are! you will love the hints and easter eggs mentioned in iron age 2.This story has been great so far and I am so dissapointed its only 3 issues.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I think you're 100% right. This issue of Captain America MUST have been geared towards the fans coming out of the movies who may be interested in the Steve Rogers character for the first time. It did kind of read like a dumbed down version of Brubaker's usually stellar work. So I'm inclined to agree with you. The first two storyarcs probably won't be written for a guy like me, who owns and read well over 200 Captain America comics, it's for that new fan Marvel is trying to rope.
ReplyDeleteAgreed about Cap and Bucky, I've said it numerous times, both in my Captain America reviews and my Secret Avengers reviews, NOBODY does a Cap/Bucky WWII flashback like Brubaker does a Cap/Bucky WWII flashback. Yes, I'm still bummed that the only Bucky I'll see is 1940's Bucky, but I'm STILL holding out hope that somehow, someway, Bucky comes back to life in FI... Maybe as one of the Mighty? Yes, I'm grasping at straws, but I don't care! :D
Blasted comic shop!!! Yeah, when I asked about Iron Age 2, the owner told me he didn't get any copies, and thus figured it didn't come out. I REALLY loved the first issue and was thoroughly looking forward to the second issue... Hopefully it'll be at my shop next Wednesday...