New Comic Day! June 22nd edition.

Hey all, X here with an abbreviated New Comic Day post. Things have been a bit busy for yours truly lately, which explains why I've been a bit light on posts both here and at the forum. I'd say by the end of the week things should be back to normal for me, but until then, I'll probably only be good for a post a day. But hey, a post a day with two fresh reviews in it isn't that bad!

Since I'm a bit short for time, I'm going to skip talking about last week's books and jump right into this week... Here are the books I picked up a bit earlier today at the comic shop... Action Comics #902, Outsiders #40, Batman: Gates of Gotham #2, Fables #106, Justice League of America #58, Superman #712, Zatanna #14, Deadpool #39, Iron Man 2.0 #6, Mighty Thor #3, Namor #11, New Mutants #26, Secret Avengers #14, Thunderbolts #159, Wolverine #11 & Silver Surfer #5. This week's Pick of the Litter couldn't possibly be any easier for me to choose... It's New Mutants #26. I don't even need to look at the rest of the comics, once I had New Mutants #26 in my hands, I KNEW no other comic could possibly be this week's Pick. Why is that? Two words: Nate Grey. As for this week's Runt of the Litter, that's pretty easy as well, it's the(thankfully!) last part of the abysmal Silver Surfer mini-series. This mini has proved to me once and for all that I'll NEVER be a fan of Greg Pak's writing... Only Pak would write a Silver Surfer comic where the Surfer loses his power, gets stuck on the Earth and whines incessantly. Way to write Marvel's preeminent cosmic hero! It's been painful, and if not for my immense love of the Surfer, I'd have dropped this one after the second issue. And that, as they say, is that. I should have a review of New Mutants #26 and probably Deadpool #39 up later on tonight, because I can't wait to dig into that issue of New Mutants! Until then, here's the Random Scan of the Week. X out.

The Random Scan of the Week!It's definitely a Batarang...

Uncanny X-Men #538 & Generation Hope #8

I'll be finishing last week's new books with the two X-related titles I like the least, Uncanny X-Men and Generation Hope. Since I'm expecting absolutely nothing from these two books, the bar is set really low, meaning maybe I'll wind up pleasantly surprised... Although I wouldn't bet on it...

Uncanny X-Men #538:

Summary: Wolverine and Kruun wind up being too evenly matched so Kruun cheats to win by sticking Wolvie with some darts to mess up his healing factor, before sticking a device on him which causes Wolvie to become nearly weightless. While that's going on, Shadowcat(DAMMIT! I was hoping she was dead!) rushes over to Colossus to try to patch him up. Kruun heads over to them and tries to attack Shadowcat, but it appears Shadowcat is no longer trapped in her intangible form, and can avoid Kruun's attacks. Oh, and she woke up a bunch of X-Men before heading to Colossus. Seeing that the battle was lost, Kruun surrenders, telling the X-Men that he had acted alone and without the knowledge of his people. Shadowcat tells the team that wasn't true, as Kruun's wife knew what he was up to. Not wanting to see any harm come to his woman, Kruun tosses a smoke grenade and rushes inside to find her. Shadowcat beats him and shows Kruun that Kruun's wife had sacrificed her own life to fix Shadowcat with some lame Breakworld magic trick. Kruun is heartbroken, and does the same spell his wife did to Shadowcat to bring his wife back to life. This also allows Kruun to stay alive(somehow...), and the mayor of San Francisco allows the Breakworld refugees to live in a section of San Fran provided they behave themselves. And that is about that.

Thoughts: I'm going to put this right out there so everybody understands where I'm coming from. I HATE Shadowcat. Passionately. She served a purpose in the 80's(I guess...) as the token spunky/incredibly annoying teenage girl that Chris Claremont is obsessed with writing about, but that role has been filled by several other characters over the years. Now she's just sort of around. Doing nothing of note. Why she was brought back is mind-boggling to me, because she's one character who served her purpose YEARS ago, and died an acceptable, heroic “death”. And yet here she is, wasting space. That in a nutshell is how I felt about this issue and this storyline. I hate Shadowcat, I'm not a fan of Colossus the pervert, so I hated this storyline. If you like those characters, chances are you'll enjoy this one. Me? I hated it.

Score: 5 out of 10.Dammit!! Why won't she just die already?!?


Generation Hope #8:

Summary: Lord Summers and Our Savior Hope meet with the X-Men's lawyer to discuss what to do about the Teon situation. The lawyer feels that Teon's parents would win the battle for Teon's custody, but Our Savior Hope refuses to give Teon up without a fight, so Lord Summers decrees that they'd fight for Teon's rights in court. From there, Our Savior Hope FINALLY talks to her team and tells them to pick codenames for themselves, which they all do. After that, Our Savior Hope and her useless followers(what? They don't even get a team name! They're just called Gen Hope! They MUST be useless!) meet up with the lawyer and they all head to court. The court scene is as boring as you'd expect it to be, with Teon's parents arguing why he should be with them(“He's our son!”) and the X-Men's lawyer arguing why he should be with them(“We can help him!”). Finally Teon takes the stand and is suddenly not a complete blithering idiot, and tells the court why he wants to stay with the X-Men. Since that's what Teon wants, the judge rules for the X-Men and this issue ends.

Thoughts: You know, reading this review you'd think I hated this comic, but that's not the case. This actually may have been one of my favorite issues of this series.(although that isn't saying much). The beginning was good, with Our Savior Hope's worthless followers finally picking codenames(Now I can FINALLY call them by name!), but the courtroom scene did NOTHING for me. As a matter of fact, it bored me so much I actually skipped large chunks of it. Then there was the fact that Teon took the stand in his own defense AND was able to speak intelligently... If he could do that in court, why the hell is he always running around saying stupid, unfunny one word dialogue?! I think it's safe to say I am NOT a fan of Kieron Gillen's writing. I've read every issue of this series, as well as all of his work on Uncanny, and I can't point at anything and say I really enjoyed it. I'm still trying to be optimistic with this series, but I don't know...

Score: 6 out of 10.Sure, this makes about as much sense as anything else in this series...

X-Men: Prelude to Schism #3 & Titans #36

I'm getting towards the bottom of my new comics pile, so the next few comics coming up are the ones I really wasn't looking forward to reading. That doesn't mean they won't be good or anything, I just don't expect anything from them...

X-Men: Prelude to Schism #3(of 4):

Summary: This issue is ALL about Lord Summers the First, otherwise known as Cyclops/Scott Summers. Lord Summers is contemplating what move he should make against whatever this massive force that's rapidly approaching Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia), with his two options being to evacuate or stand and fight. Before making his decision Lord Summers' mind goes back to the woman who had the greatest impact on his life, Jean Grey... I mean his mother... Huh, didn't see that one coming. Anyway, after a few flashback sequences, Lord Summers makes up his mind and heads out to address his most trusted teammates. And Shadowcat... I'm not sure how she managed to get into the inner circle... Anyway, this issue ends with Lord Summers declaring that he'd be staying to fight the dread menace of the mystery foe.

Thoughts: Sarcasm aside, I enjoyed this issue for the most part. It was a real good issue for people relatively unfamiliar to Cyclops, as it gave a bunch of flashbacks detailing a few important moments from his formative years. Granted, the fact that he was thinking about his mother kind of took me by surprise(nobody EVER talks about poor Katherine Summers!), since I REALLY thought it would be revealed he was thinking about Jean, but whatever. I am a bit bothered that we still don't know what this massive, deadly, horrendous threat to the X-Men is, but hopefully we'll find out next issue. Other than that, this was a perfectly acceptable comic.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.You'd think Namor would at least get a little dressed up for this meeting...


Titans #36:

Summary: Deathstroke manages to escape the catacombs of Drago's lair thanks to the vision in his torn out left eye returning. After getting past Drago's minions, Slade meets up with Cinder and the two continue onward to find and kill Drago. As for Drago, he's currently in the process of being betrayed by Cheshire and That Junkie. Drago's goons enter the room to assist their master, as do Slade and Cinder. Slade immediately squares off against Drago, while everybody else heads into the background for their fight. Slade manages to figure out a way to counter Drago's telepathy, and is about to decapitate Drago, until Drago makes a promise that he'd leave Slade alone(or something, I really don't care that much...). With that, Slade tells the Titans they were leaving, and the team reluctantly does. Slade tells Cheshire and That Junkie that they were all even now(after That Junkie and Cheshire betrayed Slade to Drago), and this issue ends with the Justice League of Losers confronting Slade and the Titans for the murder of Ryan Choi.

Thoughts: Meh. This is one of those DC comics that I usually can't stand, but with the whole Reboot coming up, I can't really get myself to care enough about this series to get angry or anything... I just kind of read through this one totally disconnected from the story and the characters in it, since it all doesn't matter. That's probably why the score is higher than usual, I really don't care one way or the other.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.That normally doesn't end well...

Power Girl #25 & Superman/Batman #85

Two soon to be canned DC books on the agenda. Yep, that's all the introduction I can think up...

Power Girl #25:

Summary: It appears Power Girl and Batman(Bruce Wayne) are trying to capture an escaped terrorist by the name of Rayhan Mazin. Rayhan has the ability to control the weather, and upon learning that his father was dying, decided to escape to say his good-byes to his dad. Rayhan claims he was innocent of the charges he was convicted of, but until that's proven, PG and Bats are obligated to recapture the fugitive. Since Rayhan couldn't get the two heroes to listen, he unleashes a hurricane and heads inside the hospital. PG tries to... fight the weather, I guess, while Bats chases after Rayhan. Rayhan floods a hallway to escape Bats, and makes it to his father's bedside just in times to say his good-byes before his old man passes. From there, Rayhan peacefully surrenders, and while PG is talking to Rayhan, Bats gets word that Rayhan really WAS innocent of the crimes against him. PG tells Bats that she was going to place Rayhan with the JSA to help him develop as a super-hero, which Bats is fine with. From there, Bats and PG say their good-byes(perhaps for the final time?), and this issue ends.

Thoughts: This was kind of like walking into a movie halfway through... I believe this was the second of a two part story, so it was a bit difficult to get into this one. However, once I had the characters/situation down, I did find myself enjoying this issue. I'm sure glad I started reading this series, since I've always been a fan of PG, and love Judd Winick's writing... What do you mean this was Winick's last issue on this book and this series wasn't surviving the DC Reboot?!?

Score: 8 out of 10.Hmm, read between the lines here and see what you can pick up about PG and the Reboot...


Superman/Batman #85:

Summary: We're back in the past here, with a dead body washing up near Jimmy Olsen in Metropolis. Jimmy snaps a few pics before the cops come by to take care of things. Later on, Perry White calls Clark Kent into his office and tells him that the body was a reporter friend of his from Gotham City. Perry continues, telling Clark that it's believed that this reporter had somehow figured out the secret identity of the Batman, and was murdered as a result. Perry finishes by telling Clark that he wanted him to pick up the dead reporters trail and finish the story. Curious about the whole thing, Clark heads to Gotham, and meets up with Bats. Bats tells Supes to keep his nose out of Gotham City business and takes off on him. Ah that friendly Batman... From there Bats heads to the dead reporter's apartment and finds a whole mess of newspaper clippings and evidence that link Bruce Wayne to Batman. As Bats is looking over the work, two cops enter the room, leaving Bats no choice but to torch all the paperwork before leaving(oh, and don't worry, Bats put out the blaze too). Later on, Supes catches up with Bats and asks him what was going on. Bats shows Supes a few things he managed to swipe from the apartment before setting it on fire, and reveals that the dead reporter had managed to get a hold of a piece of one of Batman's discarded gadgets, complete with a patent number from Waynetech. Long story short, the reporter did some digging, and was able to figure out Bruce and Bats were one and the same(and Bruce had been taking things from Waynetech while it was still publicly traded, meaning he was stealing from the stockholders or something). Supes still wants to help Bats get to the bottom of this mystery, but Bats continued to refuse Supes help, telling him that he didn't want nor need any assistance.

Thoughts: So, the murderer is Ra's Al Ghul, right? Anyway, this was the textbook definition of a perfectly acceptable comic. I mean, it didn't set the world on fire or anything, it simply told a straightforward story. The ONLY complaint I have here is that since this is the last storyarc in this series before the DC Reboot, I was kind of hoping we'd get a final current Superman/Batman story before the DCU gets turned upside-down...

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Dun dun dun!!!

Movie Goers to Geoff Johns: Drop Dead!

So the Green Lantern movie debuted at around $52.7 million which is about $13 million less than Thor. That was also a lower opening weekend than X-Men: First Class... With a budget of around $200-$300 million, that's not exactly the news DC was looking for I'm sure... To that news I simply say this... HA!!! Yep, it sure is a good thing DC is obsessed with pushing old Silver Age characters at the expense of their younger, newer Modern Age characters... Those old characters SURE are where the money is! I'd say maybe DC would learn from this, but let's face it, as long as Chairman Johns is DC's golden boy, they'll continue to be mired in the past... As well as trail behind Marvel in nearly every way...

Captain America Corps #1 & X-Factor #221

Back to Marvel, with a mini-series I know NOTHING about, and one of those X-books...

Captain America Corps #1(of 5):

Summary: This issue kicks off with some Eskimos discovering Captain America(Steve Rogers) frozen in his block of ice back in the day. Before events transpire the way they're supposed to, the block of ice suddenly vanishes from that reality. One of the Elders of the Universe(the Contemplator), heads to the Watcher's base on the Blue Area of the Moon, and tells the Watcher that Steve Rogers's's's were being plucked from all over the multiverse, and that if it continued at the rate it was happening, there could be a multiversal catastrophe. The Watcher, being the Watcher, tells Contemplator that was too bad, but he could only watch, leaving Contemplator to try have to solve this mystery on his own. To that end he grabs several Captain America related characters out of history, and explains what was happening. So who are these characters? The Captain America from the early 40's(Steve Rogers), the current Captain America, or I guess the former Captain America now(GRRRR.....), Bucky Barnes, US Agent(John Walker, right after his Cap run), American Dream(!!!), who was from the MC2 universe, and Commander A, the Captain America of the 25th century, who I know nothing about. Needless to say, these very different characters don't exactly believe the Contemplator, so he teleports them to one of the altered Earths, where they are immediately set upon by that world's police force, the Americops(!!!). After a quick scuffle, the Cap Corps decide to retreat to try to figure out what was going on, but unfortunately run right into the Ameridriod(!!!)

Thoughts: Yeah, I'm a sucker for Captain America history, and a total Captain America fanboy, so I really enjoyed this one... Sue me. I mean damn, this issue referenced Americop, the Ameridroid, and featured Bucky, Cap, US Agent(when he still pretty crazy), and American Dream... It was AWESOME! Hell, I don't even care about the storyline, as long as this mini-series keeps on giving me obscure Cap facts, I'm THERE!

Score: 9 out of 10.Yep, I'm going to enjoy this mini-series...


X-Factor #221:

Summary: We get started with Feral trying to attack Wolfsbane, but rapidly realizing that she was intangible. This confuses Feral, until Wolfsbane tells Feral that she had died, at which point Feral remembers that and vanishes. Confused, Shatterstar and Wolfsbane leave the church they were in and begin to head home when Feral reappears. Feral tells Wolfsbane that several creatures were interested in her unborn child, and that she was there to lead the creatures to Wolfsbane, since one of the creatures promised Feral they'd return her to life if she served as a homing device around Wolfsbane. From there a demon wolf attacks Wolfsbane, but is decapitated by Shatterstar. Unfortunately, the wolf's head grows a body and it's body grows a head, leaving the two heroes with twice the demon wolf. Deciding retreat was in order, Shatterstar and Wolfsbane steal a taxi and try to drive back to X-Factor's headquarters. While that's going on, Layla Miller is spreading salt in specific symbols around the building in order to keep any demons out. Meanwhile, Shatterstar and Wolfsbane are jumped by a giant lion goddess, and have to abandon their taxi. Two canine demons show up and attack the lion goddess since they wanted Wolfsbane's child for themselves. With the various gods and demons distracted, Shatterstar and Wolfsbane continue onward to X-Factor's building. We end this one with X-Factor's receptionist, Pip the Troll, calling his mystery boss and telling him to get over to the building since so many others were also after Wolfsbane's unborn child.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this one. It wasn't spectacular, but it was good. It had a horror movie feel to it, with Wolfsbane being heckled by the ghost of Feral, while she and Shatterstar were being chased by various freaks. The ending, with Pip revealing he was planning an apparent double-cross on the team was the perfect cliffhanger, as it makes X-Factor's base as perilous as the streets outside. I'm pretty interested to see where this whole pregnancy angle is gonna go.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Yeah, she's a ghost.

Batgirl #22 & Teen Titans #96

Two DC comics here, both slated to be completely retooled during the DC Reboot of 2011. One of them doesn't need a reboot at all(BATGIRL!!!), while I can't say I'm upset to see the other one changed up. But that's September, let's deal with the present.

Batgirl #22:

Summary: For some undisclosed reason, Batman(Bruce Wayne... Huh, I guess I won't have to specify WHICH Batman I'm talking about soon...) tells Batgirl to head to Jolly Ole England and head to a hotel. Upon arriving in London, Steph is met by Squire(ugh), and the two head off towards the hotel. However, since this IS a comic book, the two can't simply arrive at the hotel with no problem, they end up running afoul some feeb named Orphan, who has managed to steal a sword that stops time(or something). Luckily for Steph and Squire, they aren't frozen like the rest of England due to them being in the room when Orphan stole the sword. They two girls track Orphan and stop him right before he was able to decapitate the frozen Knight. After a bit of a fight, Steph manages to steal the sword away from Orphan, which leads to him freezing. The girls unfreeze Knight, take care of a few bombs Orphan had hidden, and restore the sword to it's proper place, ending the threat. From there, Steph finally gets to the hotel, and is met by an unhappy Batman, who was wondering what took her so long.

Thoughts: Well, there were a few good laughs to be had in this issue, but for the most part, the story just didn't do it for me. Honestly, I think I'd have enjoyed this one WAY more if it was simply Steph doing the hero thing solo in London, because I don't like Knight or Squire... They bug me for some reason... Anyway, this was a good read, but for whatever reason, it just never clicked for me.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10."Oy!" Indeed...


Teen Titans #96:

Summary: Solstice and Beast Boy set off to free the rest of the Teen Titans(yes really, THOSE two), from Rankor, some evil Indian god(or something, I really don't care). Inexplicably, Beast Boy manages to succeed where all of the other Titans failed, and frees the rest of the Titans from the prisons Rankor had placed them in, which also happened to be his giant walking chair... Oh god is this awful... The Titans land and discuss things while Rankor and his army hangs out and watches, and Raven bitches about Solstice being the problem... No, this comic is the problem! From there, Solstice hurls threats at Rankor, and this issue mercifully ends.

Thoughts: Well, at least Nicola Scott did the art for this one, because that was the ONLY thing it had going for it! This story starred Solstice, who we hardly know, and Beast Boy, who I hate with a passion... If JT Krul was looking for a way to punish me, this comic was it. Ugh, the sooner we get this series rebooted, the better... And I say that as somebody who HATES the idea of the new Superboy!

Score: 2 out of 10.At least the bad guys are giving the Titans a break...

Invincible Iron Man #505 & Alpha Flight #1

Two more Fear Itself related comics to go before I'm done with that x-over this week. I'll tell you right now, one of these comics was REALLY good, while the other was REALLY bad... just by looking at the titles, I'd bet you could figure out which is which!

Invincible Iron Man #505:

Summary: Upon waking up and realizing that he was lying on a pile of statues that used to be Parisians, Tony Stark vomits into his helmet before he is noticed by the Serpent possessed Grey Gargoyle. The Gargoyle flies over to attack, and swings his hammer at Iron Man, missing him, but shattering dozens of statues that were once people, much to Tony's horror. Tony blasts away at Gargoyle, but can't scratch his hide, while Gargoyle manages to connect with Tony, sending him sailing through the deserted streets of Paris, destroying statues as he went. Before the Gargoyle catches up to Tony, Detroit Steel arrives on the scene and blasts away at the Gargoyle. Tony, realizing that Steel had no shot against Gargoyle, tries to convince him to leave, but Steel simply figures Tony was being a gloryhound, and presses his attack. While Tony's systems try to re-power, Gargoyle takes Steel down and tears open the front of the armor, exposing the man inside. With the protection of the armor gone, Steel's pilot turns to stone, and before Tony can fly over to do anything, Gargoyle stomps on the statue, shattering the pilot of Steel. Tony places most of his energy into a sword-like laser beam and slices Gargoyle in the face, actually hurting the monster, but receives a massive shot to the chest with Gargoyle's hammer for his troubles, a shot that cracks the repulsor in Tony's chest. With Gargoyle temporarily injured, Tony realizes staying any longer to continue the battle was tantamount to suicide, and flies away from Paris as fast as he can. This issue ends with Tony heading back to Stark Reliant in Seattle, where he says his good-byes to Bethany Cabe and Pepper Potts, grabs some components to fix his damaged armor, and takes a bottle of champagne...

Thoughts: Matt Fraction continues to bring the awesome in this series. I've got to say, I might not have liked what went down in Fear Itself #3, but Fear Itself, Invincible Iron Man and Mighty Thor, all of which are written by Fraction have been amongst the best comics I've been reading the past few months. Much like Avengers Academy, this comic did a great job of showing a) just how insanely powerful the Serpent's henchmen were, and b) just how awful their actions were. This issue also did a great job of showing us how damaging psychologically the events in Paris were on Tony Stark himself. Seeing Tony take that bottle with him, showed us, probably more than anything else, that he wasn't expecting to make it through Fear Itself. Again, this was a great comic, that has me eagerly anticipating the next issue.

Score: 9 out of 10.That's all kinds of messed up!


Alpha Flight #1(of 8):

Summary: Attuma has launched an attack on Vancouver, and Alpha Flight heads over to face down the Serpent powered warlord. Alpha Flight manages to deal with Attuma's Atlantian henchmen, but can't bring down Attuma himself. Ultimately Guardian manages to push his suit to the limit and brings Attuma to an unoccupied plot of land on Canada's eastern coast, but winds up collapsing from the strain of it all. As for Attuma, he... well, I really don't know what happens to him, he kind of disappears... Some other boring things then happen, and this issue ends with Vindicator finding Guardian and inexplicably attacking him.

Thoughts: You know, I don't know why I bother buying any comic books with Greg Pak's name on the cover. Now in fairness, this comic was written by Pak and Fred Van Lente, but regardless of who wrote it, I hated it. The Alpha Flight characters were just flat out unlikable(what the HELL happened to Marrina?!?), the story did nothing for me, and this comic just didn't have that same feel of dread that the better written Fear Itself tie-ins had managed to cultivate... Kind of like Herc, which was written by, what a shock, Van Lente and Pak... Sorry, I gave this one a shot because it was a Fear Itself tie-in, but I won't be picking up the rest of this series...

Score: 4 out of 10.And from here, Attuma magically vanished.