Hey all, X here with one of those, “I don't really have anything to post...” posts! With no new comics left in my pile, I've been happily sifting through my plethora of unread back issues, which is funny in a way since so many of my unread DC back issues hold zero interest for me now... I mean I had like the first 25 issues of Supergirl, the full JSA Classified run, most of the JLA Classified run, the GLC mini-series that tied into the main series, as well as some other books that I actually put away even though I never read them, all thanks to the great DC Reboot of '11. It's hard to work up interest in the stories from the 1990's and 2000's since DC has basically said the stuff from those time periods(unless written by Grant Morrison of Johns the Destroyer) don't matter. So yeah, I put those comics in boxes and put them away in the closet unread. It's sad in a way...
Anyway, with the DC reboot upon us, I figured I'd list all of the comic books I collect on a monthly basis, Marvel, DC or other, so you guys can get some idea of what you can expect to see here on the blog during the coming weeks and months.
Let's start with Marvel:
Amazing Spider-Man
Avengers
Avengers Academy
Daken: Dark Wolverine
Deadpool
Invincible Iron Man
Iron Man 2.0
Journey Into Mystery
Mighty Thor
New Mutants
Secret Avengers
Thunderbolts
Uncanny X-Force
Uncanny X-Men
Venom
X-23
X-Factor
X-Men
Heroes for Hire
Wolverine
Ultimate X-Men
Ultimates
Ultimate Spider-Man
Daredevil
Captain America
Captain America and Bucky
These are the rebooted DC books I'll be getting:
Detective Comics
Batman
Batman and Robin
Batman: The Dark Knight
Catwoman
Nightwing
Red Hood and the Outlaws
Green Lantern: New Guardians
Voodoo
I, Vampire
Justice League Dark
Static Shock
Teen Titans
Legion of Superheroes
Legion Lost
Grifter
Deathstroke
Stormwatch
Suicide Squad
Superboy
Supergirl
Superman
Action Comics
Wonder Woman
Hellblazer(Vertigo)
Fables(Vertigo)
Closing things out are two Image comics:
Invincible
Morning Glories
And one Boom! Title
Irredeemable
So that's 55 regular monthly series, not counting the various mini-series and assorted spur of the moment pick-ups. So yes, that's a lot of comics, and that's not counting books like Wolverine and the X-Men or Generation Hope that I'll be picking up/restarting down the road. On the plus side, I will be dropping some books soon(like Uncanny X-Men), and most of those DC books will be on a VERY short leash. The rebooted DC titles are interesting in that I WON'T be picking up ANYTHING that isn't on that initial list(there's no chance in Hell I'll start collecting Flash, JL, JLI, Aquaman, GL, etc) no matter what I hear about the other books, but I WILL be willing to drop comics after two issues... Honestly, out of the DC books, the only titles I never see myself dropping are the Batman family of books(all the main Bat-titles plus Catwoman, Nightwing, Red Hood), Action Comics, Superman, Superboy, Stormwatch, Grifter, Teen Titans and Justice League Dark. All of those other titles could be lopped off the pull list come October/November depending on story quality. So come November, there's a chance I'll have halved my DC pull list if things go REALLY bad, which is a distinct possibility with THAT company...
So there you have it, a post about pretty much nothing that only took me a couple of minutes to type up. Feel free to drop me any comments on which comics you pick up monthly or go ahead and recommend some comics to me. Trust me, it doesn't take a lot of convincing to get me to start collecting comic books! Or hell, drop me a random comic comment or e-mail me at xman75@gmail.com and leave me a comment or post topic idea for tomorrow... As it stands right now I MAY post a review of some sort or I MAY just post some random comic scans come tomorrow, but I can be swayed to do something else. Well, that's it for me tonight, enjoy the rest of your night/day/whatever. Until next time, X out!
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Uncanny X-Men #542
I've been avoiding this comic for at least a week now, but with my new comic pile empty, now is the perfect opportunity for me to finally read this issue... It should go without saying that I expect nothing from this comic and that I'm dreading opening it. With that cheerful introduction out of the way, let's crack this one open!
Uncanny X-Men #542(Fear Itself tie-in):
Summary: Lord Summers sends out waves of mutants to try to stop the Serpent possessed Juggernaut from marching through San Fransisco, but plan after plan after plan(at least 42 by my count) fail. Getting desperate, Lord Summers heads to the most knowledgeable mutant in the area of magic, Magik(makes sense, no?). Lord Summers allows Magik out of the cell she was locked in on Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia) and tells her to do whatever she could to deal with Juggy. Along with Shadowcat(BOOO!!!) and Colossus(Meh...), Magik teleports to the realm of Juggy's original master, Cyttorak. Cyttorak seems pleased that Juggy was FINALLY acting the way he was supposed to be(destroying stuff), but Magik reveals that Juggy wasn't serving Cyttorak anymore, but the Serpent. This news enrages Cyttorak, and he abandons Juggy and offers the power of the Juggernaut to Magik instead. Before Magik can accept, Colossus steps in front of her, grabs the Ruby of Cyttorak and becomes a human Juggernaut!
Thoughts: This comic was SO much better than the last... um, like 40 issues or so of Uncanny X-Men that it was almost unbelievable! First off, every single character who had a major role in this comic? I hate. I hate Shadowcat. I hate this version of Cyclops(the annoying dictatorial one). I hate that both Colossus and Magik are alive because their deaths were EXTREMELY well-written. In short, I should have HATED this issue! And yet I didn't... I know Kieron Gillen can write good comic books, because I've enjoyed his Journey Into Mystery run, but I've hated every single X-comic he's ever written, with the exception of this one. I'm still not planning on picking up Uncanny X-Men after it resets back to #1, but for the first time in years, I actually enjoyed an issue of this series. Awesome.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Cyttorak is one handsome devil!
Uncanny X-Men #542(Fear Itself tie-in):
Summary: Lord Summers sends out waves of mutants to try to stop the Serpent possessed Juggernaut from marching through San Fransisco, but plan after plan after plan(at least 42 by my count) fail. Getting desperate, Lord Summers heads to the most knowledgeable mutant in the area of magic, Magik(makes sense, no?). Lord Summers allows Magik out of the cell she was locked in on Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia) and tells her to do whatever she could to deal with Juggy. Along with Shadowcat(BOOO!!!) and Colossus(Meh...), Magik teleports to the realm of Juggy's original master, Cyttorak. Cyttorak seems pleased that Juggy was FINALLY acting the way he was supposed to be(destroying stuff), but Magik reveals that Juggy wasn't serving Cyttorak anymore, but the Serpent. This news enrages Cyttorak, and he abandons Juggy and offers the power of the Juggernaut to Magik instead. Before Magik can accept, Colossus steps in front of her, grabs the Ruby of Cyttorak and becomes a human Juggernaut!
Thoughts: This comic was SO much better than the last... um, like 40 issues or so of Uncanny X-Men that it was almost unbelievable! First off, every single character who had a major role in this comic? I hate. I hate Shadowcat. I hate this version of Cyclops(the annoying dictatorial one). I hate that both Colossus and Magik are alive because their deaths were EXTREMELY well-written. In short, I should have HATED this issue! And yet I didn't... I know Kieron Gillen can write good comic books, because I've enjoyed his Journey Into Mystery run, but I've hated every single X-comic he's ever written, with the exception of this one. I'm still not planning on picking up Uncanny X-Men after it resets back to #1, but for the first time in years, I actually enjoyed an issue of this series. Awesome.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Cyttorak is one handsome devil!
Friday, September 2, 2011
Fear Itself: The Deep #3
And this is it! This is the last comic in this week's new comic pile! I still have a few new-ish comics laying around that I'll probably try to review between now and next Wednesday(Uncanny X-Men #542, a whole mess of Morning Glories, some Irredeemables, the conclusion to the Iron Age mini-series, etc), but with no new comics left, I can actually do something besides reviews here at the blog! Huzzah! Now, I don't have the slightest idea what I'll do, but rest assured, I shall post SOMETHING other than more reviews some time over the course of the next few days. Since I have no clue what I'll be posting, let's just call it a surprise and leave it at that...
Fear Itself: The Deep #3(of 4):
Summary: Okay, so although this mini-series is a Fear Itself tie-in(it says so on the cover), the kind of/sort of Defenders are battling the Undying Ones, who have managed to possess the denizens of New Atlantis. Long story short, Dr. Strange busts out some magic and defeats the Undying Ones conduit to the earthly plane and sends the Undying Ones scurrying back to whatever the hell dimension the Undying Ones originated from. So the citizens of New Atlantis are free of the Undying Ones influence and the day is won... Or is it?! This issue ends with Namor reminding the kind of/sort of Defenders that while the threat of the Serpent possessed Attuma remained, New Atlantis wasn't truly safe.
Thoughts: You can probably tell from that review that this wasn't my favorite comic... In all fairness though, this wasn't a bad comic. It just veered a bit off-road with the whole, “Undying Ones making an alliance with Attuma's goons” storyline. Attuma has been kicking everybody's ass, from Speedball(okay, bad example), to Alpha Flight(um, another bad example I guess...), why does he need “lieutenants”, and why the hell did those lieutenants need demonic powers? For me it was the lack of Attuma that bugged me the most here. Next issue should be an all-out battle between the kind of/sort of Defenders and Attuma, and if it turns out to be that straightforward, I'll be a very happy camper!
Score: 5 out of 10.
Wow, the Surfer was kind of an ass here...
Fear Itself: The Deep #3(of 4):
Summary: Okay, so although this mini-series is a Fear Itself tie-in(it says so on the cover), the kind of/sort of Defenders are battling the Undying Ones, who have managed to possess the denizens of New Atlantis. Long story short, Dr. Strange busts out some magic and defeats the Undying Ones conduit to the earthly plane and sends the Undying Ones scurrying back to whatever the hell dimension the Undying Ones originated from. So the citizens of New Atlantis are free of the Undying Ones influence and the day is won... Or is it?! This issue ends with Namor reminding the kind of/sort of Defenders that while the threat of the Serpent possessed Attuma remained, New Atlantis wasn't truly safe.
Thoughts: You can probably tell from that review that this wasn't my favorite comic... In all fairness though, this wasn't a bad comic. It just veered a bit off-road with the whole, “Undying Ones making an alliance with Attuma's goons” storyline. Attuma has been kicking everybody's ass, from Speedball(okay, bad example), to Alpha Flight(um, another bad example I guess...), why does he need “lieutenants”, and why the hell did those lieutenants need demonic powers? For me it was the lack of Attuma that bugged me the most here. Next issue should be an all-out battle between the kind of/sort of Defenders and Attuma, and if it turns out to be that straightforward, I'll be a very happy camper!
Score: 5 out of 10.
Wow, the Surfer was kind of an ass here...
Iron Man 2.0 #8
As we near the end of my new comics this week(already?!) we'll pop in and see what War Machine is up to... If I had to guess I'd say it would have something to do with Palmer Addley, who may or may not be dead depending on who you ask...
Iron Man 2.0 #8:
Summary: While War Machine is battling some big robot in Dubai, the FBI is preparing to raid a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan on a tip from Suzi Endo, War Machine's tech expert, saying that Palmer Addley was somehow operating from that home. While Rhodey manages to take down the robot, the feds raid the house, finding a woman and her two young children, which was, to put it bluntly, not what they were expecting. The feds hand the woman over to the army, and Rhodey's two assistants begin to try to talk to the woman, hoping to glean some info on how/why she was working with Palmer Addley, who was supposed to be dead. Rhodey arrives and is told by one of his assistants that they hadn't gotten anywhere, so Rhodey enters the room to talk to the woman. Rhodey lays out why the government thought she was working with Addley(the robot that attacked Dubai seemed to originate from the woman's home), but the woman keeps claiming innocence, and only seems interested in knowing that her two sons were okay. Rhodey can't help but feel that the woman was being truthful and wasn't working with Addley, but since Suzi had never steered him wrong before, he tells the woman that he couldn't let her go, but would try to let her talk to her sons. As Rhodey begins to leave the room, the woman begins to yell about her rights and during her spiel happens to mention that she was an organ donor... That causes bells to go off in the heads of Rhodey and his two assistants, as they begin digging through files and learn that Palmer Addley was also an organ donor, and that the woman they had taken into custody had received a new kidney six months ago. It's at that time Rhodey realizes, as crazy as it seemed, that Palmer Addley had somehow managed to smuggle his intellect out of his body through his donated organs... Only in a comic book can that line make ANY kind of sense at all! Rhodey's assistants figure they were in the clear since they had the woman with Addley's kidney in custody, but Rhodey figures other people had received organs from Addley, and that with Addley being as smart as he was, there was a very good chance he was tainting the other organs in the bodies of his victims, like a bizarre organic virus. In other words, you get one of Addley's organs, it taints the rest of your organs and when you die and donate your organs, they are all tainted by the Addley virus, which continues to spread. At the Pentagon, a soldier rushes into General Babbage's office to tell him that there were dozens of attacks all over the world, all linked to Palmer Addley. It's at that point that Babbage concedes that it was too late and that Palmer Addley had managed to spread himself everywhere.
Thoughts: You know, this is one hell of a weird story... I mean seriously, it was extremely difficult to type up a review for this one because it was so damn weird! Palmer Addley escaped custody by putting his brain in his kidney... Think about THAT one for a second! Now, like I said, this was a weird story, but you know what? I really enjoyed it! This issue was very dialogue heavy, and there really wasn't much action, but the story is so damn unique that I can't help but enjoy it... Every now and then it's fun to read a story that's completely off-the-wall, but still readable, to break up the monotony of most of the comics I read, and this series fits that bill perfectly for me.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
This comic gets an extra 1/2 for that "HA!" line.
Iron Man 2.0 #8:
Summary: While War Machine is battling some big robot in Dubai, the FBI is preparing to raid a home in Ann Arbor, Michigan on a tip from Suzi Endo, War Machine's tech expert, saying that Palmer Addley was somehow operating from that home. While Rhodey manages to take down the robot, the feds raid the house, finding a woman and her two young children, which was, to put it bluntly, not what they were expecting. The feds hand the woman over to the army, and Rhodey's two assistants begin to try to talk to the woman, hoping to glean some info on how/why she was working with Palmer Addley, who was supposed to be dead. Rhodey arrives and is told by one of his assistants that they hadn't gotten anywhere, so Rhodey enters the room to talk to the woman. Rhodey lays out why the government thought she was working with Addley(the robot that attacked Dubai seemed to originate from the woman's home), but the woman keeps claiming innocence, and only seems interested in knowing that her two sons were okay. Rhodey can't help but feel that the woman was being truthful and wasn't working with Addley, but since Suzi had never steered him wrong before, he tells the woman that he couldn't let her go, but would try to let her talk to her sons. As Rhodey begins to leave the room, the woman begins to yell about her rights and during her spiel happens to mention that she was an organ donor... That causes bells to go off in the heads of Rhodey and his two assistants, as they begin digging through files and learn that Palmer Addley was also an organ donor, and that the woman they had taken into custody had received a new kidney six months ago. It's at that time Rhodey realizes, as crazy as it seemed, that Palmer Addley had somehow managed to smuggle his intellect out of his body through his donated organs... Only in a comic book can that line make ANY kind of sense at all! Rhodey's assistants figure they were in the clear since they had the woman with Addley's kidney in custody, but Rhodey figures other people had received organs from Addley, and that with Addley being as smart as he was, there was a very good chance he was tainting the other organs in the bodies of his victims, like a bizarre organic virus. In other words, you get one of Addley's organs, it taints the rest of your organs and when you die and donate your organs, they are all tainted by the Addley virus, which continues to spread. At the Pentagon, a soldier rushes into General Babbage's office to tell him that there were dozens of attacks all over the world, all linked to Palmer Addley. It's at that point that Babbage concedes that it was too late and that Palmer Addley had managed to spread himself everywhere.
Thoughts: You know, this is one hell of a weird story... I mean seriously, it was extremely difficult to type up a review for this one because it was so damn weird! Palmer Addley escaped custody by putting his brain in his kidney... Think about THAT one for a second! Now, like I said, this was a weird story, but you know what? I really enjoyed it! This issue was very dialogue heavy, and there really wasn't much action, but the story is so damn unique that I can't help but enjoy it... Every now and then it's fun to read a story that's completely off-the-wall, but still readable, to break up the monotony of most of the comics I read, and this series fits that bill perfectly for me.
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
This comic gets an extra 1/2 for that "HA!" line.
Journey Into Mystery #626.1
Today begins with one of Marvel's .1 issues... Now normally I'm fine with these .1 issues, but the timing for this one is rather odd... Journey Into Mystery has been neck deep in Fear Itself for the past couple of issues, so doing a .1 issue now, one that isn't connected to Fear Itself, just seems all kinds of weird... Oh well, let's see what's going on in this one.
Journey Into Mystery #626.1:
Summary: The events of this issue actually take place between panels 4 & 5 in Journey #622 for those of you who need to know that sort of thing. As for me, I have NO idea what happened in that issue, so on to this issue! Loki summons an ancient spirit from the Eldritch Realm called a Teller, whose gimmick is... well, telling people secrets and stuff. You see, Loki realizes that the gods of Asgard are mistrustful and suspicious of him, and wants the Teller to show him what the gods really think of him when he's not around. To that end, the Teller shows Loki conversations between the Warriors Three, Sif and Brunnhilde, as well as Odin and Heimdall. The main gist of what everybody is saying is that they don't trust Loki and don't understand why Thor does. The Teller asks Loki if he wanted to know what Thor was saying about Loki, but Loki quickly refuses that offer. Having learned what he wanted, Loki tries to send the Teller back to the Eldritch Realm, but unfortunately for Loki, the Teller refuses to go without payment... That payment? Loki's future. Loki balks at that and tries to leave the room, but the Teller's magic wraps Loki up and begins to slowly drag Loki to the Teller, who revealed that he was going to eat Loki in order to get Loki's future. Loki screams for Thor, which the Teller finds amusing, since the Teller could see all of Loki's own conflicting thoughts on the God of Thunder. Right before the Teller eats Loki(and his future!), Thor arrives on the scene and strikes the Teller with lightning, demanding it returned from whence it came. The Teller goes, but warns Thor that down the road he may end up kicking himself for not allowing the Teller to end Loki then and there. With that, Thor reveals that a voice warned him to save Loki(the voice was Ikol's, Loki's pet bird/the knowledge of Loki's older self), so he responded. Thor goes on to ask Loki what this whole scene was all about, and Loki tells Thor the truth, that he wanted to know what the other Asgardians thought about him. Thor tells Loki not to worry about what they thought now, since with time the Asgardians would grow to accept Loki. With that, Thor tells Loki to be more careful with his magic, and the Teller, in his home realm, curiously watches that scene play out, wondering if Loki was truly changed from his last incarnation while promising he would eventually get the payment from Loki he felt he deserved.
Thoughts: This was an excellent .1 issue. It pretty much told you everything you'd need to know about this series and Loki by looking through the eyes of the other important characters in Thor's comics... Except for Thor, which I found to be the most interesting part of this comic. Did Loki not want to know Thor's inner thoughts because he already knew Thor's thoughts, or was Loki afraid that he'd discover that even his beloved brother had doubts about Loki and was only keeping him around in order to keep a close eye on him? So not only was this a great jumping on point for this series, it was also a great story. So kudos to Rob Rodi and Pasqual Ferry for this one.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Loki running to Thor, and then hiding behind him was a really nice touch here.
Journey Into Mystery #626.1:
Summary: The events of this issue actually take place between panels 4 & 5 in Journey #622 for those of you who need to know that sort of thing. As for me, I have NO idea what happened in that issue, so on to this issue! Loki summons an ancient spirit from the Eldritch Realm called a Teller, whose gimmick is... well, telling people secrets and stuff. You see, Loki realizes that the gods of Asgard are mistrustful and suspicious of him, and wants the Teller to show him what the gods really think of him when he's not around. To that end, the Teller shows Loki conversations between the Warriors Three, Sif and Brunnhilde, as well as Odin and Heimdall. The main gist of what everybody is saying is that they don't trust Loki and don't understand why Thor does. The Teller asks Loki if he wanted to know what Thor was saying about Loki, but Loki quickly refuses that offer. Having learned what he wanted, Loki tries to send the Teller back to the Eldritch Realm, but unfortunately for Loki, the Teller refuses to go without payment... That payment? Loki's future. Loki balks at that and tries to leave the room, but the Teller's magic wraps Loki up and begins to slowly drag Loki to the Teller, who revealed that he was going to eat Loki in order to get Loki's future. Loki screams for Thor, which the Teller finds amusing, since the Teller could see all of Loki's own conflicting thoughts on the God of Thunder. Right before the Teller eats Loki(and his future!), Thor arrives on the scene and strikes the Teller with lightning, demanding it returned from whence it came. The Teller goes, but warns Thor that down the road he may end up kicking himself for not allowing the Teller to end Loki then and there. With that, Thor reveals that a voice warned him to save Loki(the voice was Ikol's, Loki's pet bird/the knowledge of Loki's older self), so he responded. Thor goes on to ask Loki what this whole scene was all about, and Loki tells Thor the truth, that he wanted to know what the other Asgardians thought about him. Thor tells Loki not to worry about what they thought now, since with time the Asgardians would grow to accept Loki. With that, Thor tells Loki to be more careful with his magic, and the Teller, in his home realm, curiously watches that scene play out, wondering if Loki was truly changed from his last incarnation while promising he would eventually get the payment from Loki he felt he deserved.
Thoughts: This was an excellent .1 issue. It pretty much told you everything you'd need to know about this series and Loki by looking through the eyes of the other important characters in Thor's comics... Except for Thor, which I found to be the most interesting part of this comic. Did Loki not want to know Thor's inner thoughts because he already knew Thor's thoughts, or was Loki afraid that he'd discover that even his beloved brother had doubts about Loki and was only keeping him around in order to keep a close eye on him? So not only was this a great jumping on point for this series, it was also a great story. So kudos to Rob Rodi and Pasqual Ferry for this one.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Loki running to Thor, and then hiding behind him was a really nice touch here.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Secret Avengers #16
Before I get to this comic, a quick confession... I've never been that high on Warren Ellis' work... If you were to ask me, going from Ed Brubaker to Nick Spencer to Warren Ellis is a major step down the writing ladder. BUT, I'm always willing to give a writer the chance to prove me wrong and bust out a great story(unless the writer's last name is Yost or Johns, in which case they've run out of chances), so as Ellis takes over this series, this is his chance to show me that I was wrong about him and that he is actually in the same league as Brubaker and Spencer.
Secret Avengers #16:
Summary: The Secret Avengers(Roll call! Steve Rogers! Beast! Black Widow! Moon Knight!) come across an old Secret Empire hidden city located a few miles below Cincinnati. The heroes learned of the existence of this secret city when Steve received reports that Von Doom time machine particles were coming from under Cincinnati. Basically, whenever a time machine based on Dr. Doom's designs is used, it gives off very distinctive radiation, thus Steve's investigation. Upon entering the secret city, the heroes discover an atomic Cadillac, which Steve figures could be used to get a better idea of what was in the city. Beast, BW and Steve hop in the car, and Moon Knight takes to the rooftops to do some surveillance from up above. While Moon Knight is gliding across the rooftops, he is spotted by a Shadow Council guard car and fired upon. Moon Knight takes out the guards and radios back to Steve that they weren't alone in the city. From there, a guard patrol spots the Cadillac and fires at it. The patrol misses, but Black Widow doesn't, hitting the driver of the patrol jeep with her Widow's sting, taking care of that threat. Unfortunately for the team, another threat appears in the form of a Shadow Council helicopter, which fires down at the heroes. Steve manages to deflect the helicopter's gunfire away before shooting the helicopter down. By this point, Moon Knight has returned and tells the team he found something they'd want to look at... Moon Knight leads the rest of the Secret Avengers to a rooftop and points out a massive time platform structure standing near the corner of the city. Beast rapidly realizes that the Shadow Council probably had three more of these massive structures around the hidden city, which would allow the Council to create a massive time platform which could teleport the entire city of Cincinnati somewhere in time. And it should go without saying that teleporting an entire CITY to another point in time would completely devastate not just Cincinnati, but whatever the Council teleported Cincinnati on top of. Steve decides to try to destroy one of the four time platform structures, since the time machine wouldn't operate without all four structures in place. Unfortunately, the Shadow Council has dozens of armed men guarding the structure, as well as a tank(!). The tank fires at the Avengers Cadillac, but misses thanks to Black Widow's fancy driving. While that's happening, Beast realizes that the Council had begun powering up the massive time machine, meaning within minutes, Cincinnati would be history. While Steve is trying to figure out what the hell to do, Beast chimes in and says that he could create a small neutron bomb out of the atomic Cadillac that would send out an electromagnetic pulse that would fry the time machine, as well as release a cloud of toxic radiation that would kill everybody in the hidden city. With no real choice, Steve tells Beast to do what he had to in order to create the bomb, while Steve and Moon Knight manage to bring down one of the Council's helicopters. Once Beast is done arming the bomb, the team jumps into the helicopter and flies towards the exit to the city. The Avengers reach the exit, which is an elevator back to the surface, but run by chains and pulleys, so it wouldn't be destroyed by the bomb's electromagnetic pulse. Just as the team reaches the top of the hidden city, Beast's bomb goes of, shutting down the time platform and killing all of the Council members down below. Beast is naturally disturbed by the amount of villains he sentenced to death with his bomb, but Steve tells him to think about how many lives he saved in Cincinnati as this issue ends.
Thoughts: Guess what? I was wrong! Big-time! Warren Ellis brought it with this issue. I pretty much loved everything about this comic, from the team line-up, to the story, to the ending. Don't get me wrong, I like War Machine a lot, but if these four characters remained as the Secret Avengers team, I'd have no problem with that whatsoever. I can read about Rhodey in Iron Man 2.0. As for Ant-Man, I don't particularly care for this version of Ant-Man anyway, so I can't say I'm sad to see him go. So even though a four member team is a rarity, it works extremely well here, as Warren Ellis demonstrated. You have Steve as the leader, Black Widow as the espionage expert, Beast as the brains, and Moon Knight as the resident crazy guy. The banter between Beast and Moon Knight worked great here as well. Seriously, this comic impressed the hell out of me! I can't believe I was dreading this one... Now I can't wait for the next issue! If Ellis can keep up this sort of storytelling, he can count me as a new fan!
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
Beast is one of those characters that can be so awesome when written properly...
Secret Avengers #16:
Summary: The Secret Avengers(Roll call! Steve Rogers! Beast! Black Widow! Moon Knight!) come across an old Secret Empire hidden city located a few miles below Cincinnati. The heroes learned of the existence of this secret city when Steve received reports that Von Doom time machine particles were coming from under Cincinnati. Basically, whenever a time machine based on Dr. Doom's designs is used, it gives off very distinctive radiation, thus Steve's investigation. Upon entering the secret city, the heroes discover an atomic Cadillac, which Steve figures could be used to get a better idea of what was in the city. Beast, BW and Steve hop in the car, and Moon Knight takes to the rooftops to do some surveillance from up above. While Moon Knight is gliding across the rooftops, he is spotted by a Shadow Council guard car and fired upon. Moon Knight takes out the guards and radios back to Steve that they weren't alone in the city. From there, a guard patrol spots the Cadillac and fires at it. The patrol misses, but Black Widow doesn't, hitting the driver of the patrol jeep with her Widow's sting, taking care of that threat. Unfortunately for the team, another threat appears in the form of a Shadow Council helicopter, which fires down at the heroes. Steve manages to deflect the helicopter's gunfire away before shooting the helicopter down. By this point, Moon Knight has returned and tells the team he found something they'd want to look at... Moon Knight leads the rest of the Secret Avengers to a rooftop and points out a massive time platform structure standing near the corner of the city. Beast rapidly realizes that the Shadow Council probably had three more of these massive structures around the hidden city, which would allow the Council to create a massive time platform which could teleport the entire city of Cincinnati somewhere in time. And it should go without saying that teleporting an entire CITY to another point in time would completely devastate not just Cincinnati, but whatever the Council teleported Cincinnati on top of. Steve decides to try to destroy one of the four time platform structures, since the time machine wouldn't operate without all four structures in place. Unfortunately, the Shadow Council has dozens of armed men guarding the structure, as well as a tank(!). The tank fires at the Avengers Cadillac, but misses thanks to Black Widow's fancy driving. While that's happening, Beast realizes that the Council had begun powering up the massive time machine, meaning within minutes, Cincinnati would be history. While Steve is trying to figure out what the hell to do, Beast chimes in and says that he could create a small neutron bomb out of the atomic Cadillac that would send out an electromagnetic pulse that would fry the time machine, as well as release a cloud of toxic radiation that would kill everybody in the hidden city. With no real choice, Steve tells Beast to do what he had to in order to create the bomb, while Steve and Moon Knight manage to bring down one of the Council's helicopters. Once Beast is done arming the bomb, the team jumps into the helicopter and flies towards the exit to the city. The Avengers reach the exit, which is an elevator back to the surface, but run by chains and pulleys, so it wouldn't be destroyed by the bomb's electromagnetic pulse. Just as the team reaches the top of the hidden city, Beast's bomb goes of, shutting down the time platform and killing all of the Council members down below. Beast is naturally disturbed by the amount of villains he sentenced to death with his bomb, but Steve tells him to think about how many lives he saved in Cincinnati as this issue ends.
Thoughts: Guess what? I was wrong! Big-time! Warren Ellis brought it with this issue. I pretty much loved everything about this comic, from the team line-up, to the story, to the ending. Don't get me wrong, I like War Machine a lot, but if these four characters remained as the Secret Avengers team, I'd have no problem with that whatsoever. I can read about Rhodey in Iron Man 2.0. As for Ant-Man, I don't particularly care for this version of Ant-Man anyway, so I can't say I'm sad to see him go. So even though a four member team is a rarity, it works extremely well here, as Warren Ellis demonstrated. You have Steve as the leader, Black Widow as the espionage expert, Beast as the brains, and Moon Knight as the resident crazy guy. The banter between Beast and Moon Knight worked great here as well. Seriously, this comic impressed the hell out of me! I can't believe I was dreading this one... Now I can't wait for the next issue! If Ellis can keep up this sort of storytelling, he can count me as a new fan!
Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.
Beast is one of those characters that can be so awesome when written properly...
Amazing Spider-Man #668
Next up in the new comic pile, the latest installment of Amazing Spider-Man. The first two Spider-Island related issues of this series have been quite good, here's hoping we get more Jackal, and more Spider-Island goodness!
Amazing Spider-Man #668(Spider-Island tie-in):
Summary: Shang-Chi manages to convince New York's heroes(the FF, the Avengers, the Young Allies, etc) that the real Spider-Man had been attacked by the heroes during the massive Spider-Man attack last issue, which leads to Luke Cage telling Spidey to beat it, since he was just adding to the confusion. Bummed that he couldn't help his various friends and teammates battle the criminal Spideys, Spidey changes to his street clothes and decides to find his girlfriend, Carlie Cooper. While wandering around, Peter bumps into a reporter from the Daily Bugle(as well as Mary Jane), and decides that he was going to help out anyway, getting on the camera and revealing that he, like many New Yorkers, had “suddenly” acquired spider-powers, and that other law abiding New Yorkers with spider-powers should join him in helping take down the criminal Spideys. A bunch of New Yorkers listen to Peter's call and charge over to the criminal Spideys, helping the heroes defeat them. With the criminal Spideys taken care of and arrested, Mayor Jameson puts Manhattan under a quarantine and deputizes the heroes and citizens who helped defeat the criminal Spideys, telling them not to allow anybody to leave Manhattan, nor allow anybody to enter the island until they were able to cure the sinister spider-flu. From there, Carlie heads to her police station, while Peter heads to his job at Horizon Labs. Peter meets Reed Richards at the lab, who collects some blood from Peter, claiming he was collecting blood from as many infected New Yorkers as he could(so as to not cause anybody to suspect Peter was Spider-Man). Carlie has the Horizon send Peter over to her station house to go through the confiscated equipment of Spidey's enemies to see if he could rig anything up to help her with her battle against New York's criminals. While Peter is working, Carlie tells him that she thought she knew who was behind the Spider-related madness in New York, the Jackal. Peter immediately realizes that she was probably right, since the Jackal always had an obsession with Spidey's DNA. Meanwhile, Anti-Venom has entered the city to cure as many of the infected citizens as he could, seeing this as his new life's mission. At around the same time, Venom also enters the city... Back to Peter, he decides to tag along with Carlie as she checks out one of Jackal's last known hideouts. Peter and Carlie enter the warehouse and this issue ends with a trio of weirdos watching Peter and Carlie from the roof of the warehouse.
Thoughts: If I'm honest here, nothing really happened in this issue... From the first page to the last, there really wasn't anything that went down that I'd point at and say, “That was really important!” This was a solid comic and all, but it didn't really further the story... Plus there wasn't NEARLY enough Jackal here! That guy is awesome! He only appeared on one lousy page, and as usual, he stole the show with that one page! Bottom line, this was a very slightly above average comic for me, which is kind of a letdown since this series is usually WAY better than average. Here's hoping things pick up a bit come next issue.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
After his awesome "birds and the bees" talk, I think Jackal deserves his own series.
Amazing Spider-Man #668(Spider-Island tie-in):
Summary: Shang-Chi manages to convince New York's heroes(the FF, the Avengers, the Young Allies, etc) that the real Spider-Man had been attacked by the heroes during the massive Spider-Man attack last issue, which leads to Luke Cage telling Spidey to beat it, since he was just adding to the confusion. Bummed that he couldn't help his various friends and teammates battle the criminal Spideys, Spidey changes to his street clothes and decides to find his girlfriend, Carlie Cooper. While wandering around, Peter bumps into a reporter from the Daily Bugle(as well as Mary Jane), and decides that he was going to help out anyway, getting on the camera and revealing that he, like many New Yorkers, had “suddenly” acquired spider-powers, and that other law abiding New Yorkers with spider-powers should join him in helping take down the criminal Spideys. A bunch of New Yorkers listen to Peter's call and charge over to the criminal Spideys, helping the heroes defeat them. With the criminal Spideys taken care of and arrested, Mayor Jameson puts Manhattan under a quarantine and deputizes the heroes and citizens who helped defeat the criminal Spideys, telling them not to allow anybody to leave Manhattan, nor allow anybody to enter the island until they were able to cure the sinister spider-flu. From there, Carlie heads to her police station, while Peter heads to his job at Horizon Labs. Peter meets Reed Richards at the lab, who collects some blood from Peter, claiming he was collecting blood from as many infected New Yorkers as he could(so as to not cause anybody to suspect Peter was Spider-Man). Carlie has the Horizon send Peter over to her station house to go through the confiscated equipment of Spidey's enemies to see if he could rig anything up to help her with her battle against New York's criminals. While Peter is working, Carlie tells him that she thought she knew who was behind the Spider-related madness in New York, the Jackal. Peter immediately realizes that she was probably right, since the Jackal always had an obsession with Spidey's DNA. Meanwhile, Anti-Venom has entered the city to cure as many of the infected citizens as he could, seeing this as his new life's mission. At around the same time, Venom also enters the city... Back to Peter, he decides to tag along with Carlie as she checks out one of Jackal's last known hideouts. Peter and Carlie enter the warehouse and this issue ends with a trio of weirdos watching Peter and Carlie from the roof of the warehouse.
Thoughts: If I'm honest here, nothing really happened in this issue... From the first page to the last, there really wasn't anything that went down that I'd point at and say, “That was really important!” This was a solid comic and all, but it didn't really further the story... Plus there wasn't NEARLY enough Jackal here! That guy is awesome! He only appeared on one lousy page, and as usual, he stole the show with that one page! Bottom line, this was a very slightly above average comic for me, which is kind of a letdown since this series is usually WAY better than average. Here's hoping things pick up a bit come next issue.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
After his awesome "birds and the bees" talk, I think Jackal deserves his own series.
Mighty Thor #5
Now this is a series that has been very surprising... In a good way! I was never what you'd call a Thor fan, but this series, along with Journey Into Mystery, really has me getting into Thor, Loki, Odin and Asgard, something I'd never have expected to say a year ago... What's next? I start reading and enjoying Hulk comics!?
Mighty Thor #5:
Summary: While Thor and the Silver Surfer battle on Mars, Odin has had enough of his mental fight with Galactus and grows to Galactus's size and... headbutts him?! Um, okay... The force of Odin's headbutt sends both Odin and Galactus crashing to Earth, conveniently to the site of Asgard. Sif rushes to Thor to tell him the news, so the Surfer and Thor cease their battles for the time being to head to their respective masters. Upon arriving, Thor heads to his father, who babbles something about the seed from the Life Tree possibly saving Thor from the Serpent before entering the Odinsleep. Meanwhile, Loki sneaks into Odin's armory and steals the seed from the Destroyer robot(which is where Odin hid it), and heads towards the World Tree, hopping into the large split in the Tree. Galactus rises and is met by the Surfer, who tells Galactus to forget about the seed, since the Asgardians were obviously willing to battle Galactus to the last man, and the Surfer wasn't sure Galactus would be able to emerge victorious against such odds. Galactus disregards the Surfer's warnings and declares the he would have the seed for himself. As Galactus begins to head towards the ruins of Asgard, a single minister, who had headed to Asgard to confront the Asgardians, turns to meet Galactus... For some reason...
Thoughts: Eh. I don't know why, but I never really got fully into this one... The Surfer/Thor fight scenes were really good, but I didn't like the Odin/Galactus stuff... I mean really, a headbutt? And the fact that they both fell TO Asgard, from outer space, was a bit much for me. The sub-story between the minister and the townspeople of Broxton and Volstagg didn't interest me in the least, while I was a bit intrigued by Loki's antics, as it appears(and with Loki, appearances can be deceiving) Loki was planning on putting the World Tree's seed back in the World Tree, thus leaving Galactus no reason to continue battling the Asgardians. So there was some good and some bad, making this a pretty average read.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Look out! It's Odin's finishing move, the deadly Asgardian Headbutt!!!
Mighty Thor #5:
Summary: While Thor and the Silver Surfer battle on Mars, Odin has had enough of his mental fight with Galactus and grows to Galactus's size and... headbutts him?! Um, okay... The force of Odin's headbutt sends both Odin and Galactus crashing to Earth, conveniently to the site of Asgard. Sif rushes to Thor to tell him the news, so the Surfer and Thor cease their battles for the time being to head to their respective masters. Upon arriving, Thor heads to his father, who babbles something about the seed from the Life Tree possibly saving Thor from the Serpent before entering the Odinsleep. Meanwhile, Loki sneaks into Odin's armory and steals the seed from the Destroyer robot(which is where Odin hid it), and heads towards the World Tree, hopping into the large split in the Tree. Galactus rises and is met by the Surfer, who tells Galactus to forget about the seed, since the Asgardians were obviously willing to battle Galactus to the last man, and the Surfer wasn't sure Galactus would be able to emerge victorious against such odds. Galactus disregards the Surfer's warnings and declares the he would have the seed for himself. As Galactus begins to head towards the ruins of Asgard, a single minister, who had headed to Asgard to confront the Asgardians, turns to meet Galactus... For some reason...
Thoughts: Eh. I don't know why, but I never really got fully into this one... The Surfer/Thor fight scenes were really good, but I didn't like the Odin/Galactus stuff... I mean really, a headbutt? And the fact that they both fell TO Asgard, from outer space, was a bit much for me. The sub-story between the minister and the townspeople of Broxton and Volstagg didn't interest me in the least, while I was a bit intrigued by Loki's antics, as it appears(and with Loki, appearances can be deceiving) Loki was planning on putting the World Tree's seed back in the World Tree, thus leaving Galactus no reason to continue battling the Asgardians. So there was some good and some bad, making this a pretty average read.
Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.
Look out! It's Odin's finishing move, the deadly Asgardian Headbutt!!!
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