Superboy #8

Tonight we head to DC for two books. The first of which I expect to be bad(Superboy). The second I expect better things out of(Batman and Robin). Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and both comics will be good. Or maybe I'll be sorely disappointed and both will suck... Well, let's see which way we go.

Superboy #8:

Summary: This issue gets started with Grunge(!) beating up Superboy on behalf of Harvest. Grunge then spouts gibberish about preparing SB for the culling so he'd be a Ravager... Okay then... SB accidentally breaks Grunge's neck during the battle, but Grunge no-sells it, puts his head back the right way and then continues beating the hell out of SB... Because he's AWESOME. Meanwhile, Fairchild does stuff. From there, we see Rose Wilson acting crazy, at least until Solstice speaks to her. Back with SB, he finds a novel way to use his telekinesis and tears out the implants that were powering Grunge, finally defeating him. Unfortunately for SB, he's too beaten up to enjoy the fruits of his labor and passes out with Grunge. Harvest takes SB to his colony, calls him his greatest accomplishment as well as most disappointing failure(ooooookay...), but his informational soliloquy is sadly interrupted by Rose, who brings a supposedly unconscious Solstice to him. Harvest leaves with Rose and Solstice, and this issue ends with SB waking up to find Terra and Beast Boy(DAMMIT!) acting all crazy.

Thoughts: Well, this issue falls victim to the Beast Boy Rule... What is that exactly? Any issue Beast Boy appears in? It automatically loses a half point from it's final score. It's the reverse Hardball Rule. Besides the unwanted Beast Boy appearance, this issue was okay. It was basically SB getting beaten up by Grunge all issue long until SB pulled a last ditch move to defeat Grunge. That's this issue in a nutshell. Not much more I can say here...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

You've got to respect a guy who will just snap his neck the right way and keep taunting.

Mighty Thor #12.1

Last review tonight? Let's stick with the Avengers theme and check out Mighty Thor. And hey, it's a Point One issue! The best thing about that? I save a dollar!!

Mighty Thor #12.1:

Summary: Now that everybody can remember Thor again, Volstagg and Sif spend this issue reminiscing about Thor. The two talk about his early adventures, and how they all seemed to involve Loki in some way or another. Basically detailing how strong the bond between the two “brothers” was. However, in the end, the duo aren't sure that while Loki may be a child once more, he isn't somehow using Thor's love for him as a weapon to achieve Loki's many nefarious plots.

Thoughts: This was a fun little read. Sure, it pointed at Loki and pretty much said, “Don't be shocked when he becomes evil again!”, but maybe that's a bit of misdirection by Matt Fraction? Hopefully? Eh, I guess deep down I know that Loki is going to become evil, malevolent Loki again, as opposed to fun, impish Loki, but I want the former Loki to stay away for a while longer...

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Gah, Thor is one ugly woman!

Avengers Assemble #2

After last night's New Avengers disaster, I almost pushed this comic to the bottom of my comic pile, mainly because I'm not sure if I can stomach another Bendis-written Avengers title this soon. But I've decided to just get it over with... Just like with a band-aid, I'm going to rip it off really quick and get it finished with fast.

Avengers Assemble #2:

Summary: I'm going to skip over the first few pages because I couldn't make sense of them. Basically, some super-powerful being gave the Zodiac powers to collect items of power from the Earth... Or something. From there, Hulk arrives at Avengers Mansion and wants to talk to Captain America. Meanwhile, Taurus beats up the Avengers, but Hawkeye, Black Widow and Thor manage to get away from the battle with the box Taurus was carrying. Later on, the Avengers(now with Hulk) discover that the box contained the Ultimate Nullifier(?!!!). Cap tells Widow to hide the Nullifier in a safe place, and this issue ends with six members of the Zodiac slamming into the Avengers ship.

Thoughts: Now this was much better. The story was easy to follow, there wasn't PAGES full of endless, unnecessary dialogue, and the cliffhanger was strong. Add Mark Bagley's art, and this issue put New Avengers #24 to shame. Yeah, I don't get how/why the Zodiac would have the Ultimate Nullifier(shouldn't that thing be locked away at the Baxter Building?), nor who powered the Zodiac(the Supreme Intelligence? Korvac? Immortus?), but if the story stays as solid as it was this issue, I'll happily stick around to discover all of the answers to those questions.

Score: 7 out of 10.

See, Bendis needs to do more dialogue like this!

Saga #2

I'm still a bit in shock after how terrible the last comic I reviewed was, so bear with me here while I try to regain my senses... If this review turns out to be worse than usual, blame New Avengers #24 and the splitting headache it left me with.

Saga #2:

Summary: In the Endless Woods, Alana and Marco are being attacked by some angry vegetation. Luckily for the star-crossed couple, Marco manages to free them from the mad plants with a magic spell. The two decide to sit down and take a break, since they'd been on the run since Alana had given birth to Hazel, and within moments, the two, and Hazel, are sound asleep. A little later, Hazel wakes the two up with a shrill cry, and Marco soon feels the presence of someone or something else. To show whatever was in the woods that he meant no harm, Marco lays down his sword, and a strange spider-looking woman emerges from behind the trees. The woman introduces herself as The Stalk, and Alana quickly realizes that The Stalk was a freelance mercenary. The Stalk stabs her tongue through Marco's shoulder, before turning her attentions to Alana and Hazel. The Stalk tells Alana that she had been hired to kill Alana and Marco, but bring Hazel back to her paymasters in one piece. Upon hearing that, Alana puts a gun to Hazel's head, since Alana felt Hazel would be better off dead then with whoever The Stalk was working for. The Stalk isn't sure if Alana is bluffing or not, but before she can decide, the two women hear a strange noise in the distance. The Stalk realizes that the noise was coming from the Horrors, and decides to take off to safety, leaving Alana, Hazel and the still unconscious Marco behind. This issue ends with Alana turning around to see a bunch of mutilated-looking ghost children standing there, asking her if she needed a hand.

Thoughts: I liked this comic. It's still early on in the series, and Brian K. Vaughn is still building up the world of Saga, so I'm not completely immersed yet, but I'm sure in time I will be. As with last issue, all of the pieces for a fantastic series are here, it's just a matter of waiting for those pieces to fall together. I say by the 5th or 6th issues of this series I should be 1,000% sold on this comic.

Score: 7 out of 10.

I'd be intrigued to see that......

New Avengers #24

Okay, I've never hidden my feelings about the New Avengers series... I feel it has NO right being called “Avengers”, because it's basically a team of NON-Avengers, led by a non-Avenger! I mean hell, I like Luke Cage as much as the next guy(unless the next guy is Bendis...), but sorry, I don't see him as an Avengers leader. On the same note, I don't see Wolverine, Spider-Man, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones or Daredevil as Avengers... Heroes for Hire? Sure. Defenders? Maybe. But Avengers? Hell no! But I'm going to put those feelings aside since this issue supposedly ties into the AvX event, and as a completist, I feel compelled to pick this one up. Here's hoping that's not a $4 mistake...

New Avengers #24(AvX tie-in):

Summary: For some reason people are protesting against the Avengers in front of Avengers Mansion... Seriously, they're the goddamn AVENGERS! Fucking ingrates... Anyway, Captain America has ordered the Avengers to not engage the protesters, so Iron Fist decides to head outside to talk to them... But Cap said... Nevermind... As Iron Fist exits the Mansion, we find Luke Cage on camera begging his wife, Jessica Jones, to come back to him with his daughter. Luke talks for a very long time before Jessica wanders over with the baby. The two then go inside to talk... Uh-oh... I have a BAAAAD feeling about this... Luke and Jessica then proceed to talk about NOTHING for FIVE STRAIGHT PAGES!!!!!!! When I die and go to Hell, THIS scene will be the only thing I'll be allowed to read!! It's that bad!!! After the scene from hell ends, Cap calls a meeting(thank GOD!) and tells the gathered Avengers about the Phoenix Force and Hope. Cap wants to take Hope into custody and get her off-world(or something, my mind is pretty much gone by this point), which means heading to Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia). From there, Red Hulk psyches up the team and they head off, at which point we get a replay of the end of AvX #1, which finished this comic off.

Thoughts: Wow. Just wow... Okay, first the good. Red Hulk's two speeches were surprisingly good. The rest? Just horrible... Simply horrible. But instead of me telling you, how about I just end this post by showing you some of what I'm talking about?

Score: 2 out of 10.

ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wolverine #304

Here's the final Jason Aaron written issue of Wolverine... Until the next issue of Wolverine and the X-Men! Well, this is actually the final issue of the solo Wolverine series Aaron will be writing. There have been some ups and downs throughout Aaron's Wolvie run, but for my money, the positives have outweighed the negatives. To be honest, I wish Aaron would stay on this series and leave Wolvie and the X-Men, but that's a topic for another day...

Wolverine #304:

Summary: Sabretooth throws a party and invites several criminals to celebrate Sabretooth's new position as secret crime lord of the far east... Now, before I go on, two things... Throwing a party and inviting a slew of criminals kind of defeats the whole “secret” crime boss thing... The second? This was DAKEN'S idea first!!! Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest... Oh, and Daken was at the party. Anyway, Wolvie crashes the party, beats everybody up and tells Sabretooth that he was starting a new tradition... Beating Tooth up every year on Tooth's birthday... Wait, it was Sabretooth's birthday? The hell?? Besides that, we get a few snippets from stories Aaron ran over the years(an awesome scene with Maverick, Strikeforce X, the Baby Hellfire Club, Dr. Rot, etc), and this one ends with Wolverine sitting at a bar drinking a beer and watching some football.

Thoughts: This comic was okay, I guess. I don't get why Tooth would throw a party, (because it was his birthday, X, you idiot!)I don't get why Wolvie knew it was Sabretooth's birthday(who keeps tabs on their arch-enemies birthday's?), and to be honest, I would have preferred it if we got more from the other stories as opposed to spending so much time on Tooth and his party... I mean that Maverick scene was just BEGGING to be explored further! And it only got two measly pages and then nothing... Even the Dr. Rot stuff deserved more than it got. Oh well. Like I said, this was an okay comic, but I can't help but feel that if the focus was shifted slightly it could have been a great comic.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

I'm going to take this to mean that Daken is alive. Now, let us never speak of Daken's “death” again...

Journey Into Mystery #636

First up tonight is the final issue of the Nightmare/Daimon Hellstrom storyline in this series... After the absolute garbage we got with Daimon in the Fearless, this issue is probably going to be the last time I get to see Daimon in a non-evil role for a while. And that makes me both sad AND angry...

Journey Into Mystery #636:

Summary: This issue begins with Nightmare finishing up the creation of his EVIL MALFESTED DREAM CROWN(in all caps), while Loki secretly calls a meeting with the other Fear Lords to tell them that Nightmare was plotting to become the King of Fear, with, yes, that's right, his EVIL MALFESTED DREAM CROWN. The other Fear Lords attack Nightmare and defeat him, with the Dweller-in-Darkness stealing the EVIL MALFESTED DREAM CROWN for himself. The other Fear Lords don't like THAT idea anymore than Nightmare holding the EVIL MALFESTED DREAM CROWN, and go after him. In other words, the Fear Lords would end up in constant battle with one another, with none of them ever managing to claim the EVIL MALFESTED DREAM CROWN due to the interference of the others. Which was Loki's plan all along. Daimon Hellstrom(who is GOOD in this issue) takes his leave(presumably to become EVIL), but warns Loki that if one of the Fear Lords were to ever gain possession of the EVIL MALFESTED DREAM CROWN, he'd blame Loki and come for him. From there we get some shenanigans between Loki and Leah in Broxton, and this issue ends.

Thoughts: This issue read SO fast! Seriously, I was done with it in like a minute or two! I enjoyed this issue, and to be honest, kind of wanted it to go on a bit longer... I thought the way Loki tricked the Fear Lords was really slick, but again, it all ended so quickly... I don't know, I guess that's a weird gripe to have about a comic, but yeah, the briskness of this one did kind of hurt my enjoyment of it just a tad.

Score: 7 out of 10.

In this issue, Daimon Hellstrom is: GOOD.

Winter Soldier #4

Next up, the last review I'll be posting for the night, Winter Soldier. Tomorrow I plan on posting two reviews(Wolverine and Journey Into Mystery), but I'll probably have them posted a little later than usual. But rest assured, they WILL be posted! Eventually...

Winter Soldier #4:

Summary: With Bucky managing to (barely)convince Dr. Doom that Lucia Von Bardas was trying to start a war between Latveria and the US, Bucky and Doom head to the location of the international incident Von Bardas was planning... The UN Building. As for Black Widow, she is still trying to track down Von Bardas's assistant, the Red Ghost. Doom manages to arrive at the UN Building and attacks his Doombot before it can carry out the orders Von Bardas had programmed into it, while Bucky is forced to fight one of the Soviet Sleeper agents Von Bardas had working with the Doombot to pull off her plan. Doom defeats his Doombot, while Bucky ends up defeating the Sleeper, but in doing so the Sleeper accidentally manages to kill himself. Before the Sleeper dies though, he tells Bucky that Von Bardas's plans were still moving forward since the attack at the UN was actually just some misdirection... This issue ends with Von Bardas and the Red Ghost entering Latveria and gaining access to the site of Dr. Doom's nuclear missiles(!).

Thoughts: I have to say, I found myself really enjoying this comic, but a lot of that had to do with Doom... I'm telling you, dialogue-wise, Doom is probably my favorite character in all of comics. It would be between Doom and Thor, but I think Doom would take the prize. Anyway, Besides the awesomeness that is Victor Von Doom, the story moved along nicely here. I liked that Von Bardas's plan wasn't simply to stage an assassination at the UN, but was to actually gain access to Latveria's nuclear arsenal and use it against America. Sure, her plan banked on a lot of events outside her influence occurring(such as Doom not being in Latveria), but overlooking that, I liked where Ed Brubaker took this story. The next issue is apparently the final part of this storyline, and it should go without saying I'm REALLY curious to see what happens and how Bucky and/or the Black Widow manage to prevent Von Bardas's nuclear attack.

Score: 8 out of 10.

The insults Doom hurls at his Doombot in this issue are just plain epic.