Comics Thread (was My OFFICIAL Apology to Dave)

[salamanca]

ok, Green Lantern Corps was kinda mundane. Moved the story along, nothing amazing. next issue we take the story off to origin the new impossibly powerful new villain from another dimension that is nigh invulnerable.

Secret Avengers... Maria Hill finally takes over. The team scrambles to get off AIM island. and agent...I mean Director Hill makes a very controversial decision that will lead to trouble down the line...If the team ever remembers what they did. I am liking this book more.

UnCanny X-men. The time bubble recruit shows a new power or two. Scott proves his point about training being important. Magneto continues to play both sides... or does he? And the team shows up at a pro mutant rally makes a big speechg and gets jumped by a sentinel (again)

Buck Rogers number 1: This is that book so many have been waiting for Howard Chaykin writing an American Icon. And in this book, Buck flits around in a jetpack, reminisces about life in the 1920's and the great war, fights some guys in jetpacks wearing leopard print jackets, is rude to Wilma and looks just like every character Howard has ever drawn.

wait did I mention Chaykin made Buck a card carrying member of the communist party? oh, did I skip that part? yeah, Buck's a red commie in this series. Nothing bad can happen with that right?

I like to think of it as revenge for what Lorraine did to TSR.

[salamanca]

Ok, red hood and the outlaws has ceased making sense even with my warped view of it. It's a gibberish fight between two new factions of all powerful beings that are so far over the power level of the team that it is ludicrous to imagine they are at all involved. Out in the universe, the new omnipotent lantern crossover villian is destroying the blue lantern corps. And it is looking like there will be a need for a cosmic hand-wavey repair after the villain month. So New Guardians was not that great of a read. X-men 4 was good. It's a filler about jubillee and wolverine touring L.A. And reviewing her history PLUS the rest of the gals argue about Storm's choices in the last issue while saving a crashing plane. (and I need a chart to keep track of what powers this team currently has because two issues ago Rogue still had super strength and flight making this rescue a moot point). And I finally actually bought the first trade of the daredevil series by Mark Waid. Really good opening story arc.

[Black Jack Rackham]

Have let my comics reading drop off here lately (busy busy real life interfering with my comics ) so tonight I get back to some of the books I've been waiting on!

[salamanca]

Forgot to update last week. LARFLEEZE was out and it was, well, dull. They gave us backstory on the seemingly immortal and powerfully immature beings that are sneaking into the universe from a destroyed dimension. But nobody reads Giffen and Dematties for anything but comedy and this issue lacked the funny. RED LANTERNS was out and Atrocitus and his blue cat (easily the best character) get some destruction going and rescue the Butcher (red lantern avatar being) since the cat licked up some of Rankorr's blood it can make constructs now and built Atrocitus a new heart). This issue had good story development and they fret over a different other dimensional being invading the galaxy. JUSTICE LEAGUE brought about the big reveal in the whole Trinity War...superpowerful beings from another dimension (3 for 3 on that plot DC, nice creative effort). This time it's those classic evil versions from earth 3. The team traitors are revealed and there is a great explanation for superman taking ill and going berserk. Other side of the mainstream, UNCANNY X-MEN had a big fight with a sentinel, Illyana proving she is the only member that is prepared for everything (seriously, this girl and Batman should team up) and the new kids get their feet wet and stand up to the task. Then we get the sappy message about harmony, protecting one's own kind and a couple other mutually exclusive virtues. And Cyclops can't figure out why a sentinel showed up at a promutant rally...the boy just ain't bright. SECRET AVENGERS featured a memory erased Mockingbird on AIM island in the "body" of an AIM scientist trying to figure out how she got there or if she was just an obsessed fan of Mockingbird that went over the edge. And my new favorite pulp book CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT follows a time displaced genius freaking out over the fact that his sexy Nazi rival has been allowed to build a weapons company and financial empire. And nobody trusts him in the government.

[salamanca]

Well, it's villians month, let's discuss the DC stuff. They certainly opened with some big names. Browsed some, bought one, discussed some others. As for the fancy 3-D covers. Word is the look great in actual sunlight but heat (like your car in the sun) destroys them. The Grodd cover looked pretty good, the Two-face cover had a cool flipping coin effect, ventriloquist has swinging winged mouse family dolls in nooses. The rest did not have much visual appeal to my eye. As for stories, I bought DESAAD because it looked like it would tie into the ongoing Earth 2 storyline... Not so much (well, a little bit but no revelations) and it appears Jack Kirby is young and alive on Earth 2 and has drawn the notice of Desaad. JOKER was a throw away story about Joker being crazy and starting his own family... Pretty sure it's been done several times before. RELIC is a book of full page drawings with narration over it and this Green Lantern fan could not bother himself to read it because it looks like a terrible mid 80's filler issue. I considered DEADSHOT but after looking at the art on two pages, realized the Deadshot I liked reading was in the old 52. Two staffers recommended COUNT VERTIGO but I just am not a fan. Ventriloquist, poison ivy, creeper, cyborg superman, darkseid, and bizarro round out the list. None seemed all that intriguing. AND THEN THERE IS FOREVER EVIL 1. A miniseries event book coming out of the summer event that finished last week. The earth 3 villian versions of the justice league kick off their domination of the planet and recruit all the bad guys to join them. Some are obviously there as fodder, others have total doubts about joining in (and will end up the heroes of the series I would venture) the smart ones keep talking about leaving and laying low (flash rogues, I am looking at you). And they start to hint at what will stop evil superman. Interesting note is that Luthor opens the book by trying to threaten and/or blackmail a man into selling him his tech firm. That man is Mr. Thomas Kord.

[salamanca]

In the rest of the comics world, Satellite Sam hit the Chaykin wall and devolved into depreved people doing naughty stuff to each other...so much for a creative story. Shadow year one continues to disappoint as Lamont does the overused routine of training Margo to help then refusing to include her leading to Margo ignoring his rules and butting in. I swear nothing interesting ever happens to the Shadow. THE Star Wars released. It's an adaptation of the rough draft for what eventually became a rather unassuming and little remembered sci-fi film. It is very different in the opening chapter and I recommend giving it a look. (however, General Skywalker looks a lot like a certain bearded director in the art, just fitter). AVENGERS AI did a great little story for the Vision that is going to push one of my all time favorite characters into some character development. And the X-men started their battle of the Atom crossover. And they mean crossover, it's got 3 versions of iceman and beast an Xavier descendant, deadpool and jumps from x-team to x-team regardless of which book they normally appear in. The issue is that to avoid an even darker future, the original team needs to go home NOW. But, they don't want to do so. BENDIS IS GOING TO BE A HIT ON THIS ONE.

[salamanca]

Bad Guy month continues at DC!. Zod and Brainiac in the Superbooks. Riddler, Court of Owls, Mr.Freeze, and Harley Quinn in the Batbooks. Mongul, Reverse Flash, Soloman Grundy, Black Manta, Trigon, Lobo, and Killer Frost round out the rest of the DCU. These books are very hit and miss. Seems like a split between origin stories and stuff that ties in. Lobo debuts the new version of the character that you will love or hate but is definitely not your GM's Lobo. (that would be me, I hate this new one). I almost bought reverse flash but it looked like an origin story. I should have skipped Grundy which was not only an origin story but a poorly done one. I probably should have bought Harley Quinn but I hate the new version. RIDDLER WAS REALLY, REALLY GOOD!. It's the typical story you do with Riddler, list some riddles that lead to points in the crime he plots and watch it resolve but it's well done. Black Manta is the best book of the month. We have two weeks of books and none of those will be this good. (but geoff johns wrote it and he is tying into forever evil). I think Luthor, Rha's al Ghul, Sinestro, The Rogues, Ocean Master, Joker's Daughter, Deathstroke, Black Adam and the Secret Society might have potential in the next two weeks but it's going to depend on who wrote what and if they tie into events.

[salamanca]

Over in the Marvelverse... Infinity is underway so most of the Avengers are in space fighting epic galactic threats to the universe. That naturally means Thanos is going to attack and create ANOTHER Avengers team. MIGHTY AVENGERS is Luke Cage, the new Power Man, White Tiger, Spectrum (formerly known as Capt. MARVEL, Monica Rambeau and a couple more names) the Superior Spiderman and a mystery character we are calling the spectacular spider hero (who at the very least can use martial arts). It's strongly in character, lots of fun and a bit too much with powerman. But if you like Luke Cage in the Bendis era Avengers, you should enjoy this. And the X-men (with no men) join the Battle of the atom story as we reveal a new supersonic team jet, chase Scott and Jean (the teen versions) across the country, show some mistrust of the future versions and drag the Uncanny team into the mix. It's not the greatest crossover event but it flows well and has a coherent story that is weekly.

[Black Jack Rackham]

I am way, Way, WAY behind on my comics reading. The plan is to start playing catch up this week sometime...

[salamanca]

ok, anybody want to speculate on who the new version of Ronin will be (the hero currently called "Spider Hero") it's a male, it's a character that is not supposed to be "In country" right now. He can use martial arts and nunchucks. And he has some past acquaintance with Monica Rambeau aka Spectrum.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess Shang Chi.

My luck it will be Black Knight.

[salamanca]

Ok, Secret Avengers is out again. (I just noticed I am reading 3 Avengers books a month and NONE of them are officially a real team.) In this one, Daisy Johnson, the recently ousted 19 year old director of SHIELD (really, they promoted a 19 year old to run things?) is on the "run" and trying to avoid having her memories deleted. Pretty cool plot really. plus a special appearance by the real Nick Fury giving the little girl some advice.

Uncanny X-men continues the Battle of the Atom. Cover by Art Adams, interior by Chris Bachalo... very pretty book. Short version, old cyclops has to decide if he is going to help young cyclops. Maria Hill expounds on why she hates Hank McCoy, the stepford sisters continue to be awesome comedy. and we get the fight you always love to watch set up for the next issue.

And over to Bad Guy Month... Cheetah, H'el (that's a superman baddie I guess), Shadow thief, Dial E (for enemy), Eclipso, Black Hand, Scarecrow, Penguin, Ra's al Ghul, Clayface, the Rogues, Deathstroke, Lex Luthor, and Arcane hit the shelves.

Deathstroke was horrid. A tie in for him to the wildstorm special ops characters. Cheetah was an origin story. Black Hand is a filler with the character raising zombies on earth. Ra's was a good origin story. The Rogues sets up their participation in the Forever Evil arc. Luthor was a great egotistical read. it was evil, horrid, amusing and smug.

[salamanca]

well, they saved the worst for last.

The local shop sold out of Wolverine and the Xmen so it'll be a spell before I update the Battle of the Atom event.

Captain Midnight #3 came out and it was... really boring. nothing much happened in a book where they threatened the hero with polar bears. really all he did was run off the villain and get the sidekicks to commit to his mission.

On to Bad guy Month week 4... boy, they really saved the worst for last.
Metallo, Ocean Master, Bane, Killer Croc, Doomsday, Joker's Daughter, Man-Bat, Secret Society, Sinestro, Black Adam, Parasite, and First Born.

First Born is some sort of Conan-esque wonder woman baddie and the art was awful. Could not even look long enough to determine a storyline.

Parasite looked like an Origin with bad art.

Ocean Master was a story about him breaking out of Prison during the current event and getting back to Atlantis to take over.

Sinestro was a life retrospective told by Lyssa Dark, historian of the Sinestro corps. And boring as hell.

Black Adam was a back from the "dead" story setting him up to oppose the Earth 3 crew.

Man-Bat was the same story they always tell about the character. He takes the serum, he changes to stop a problem, he takes more serum to fight more problems, he gets addicted to the serum and becomes the problem. and the issue ends.

Secret Society was a nice read. It's told by Earth 3 Alfred about his and Owlman's backstory. It is a nice parallel to what we get in a typical batbook. And explains what happened to his robin (called Talon)

Joker's Daughter was the surprise read. Most of the fanbase will end up not enjoying this one from Gail Simone. It's a rough character to like. Turns out she is insane and it gets told from her insane point of view. The new character is NOT Stephanie Brown. It's still a character named Duela (last name pending) she is not an actual Joker relative. She is the product of a seemingly normal middle/upper class home with a lot of self esteem issues and a history of self mutilation. It's gonna turn a lot of people off.

Mark, go grab a copy of this. It's done well.

[Black Jack Rackham]

I know both Secret Society and Joker's Daughter are on my pull list (so is First Born and Bane (if that's the Batman title and not Batman and Robin)).

[salamanca]

Weird aside note: Savage Dragon 193...

I know, who realized they still made Savage Dragon.

Well, turns out Erik Larsen has been writing this book to take place in "real time" so Dragon has been aging since the early 90's. and in 193 they are going to pass the starring spot in the book on to his 17 year old son, Malcolm. This book is for all those folks that wonder why they don't do comics where the characters get old.

Hope it works out.

[Black Jack Rackham]

So Laura has been "gently reminding" me that we had discussed the idea of making an RPG out of the movie PUSH. THAT of course, reminded me that, in addition, to the movie there was a series of 6 comic books which delved more into the PUSH world history. So I have been reading them. There is something familiar about them (in that they remind me of the terrific comic, The Losers, similar art, though not Jock's and a cross-doublecross-tripplecross thing going on where we don't know who is good/bad/indifferent just like The Losers).

It also introduces a new type of psychic, the Phaser (ala Kitty Pryde can slip through walls).

Anyway, not great so far, but worth finishing (especially if I am going to get this RPG up and running).

[Lady Grace]

Somehow, my FLCS is under the impression that I wanted Dynamite's "Shadow: Now" series as well and, yeah...

It's frustrating...there's potential there. But it's soooooo cluttered to boot. Too much thud and blunder.

In better news, REALLY digging IDW "Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time" miniseries. As a Whovian, I highly recommend it.

[salamanca]

Dynamite is about to take on Doc Savage!. First arc is alleged to cover from year one to modern day. I predict it will be a decent read followed by an issue 7 and 8 where you start wondering why you are bothering to read it. AND HERE IS MY WEEKLY PILE OF LOUSY COMICS. Green Lantern: Relic shows up, proves to again be untouchable, Kyle and the rainbow lanterns drop in to sum up the story for those who forgot everything after villian month. Oa may explode and everybody thinks there is finite amounts of emotional energy in the universe. (in short, not much really happened). EARTH 2: Steppenwolf kicks the world army around. A very major character might have been killed. A more major character might be back. Steppenwolf makes a very bad mistake by declaring himself the winner. Fun book but I want more Batman. FOREVER EVIL: Well, the titans try to stop the Earth 3 guys, Luthor activates his failsafe early, and we get some inside information that will probably split the evil Trinity of Owlman, Ultraman and Powerwoman. Oh, and at least 2.5 members of the various Justice leagues show up on the last page. MIGHTY AVENGERS: still a fun read. Lots of fight, lots of Luke getting stomped. Some little old lady chucks a brick at the indestructable villianess and you will cheer. And the Blue Marvel finally gets included with a guest at his secret base...totally awesome conversation scene. Not 1 but 2 ALL NEW X-MEN this week. The special is part one of a Spiderman team up event. Hank McCoy picks up a date in the park and then gets interrupted by... Doctor Octopus then Spiderman shows up. BUT Doc Ock is Spidey now, how can that be?. SPIDEY-Doc would like that answer too. In the regular issue, we are still in Battle of the Atom mode. Illyana takes a temporal field trip with young Beast and Young Iceman to the future. Where yet another team of future X-men yell at them for travelling in time and messing stuff up then agree to travel back in time and mess more stuff up.

[salamanca]

For those trying to keep track of X-men teams involved in the Battle of the atom, here is a list:. The "All New" original 5 from the past, Wolverine's current "we live at the mansion" team, Cyclops current "uncanny" team, Storm's "no boys allowed" team, Kitty Pryde's future "we're with deadpool" team, and Jubilee's future "still fighting the world" team. That is 6 teams worth of X-men. (and only one wolverine total).

[Rebecca Iavelli]

You know, I think I have more fun reading all of your all's play by plays of the comics than I would reading the comics themselves. Its saving me a lot of money, lol.

[salamanca]

I need to remember to charge you to compensate for expenses then. Just kidding. I'm toying with stealing the old "all my children update" style for a bit which includes catty comments about the events and used to sum up the daily episode during rush hour for those who had to work (back before DVRs and stuff).

[salamanca]

And before you all think I dropped the book, Hawkeye has not been out with an issue in a very long time. There was an annual but even that was a month ago. Apparently there is so much going on in Marvelworld that Hawkeye has not had time to take a day off and appear in his own series.

[Black Jack Rackham]

yup I know'ed that. Haven't seen it in my sub for quite some time. But give that Matt Fraction is doing so much other stuff, I was betting something was going to have to give. After all, I just got his latest, Sex Criminals. Haven't read it yet, but it's definitely on my 'to do' list. But first, I just discovered that Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker did something called Gotham Central, its apparently the basis for that new Fox show about the police of Gotham and how they deal with these superpowered wierdos without Batman coming in to save them. I. MUST. READ. THIS!

[Black Jack Rackham]

Update on Gotham Central (as I've now read over half of it). Batman is involved and he's a total dick. Most often his 'help' messes up what the police are trying to do. I love this book! Fox will ruin it

[salamanca]

The weekly suspects:. AVENGERS AI:. Well, SHIELD and Hank Pym finally assault the "empty oil rig" that holds the Diamond server full of AI programs. And nobody suspects a trap?. Seriously?. It goes sour fast. The Vision gets double crossed, stuff blows up and I think this book needs an artist that can draw tech. MEANWHILE OVER IN GREEN LANTERN CORPS:. Oa is about to explode, the central battery is depleted and rings are low on power. So Hal decides to directly assault the bad guy the rings do not effect. (and they say Guy is brain damaged). Eventually, John reasons with Hal and they abandon planet. One of the post Johns era recruits sacrifices themself to save the others and I have no idea if it's important because we never got around to define any of those characters. BACK IN X-MEN: (still a Battle of the Atom crossover) the future X-team lead by old Kitty Pryde show they are less than heroic in their plans and attack the current era team. Old Kitty turns out to be the apparent shapeshifting love child of Wolverine and Mystique. WOLVERINE SUFFERS A NEAR FATAL STABBING FOR THE 4TH TIME THIS MONTH (and they still claim his healing factor is broken). Bling builds a special device for baby Shogo (jubilee's adopted child) and then Psylocke gets to kick the crap out of some future x guys. SHOGO is quickly becoming my favorite character and he is only 6 months old.

[salamanca]

If you never buy comics, go buy AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE. Yes, I said go get an Archie comic. Hot dog (jughead's pet canine) gets hit by a car and Jughead asks Sabrina the teenage witch to save him. Sabrina breaks a few witchy rules and raises Hotdog from the dead. But he comes back "different" (like pet sematary) and the next thing you know ole Jughead has a hankering to snack on Brains. In the subplot, a member of the gang is feeling very guilty for hitting Jughead's dog but not owning up to it. And Betty and Veronica fight over who is taking Archie to the halloween dance. (veronica keeps offering increasingly provocative "sexy something" costumes and Betty keeps calling her a tramp). As a side note: how come nobody ever throws a fit in the media over Archie stringing along these two poor girls?. That boy really needs to make up his mind and commit before a pair of dads slap him around.