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    Thursday, August 26, 2010 01:59 PM
    The Take
     by Fëanor

    Fëanor's (semi-)weekly comic book review post.

    This post covers new releases from the week of 8/18, plus one or two back issues. Beware spoilers!

    Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight - Riley
    I didn't expect much from a one-shot about Riley (yuck), but this is surprisingly good. A large reason why is probably the fact that it's written by Jane Espenson, a talented lady who wrote a lot of the original Buffy TV episodes, and is continuing to write great television even as we speak (she's also got a pretty fun Twitter feed at @JaneEspenson). The issue fills us in on what Riley was doing before he joined up with Twilight, and also explains a little better exactly what Twilight's motives were and how it was that Riley ended up joining him. These explanations nearly fix the recent, terrible story arc by Brad Meltzer, and nearly make Angel's actions throughout all this make sense. Nearly. Anyway, it's fun, clever, funny, and effective.
    Thumbs Up

    New Mutants #16
    This issue of New Mutants doesn't actually involve the New Mutants at all! Instead, it focuses entirely on the group of soldiers who literally went to Hell and back, and spends most of its pages on flashbacks explaining what they were doing in Hell and what happened to them there. The final page surprise reveal is a bit of a cliche in comics, but the one at the end of this book is legitimately surprising. It's also not contrived; it advances the story in an interesting and unexpected way; and it introduces a bunch of new characters about whom I can't wait to find out more. This here is a crazy fantastic comic - chilling, thrilling, exciting, imaginative, and even funny. My favorite moment combines pretty much all of that: a new recruit who foolishly failed to follow the rules suddenly gets carried off by a demon and General Ulysses responds by saying, "Yep. That will happen."
    Thumbs Up

    Secret Avengers #3 & #4
    I think I decided after I read the first issue of this book that I wouldn't read any more... but I came in under budget this week, and I was curious to see where the evil magic crown storyline would go, so... here we are. #3 opens with an unexpected flashback to the Wild West. Apparently the guy who runs the mysterious Shadow Council is pretty old! I'm curious to see more of the Wild West storyline, but we don't get back to it in these two issues. The backstory on the crowns turns out to be unbelievably epic, spanning all the way back to before the beginning of the universe as we know it, one-upping even the Celestials and Galactus in age and grandeur.

    I have to say, I really enjoy the new Ant-Man as a character. Comic book characters, even the more interesting ones, are generally divided into the heroic good guys and the villainous bad guys, but here's a dude who's just a selfish coward trying to survive. He's pretty hilarious. His best moment is when he mans up and takes out a troop of suicide bombers by causing a nuclear chain reaction. He runs for it, accompanied by narrative boxes reading "Oh God Oh God Oh God," and when he successfully escapes, he screams, "YES! ALIVE!" Issue #4 also includes Nova-powered Steve Rogers, which is a crazy bad-ass concept. It's incredibly fun seeing him duke it out with a crown-possessed Nova. The story arc ends with Steve learning the bad news that Nick Fury is part of the Shadow Council. This should be interesting!
    Thumbs Up

    Spitfire #1
    It's just a one-shot, but it's still pretty fun getting to watch Paul Cornell play with the MI:13 characters again. The focus here is mostly on Spitfire, obviously, as she feels out her new relationship with Blade, and learns how to live with being a vampire - or at least, a part vampire. It kind of cracked me up that the first page of the book - usually reserved for a short summary of what's been going on recently, so you can pick up the story easily - is covered with text from top to bottom. Spitfire's story is just that complicated! The issue itself has some cheesy dialog moments, but is overall entertaining, insightful, and funny.
    Thumbs Up
    Tagged (?): Avengers (Not), Buffy (Not), Comic books (Not), Ed Brubaker (Not), Paul Cornell (Not), The Take (Not), Vampires (Not), X-Men (Not), Zeb Wells (Not)
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    Friday, July 2, 2010 11:30 AM
    The Take
     by Fëanor

    Fëanor's (semi-)weekly comic book review post.

    This post covers new releases from the weeks of 6/2, 6/9, and 6/16, as well as a handful of back issues. Beware spoilers!

    New releases (6/2)
    Avengers Prime #1
    Another Avengers book? By Brian Michael Bendis? I thought I said I was going to stop buying these? Apparently not. This one seems to be squeezing its story between the end of Siege and the beginning of the other new Avengers books. Bendis is using it to attempt to establish Thor, Iron Man, and Steve Rogers as Marvel's major trinity of heroes. Our heroic trinity start out this book by bitching and moaning at each other for a bit, in such a way as to catch the reader up on recent events. Then, thankfully, they get sucked into a magical portal and sent to another world - or worlds; it's not clear if they've gone to totally different places or the same general place yet, as they've all landed in different locations. Each have their own separate adventures. Tony is approached by an unseen character, which is vaguely intriguing. Thor is attacked by the Enchantress, who spouts the usual villain cliches at him. Not very interesting. The best scene in the book, which is so good it almost makes me want to keep reading the series, is when Steve Rogers stumbles into an inn full of monsters, politely asks for their help, and then politely kicks all of their asses, to their own incredulity - how could one little human beat them all?? Because that human is Captain America, that's why! Very enjoyable.
    Thumbs Sideways

    Heralds #1
    A new miniseries from Kathryn Immonen! I often find her writing a bit opaque, but also very intelligent, creative, and unique. This book opens with Emma's surprise birthday party being interrupted by a mysterious event that's hard to explain, but which involves an alien intelligence, a bunch of clones in a secret S.W.O.R.D. facility, and a waitress going berserk. The gang of ladies who show up to Emma's surprise party are our main characters for the series, and they're a fun bunch, especially the way Immonen writes them and Tonci Zonjic draws them. The dialog is snappy, sarcastic, and witty, and I really enjoy the enthusiasm with which the girls go after the dead scientist clones. "Come on! Haven't you always wanted to punch Einstein in the face?" I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but I like it!
    Thumbs Up

    New releases 6/9
    Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis #2
    I really love the way Ellis and Andrews are using Emma Frost in this book. Very funny stuff. Scott says to her, "You're... holding a baby." She responds, "Full marks, Mr. Summers. Save any further comments for a time when I can beat you in private." Story-wise, looks like Ellis is dragging the Ghost Boxes back into it again. I have to say I'm a little tired of those, but I'm willing to hear him out.
    Thumbs Up

    Batman #700
    For this special, extra-long anniversary issue, DC wisely turned the reins over to the best writer in their stable: Grant Morrison. Morrison delivers four separate short stories, each set in different time periods, but each dealing with part of the same overarching locked-room mystery. The time travel aspect of the story just kind of hurts my brain a little, but I think I follow what's going on. I also think I know the answer to the story's central riddle (the answer - spoiler alert! - is time). Regardless, it's a joy to read, as Morrison gets to play with every version of Batman there is - Bruce, Dick, Damian, Terry, and even a couple of post-apocalyptic Batmen, one living in a world that reminds me of Miller's Dark Knight Returns (the mutant gang from that book makes a cameo in the present day timeline), and another living in a world that reminds me of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Also along for the ride are a lot of Batman's most famous villains and allies, in various guises and incarnations. Morrison tosses in his usual handful of truly insane and amazing ideas, like time hypnosis helmets, and 2-Face-2, a new version of Two-Face who has two coins and a separate monster face living on his own normal human face. And of course every version of Batman gets to engage in the usual combination of brilliant detective work and bad-ass fighting. There's also a truly great, uplifting ending, promising us that no matter what or when, there will always be a Batman. Amen!
    Thumbs Up

    Buzzard #1
    Eric Powell's strength is in wild, off-the-wall, offensive comedy, but for some reason he insists on writing morbid, melodramatic stories about humorless, moping, emo characters. This is another one of those. Still, it has its moments. It's certainly not as melodramatic as it could be, and it's vaguely intriguing. In the back is a continuation of the story Powell began in Billy the Kid's Old-Timey Oddities. Again, kind of interesting, but not terribly exciting.
    Thumbs Sideways

    Captain America #606
    We pick up with Bucky still trying to deal with the guilt over what he had to do to crazy Cap. But he needs to get his head back in the game soon, because Baron Zemo is putting the band back together. A fun start to a new storyline.
    Thumbs Sideways

    Gravel #19
    Finally we get the creepy, twisted backstory on Gravel's latest mysterious enemy. He manages to hit Gravel where it hurts, and then somebody else - possibly another combat magician working for the British government? - sneaks in and steals a lot of Gravel's stuff. It's a hard day to be Gravel!
    Thumbs Up

    S.H.I.E.L.D. #2
    Still really enjoying this series. This issue reveals there are two factions of S.H.I.E.L.D. - the Da Vinci faction, which believes there's always a way forward for humanity, and the group currently in charge, which believes there's an inevitable end for humanity that we must move toward. It's cool stuff. There's an interesting moment where the comic gets all postmodern and turns into a plain text script, as if Da Vinci and our young hero are passing through different story formats in their journey. I also love the surreal scene in which Agent Richards reaches for the exploding Night Machine, in a heroic attempt to save everyone, and it seems as if every member of S.H.I.E.L.D. throughout past and future is reaching with him. Like I said about Heralds: I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I like it.
    Thumbs Up

    The Unwritten #14
    This issue opens by giving us a peek at the hilariously awful and cliched fake Tommy Taylor book, which makes a bunch of deliberately clumsy references to the His Dark Materials trilogy. We also get to see Lizzie using another method of communicating with Wilson, and the conspiracy's method of tracking it - "Someone's touching the grid." Then it turns out Savoy is still alive, but he's not exactly himself anymore - Count Ambrosio is looking out through his eyes. Meanwhile, Pullman casually kills an innocent stranger by turning the ladder he's climbing into insubstantial words. It's all brilliant, creative stuff, thrilling and disturbing. But with Lizzie gone back to where she came from, how will Tom make it on his own? I look forward to finding out.
    Thumbs Up

    New releases, back issues, and old data (6/16)
    Heralds #2 & #3
    I love the news report at the opening of #2, in which we learn S.W.O.R.D.'s hilarious cover story for the events of the previous issue: "Cirque Du Soleil has claimed full responsibility for the late night appearance of scientist-impersonators, aliens and dinosaurs!" She-Hulk's comment: "Puppets can make the bravest of us panic." Later, Patsy learns she missed out on a chance to fight a clone of Hitler and is very upset. Valkyrie has some amusing outbursts. I also like that Scott parked the Blackbird parked on top of the hotel for Emma. And Scott owned a Miata. Hee! Next up are some weird moments for Johnny Storm, including a short stay in a surreal mental landscape where Johnny and Frankie fight about their relationship. Did I mention I really love the art in both issues? Seeing the Thing and Valeria prance into the Baxter Building both wearing pink princess hats is wonderful. Patsy also expresses a truth about how weird it is to be a superhero: "We've all had other lives." Finally, it turns out it's a bad idea to shoot a former herald of Galactus with a big space gun, because it can turn her into a black hole. Whoops! All-in-all, good stuff. An interesting mix of humor, intense drama, sci-fi action, and complex character development.
    Thumbs Up

    The New Avengers #1
    Yes, another Avengers book by Bendis. I just can't resist them for some reason! This one explains how there can possibly be yet another Avengers team - turns out there's still some bad blood between the former renegade Avengers and the former official Avengers. Anticipating this, Tony and Steve sell Luke Cage and his buddies the newly renovated Avengers Mansion for a dollar and let them be Avengers over there, on their own terms. "Who do we get?" Luke asks. "Who do you want?" Steve answers, then quickly adds, "You can't have Thor or Iron Man." Heh. Meanwhile, some evil entity is going around possessing people. And at the end it makes Luke really big somehow? I don't know. It's your typical Avengers-level threat, I suppose. I don't think I need to read this book anymore. It has its moments, but it also has lots of Bendis-speak. Yuck.
    Thumbs Sideways

    New Mutants #13 & #14
    Zeb Wells' New Mutants is currently being taken over by another of those multi-book mutant miniseries that seem to happen every other week. However, I don't collect any of the other books involved, which means these issues are two parts of a much larger story of which I haven't read any of the other parts. The laughably long "Previously..." summary at the front of each issue helps, but I still feel a bit lost. The short version is that that whole thing with Cable and Hope - the girl who's supposedly the last hope for mutantkind - is coming to head. Hope is now an annoying teenager, and the villains are trying to eliminate all the teleporters for some reason, which means lots of famous mutants are getting offed. Also, turns out Cyclops can kill people with his eye beams when he wants to. Huh.

    I like the idea of using Legion against the enemy - dangerous but cool. And I like the art during the Legion sequences. But hey, dude, what the hell is with Rogue's costume? I know women superheroes tend to have ridiculous costumes, but jeez. Meanwhile, the mutants end up in a typical hopeless-looking last stand. A bit cliche, but reasonably well handled here. I also like the very ominous giant Sentinel thing that Wolverine and friends are fighting in the future. And how bad-ass Magneto is at the end. I'm not a fan of these big mutant storylines, but with the exception of a few cheesy sequences, Wells handles his part of it pretty well.
    Thumbs Sideways
    Tagged (?): Avengers (Not), Batman (Not), Brian Michael Bendis (Not), Captain America (Not), Comic books (Not), Ed Brubaker (Not), Eric Powell (Not), Grant Morrison (Not), Gravel (Not), Mike Carey (Not), S.H.I.E.L.D. (Not), The Take (Not), Warren Ellis (Not), X-Men (Not)
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    Wednesday, June 9, 2010 01:36 PM
    The Take
     by Fëanor

    Fëanor's (semi-)weekly comic book review post.

    This post covers new releases from the week of 5/26. Beware spoilers!

    New releases
    Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #2
    Bruce finds himself in Puritan times fighting a giant Lovecraftian monster with a sword. Which, right there... I mean, let's just stop and consider that sentence. That's awesome. Anyway, he's rescued and nursed back to health by a witch woman who, it turns out, called the monster forth in the first place. She's of the Bat-People, and has a necklace with Wonder Woman and Superman's symbols on it - probably derived from the symbols Bruce himself painted on the cave wall in these parts all those ages ago. "My devils are the old lords of the land and the sky," she tells him. "Gods of the Wheel of Time and the Never-Ending World. And all the spaces beyond." Uh oh, that doesn't sound good. Meanwhile, the Justice League jumps to just before the end of the universe in the hopes that they can look back on the universe's timeline and find where Batman has ended up. Another great, mind-blowing Grant Morrison idea. We get to see the origin of the painting of "Brother Mordecai," which, if I remember correctly, hangs in Wayne Manor in the present. Bruce's time-jumping seems to be linked to eclipses for some reason. And then the big revelation: Bruce has somehow made it to the end of time and taken the identity of the archivist there, all so he can steal the Justice League's time sphere and get back to his own time. He ignores Superman's desperate warnings: "He took your memories, relied on your survival instinct... you've been booby-trapped! Darkseid turned you into a doomsday weapon and aimed you directly at the 21st century!" Yeah, okay, that's awesome. And it even sort of makes sense - Darkseid didn't kill Bruce, he turned him into a failsafe world-destroyer, just in case his original plot failed. There's also a creepy time-looping curse: Bruce manages to slay the "dragon" using just a sword (because he's just that bad-ass), but he can't save his witch-woman. She dies cursing her executioner, who just happens to be Nathaniel Wayne. "My curse on you and all your kin! Until the end of time!" She's unwittingly cursing the man she was desperate for them to save: Bruce Wayne. Who now finds himself thrown across time again, right into the hands of the pirate Blackbeard. Awesome.

    I truly love this series. It's classic Morrison: tons of crazy awesome ideas thrown at you all at once. He tells you just enough for you to work out what's going on, then rushes onward.
    Thumbs Up

    Incorruptible #6
    I think this was probably the worst issue of this comic yet, and I think it has a lot to do with new artist Horacio Domingues. His work is just childish and cartoony, and the expressions on the characters' faces are exaggerated and overly emotional. It doesn't suit the material at all. All that being said, the writing here isn't too good, either. There's a lot of overwrought, melodramatic, and cliche dialog, especially during Jailbait's suicide attempt. That last scene is pretty over-the-top, too. Hopefully things will pick back up with the next issue.
    Thumbs Down

    Secret Avengers #1
    Not content with starting just one, gigantic, 25-member Avengers team, Steve Rogers has also launched a smaller, secret Avengers team to handle black ops missions. Oddly it includes some of the same members as the larger team. Could they make this more confusing? Anyway, the secret team's first mission sees them intercepting an alien artifact that puts them on a trail that leads to Mars, where an even more dangerous, companion artifact is awaiting them. Both artifacts seem to have the power to turn former allies into enemies. The story is intriguing and fun, but the dialog and art are surprisingly clumsy. I expect better writing from Ed Brubaker, and better art from Mike Deodato. Valkyrie's and Black Widow's outfits cling to them in ridiculous ways in the opening fight sequence, and there's a panel near the beginning where Steve Rogers is supposed to be smiling casually that's just horrific - it looks like he's making some kind of hideous death grimace. On top of all that, the Secret Avengers team is mostly composed of characters I don't care that much about. Sure, Steve Rogers, Beast, and Nova are cool, but Moon Knight, Sharon Carter, Black Widow, Valkyrie, and War Machine are all pretty dull. I'll hold off judgment on the (redeemable) Ant Man, as I'm not too familiar with him. Anyway, I'm not crazy about this issue, but I might stick with the series for now and see where the story goes.
    Thumbs Sideways

    The Terminator: 2029 #3
    This is the last issue of this series! I didn't realize it was only going to be three issues long! Thankfully it's just the prelude to another three-issue miniseries, done by the same creative team, that continues the story, but in a different year: 1984. Hoo boy! It's nice to see Ben and Paige getting together, and it's cool how future-Reese convinces Ben he's telling the truth. It's also interesting that Ben can't see past his current happiness to what's really important, until that happiness is taken away. I feel like it's a little cheap to introduce Ben and Paige's relationship only to tear it apart in order to give Ben motivation to complete his mission, but... it's done relatively well, with some effective narration, and Paige did feel like a real person while she was around, so I'll allow it. I like the way the comic fills in gaps in the original story, showing us Reese volunteering for the mission to protect Sarah Connor. We even get to see John sending him back. But there's an extra and interesting new element added: the older, future Reese claims he woke up after the fight with the T-800 in the factory (which took place at the end of the first movie) and was then imprisoned and questioned by machines. How could that have happened? In the movie he seemed pretty clearly to have died. Is this a different timeline? Or when his body was taken away at the end of the movie, did someone intercept it and revive him? I'm interested to see how they'll explain this, and of course to see how they weave Ben's story into the story of the original movie.

    Unfortunately, there is a rather large continuity error here. In the movie, Reese said the time travel equipment was destroyed as soon as he went through, but that doesn't happen here, and in fact no such plan is even mentioned; instead, after Reese is sent back, John just leaves the machine sitting there and Ben and future-Reese have no trouble sneaking in to use it again. Which doesn't even make sense. I mean, who'd leave a time machine just sitting around? It's a disappointing logic error in what's an otherwise strong story.
    Thumbs Up

    Thor #610
    The cover of this comic is labeled "Siege: Epilogue," and indeed that's all this issue really is: an epilogue to Siege. There's a two-page spread that nicely summarizes the end of Siege using six panels, mostly primary colors, and a handful of short phrases. It's better than reading the real thing, actually! Then we get Balder brooding, and trying to give the throne back to Thor, who wisely refuses, so he can go on kicking ass as the Thor we know and love. There's also a subplot with this Kelda lady who I still can't quite figure out. Apparently she used to like some dumb-ass named Bill? And now they're separated forever? I don't really care. Anyway, Thor finally gets to have it out once and for all with his clone, and that's kind of fun. But really this issue is just cleaning up old plot lines so we can move on to new stuff in future issues, so it's kind of dull and disappointing.
    Thumbs Sideways
    Tagged (?): Avengers (Not), Batman (Not), Comic books (Not), Ed Brubaker (Not), Grant Morrison (Not), Kieron Gillen (Not), Mark Waid (Not), Terminator (Not), The Take (Not), Thor (Not), Zack Whedon (Not)
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    Wednesday, June 9, 2010 09:07 AM
    The Take
     by Fëanor

    Fëanor's (semi-)weekly comic book review post.

    This post covers new releases from the week of 5/19. Beware spoilers!

    New releases
    The Avengers #1
    Siege is over, and all the old Avengers books have been killed - which means it's time to relaunch the Avengers, with Brian Michael Bendis as writer and John Romita Jr. on pencils! We open far in the future with some young Avengers casually wasting a very angry villain. Then we jump back to the present where Steve Rogers is assembling his ridiculously huge Avengers team. Seriously, we're talking like 25 people here. That's out of control. One of the more interesting scenes sees the now totally dark and bad-ass Wonder Man refusing the call, and arguing that the Avengers were behind all the recent problems with the world, and it's time for them to go away. He's actually got a pretty good point. Of course, as is de rigueur at this point, as the new Avengers are assembling for the first time, a villain shows up to challenge them. But in this case he's less challenging them and more warning them that they need to stop their kids from ruining the future. ("What happens to us in the future? Do we become assholes or something?" "No, it's your kids, Marty! Something's got to be done about your kids!") The reveal that the big villain in the future is actually an old, white-haired Hulk is an intriguing surprise, but mostly this comic just feels tired and dull. Avengers assemble, blah blah blah, huge threat to the world in the future, blah blah blah, unexpected villain revealed, blah blah blah. I like Romita's art, but the sequence at Avengers headquarters where Bendis has the new team all gabbing at each other in patented Bendis-speak dialog is really pretty hard to take. I'm just tired of this guy as a writer. I don't think I need to read any more issues of this comic.
    Thumbs Down

    Enter the Heroic Age #1
    The relaunch of the Avengers is part of a whole new wave of Marvel books called "The Heroic Age," and this is a one-shot preview sampler of all those books. First up is Avengers Academy, which is written by Christos Gage, and is thus predictably bad, with plenty of cheesy narration. Next is Jeff Parker's Atlas. I know everybody loves Jeff Parker, but for some reason I just can't get into his work, and the Agents of Atlas just don't do it for me; even with the robot and the talking monkey, I just find them boring. Black Widow I already tried and didn't like, and the few pages included here didn't change my mind. Hawkeye & Mockingbird looks like kind of a cute spy duo action book, with plenty of secrets and lies, but I don't know. It's too much like Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Last up is Jeff Parker's Thunderbolts. This looks like it's going to be about Luke Cage building a new Thunderbolts team out of the latest crop of captured supervillains, which is vaguely intriguing. But like I said, I'm not a big Parker fan, so I'll pass.

    And that's it for that! Guess I'm not going to be reading anything in the Heroic Age! Another note: I feel like now that they've got Steve Rogers back they're overusing him a bit. If I'm not mistaken, he's a member of every new Avengers team, and has his fingers in the Thunderbolts and other organizations, too. When is the guy going to have time to sleep?
    Thumbs Sideways

    Galacta: Daughter of Galacuts #1
    I'm not sure what possessed me to buy this one-shot. I guess it was just the ridiculousness of the concept: Galactus' teenage daughter, living incognito among us, protecting Earth from alien threats by eating them, and trying to avoid the temptation to eat the Earth herself. It's kind of a cute story, but good lord is this woman talky and repetitive.
    Thumbs Sideways

    Girl Comics #2
    At the end of my review of Girl Comics #1 you'll find this sentence: "I doubt I'll pick up another issue of this book, unless something really sticks out when I flip through it in the store." Despite this claim, and despite the fact that nothing really did stick out when I flipped through #2 in the store, I bought it anyway. What can I say, it was a slow week. We open with another of Colleen Coover's cute, inspiring intros, then move on to a possibly even cuter story by Jill Thompson about Crystal of the Inhumans trying to give her teleporting dog a bath. Then Kathryn Immonen and Colleen Coover team up to give us a story about a superhero I had never heard of before named Molly Fitzgerald and her hair salon for superheroes. I know I'm overusing the word "cute," but... yeah. That one's cute, too. There's a pretty dull two-pager from Stephanie Buscema about Doctor Doom and Sue, then an amusing story about the superhero's natural temptation to do evil by Faith Erin Hicks. I particularly like the art on this one, and Cris Peter's colors. The two-pager featuring superhero classified ads is pretty unimaginative, and the Doctor Strange story is just kind of odd. Overall another anthology that's just okay. I don't know why I keep buying these!!
    Thumbs Sideways

    Joe the Barbarian #5
    Argh! Morrison tugs my animal-loving heartstrings here, just like he did in We3, by putting Joe's pet mouse in deadly danger. He'd better be okay! Regardless, the fight between Jack and the dog, which takes place in both worlds, is really well done. Meanwhile, Joe finally gets around to calling his Mom, but unfortunately it doesn't look like help is going to come from that direction. Luckily the cavalry shows up in the last panel, although what kind of cavalry it is exactly is unclear. Another fun issue, although not as good as some others.
    Thumbs Sideways
    Tagged (?): Avengers (Not), Brian Michael Bendis (Not), Comic books (Not), Grant Morrison (Not), The Take (Not)
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    Friday, June 4, 2010 09:53 AM
    Recyclotron
     by Fëanor

    Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

    Tagged (?): 3D (Not), Art (Not), Avatar (Not), Avengers (Not), Books (Not), Captain America (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Iron Man (Not), Links (Not), Lists (Not), Monsters (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Simpsons (Not), Star Wars (Not), Thor (Not), Transformers (Not), Video (Not), Web comics (Not)
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    Monday, May 31, 2010 08:13 PM
    The Take
     by Fëanor

    Fëanor's (semi-)weekly comic book review post.

    This post covers new releases from the week of 4/28, new releases from Free Comic Book Day, and also a bunch of old stuff the comic shop wanted to get rid of and therefore put up for grabs on Free Comic Book Day. It was quite a pile of books, and I've been a bit busy lately, so I'm afraid it took me longer to get through them and write them up than usual. I can't say when or if I'll be able to catch up on all the other books that came after these, either. But I'll do my best!

    As usual, beware spoilers!

    New releases
    Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight #34
    Wow. I was a little surprised at first when I started reading this Buffy arc by Brad Meltzer and it wasn't terrible, given how much I've disliked Meltzer's work in the past, but now his awfulness has finally reared its ugly head, and in spectacular fashion. Then again, I'm not sure how much of this I can really blame on him, as I assume the general shape of the story was already laid out for him by Joss and company, and it's mostly the story itself that's bad. I mean, Angel and Buffy having graphic sex for an entire comic? It's kind of gross. And what the hell are they doing having sex in the middle of everything anyway, when Buffy should by all rights be kicking Angel's ass, seeing as how he's been a villain committing MASS MURDER for the entire Season? And why the hell was Angel committing doing that anyway? I still need answers to these questions!! But instead they just throw a lot of really lame bullcrap at us about "the Universe" and how it has manipulated everyone and everything in some really hand-wavy fashion, and manufactured this entire plot line (in fact, very possibly the entire history of reality so far) just so that Buffy and Angel will have sex and thus elevate themselves to some new level of existence, destroying the old one in the process. That's lame. Seriously, seriously lame. It sounds like Angel actually had some inkling this is what was going to happen. But why would Angel ever be so selfish as to deliberately kill thousands of people and possibly destroy an entire universe just so he can get lucky with his ex and have some peace and quiet for a change? I just don't buy it.
    Thumbs Down

    Captain America #605
    A fun and slightly sad conclusion to the Captain America vs. the Tea Party storyline, ending with a classic comic book fight on top of the Hoover Dam. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of crazy '50s Cap. (I didn't even bother reading the Nomad backup story; that shit is terrible.)
    Thumbs Up

    New Avengers #64
    Now we get to see the events leading up to the Fall of Asgard from the perspective of The Hood. So I guess we're going to get to see the same events from the perspective of every single character in the Marvel Universe eventually. Sigh. Anyway, what we learn in this run-through is that Loki pulled a literal deus ex machina, took The Hood gang's power away from them, and gave it to the good guys. I'm not sure why that happened, or why I haven't already read about it in some other, more important comic book (like Siege #3 or something). It's a confusing twist, and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to feel when I look at the final panel of this comic, which is a picture of The Hood's girlfriend's gold mask with The Hood's face reflected in it. I can't say I find either of these characters all that interesting anymore. I mean, The Hood's story so far has been that he got magic power, and then he lost it, and then he got magic power again, and then he lost it again. Yawn.
    Thumbs Sideways

    Siege: Secret Warriors #1
    This is a pretty cool one-shot revealing what Phobos, the God of Fear, did when he learned of the death of his father, Ares. Basically, he flips out, kills a lot of Secret Service agents, and then drops a really bitter, angry, well-written letter on the President's desk. In between, there is a truly hilarious and fantastic scene in which Nick Fury and Steve Rogers - the two bad-ass old campaigners - have a casual conversation about hanging out in the middle of the Siege of Asgard. I loved this scene so much I can't even tell you. It's ridiculous and warm and funny and hardcore all at once, and really wonderfully illuminates these two characters. Surprisingly good one-shot!
    Thumbs Up

    The Terminator: 2029 #2
    We open with a gigantic firefight, and then we get to meet an interesting new faction of humanity: a lone wolf pack who don't follow John Connor, but just go roaming around the wilderness hunting machines. It's a different philosophy of the post-apocalypse than we've seen before, and brings up some interesting questions. Do you take the risk of settling down - building families and making connections - or do you go off on your own, avoid connections, and fend for yourself as best you can? The same conflict of philosophies is on display between Paige and Ben - Paige wants to shut herself off from everyone, because she's afraid to be hurt again and lose someone else who matters to her. But Ben is willing to take the risk. And finally Paige takes it with him. But then something unexpected interrupts them: the old man Reese saved from a machine outpost turns out to be a future version of himself, who asks for Ben by name! Woah. Clearly this Reese is from some other timeline than the one we know. Either that or he's just some crazy guy. Either way, I'm intrigued! This is good writing, and an exciting story.
    Thumbs Up

    Thor #609
    Lots of exciting action and god-fighting in this one. Plus Loki gets some good lines: "I am Loki, the fire that burns. And why does the fire burn? I know not. But I am he." He admits to having fashioned the plot that led to the Fall of Asgard, but claims he didn't think it would go this far. Balder gets all bad-ass, and exiles Loki, but in fact it looks like that may have been part of Loki's plan all along. That tricky guy. There are some corny moments in this issue, but all-in-all it's pretty entertaining.
    Thumbs Sideways

    FCBD new releases
    Bongo Comics Free-For-All!
    Despite the title, which would seem to suggest that this is a sampler of various comic titles put out by Bongo, it's actually just a handful of Simpsons stories. They're all mildly amusing, with one or two decent gags, but there's none of the true comic brilliance from the show's heyday.
    Thumbs Sideways

    DC Kids Mega Sampler 2010
    Yep, these are some DC kids comics. Nothing very exciting. I like Art Baltazar's exaggerated art style, and Batman has some fun lines about his desire to punch things in the final story, but that's about it.
    Thumbs Sideways

    Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom/Magnus: Robot Fighter
    These are previews of two new titles from Dark Horse Comics, both written by Jim Shooter. The first is simply awful. Incredibly cheesy writing, totally lacking in subtlety, and a story that's entirely unimaginative. It's reminiscent of every superhero origin story ever, but the character is probably most similar to a really boring version of Doctor Manhattan. Robot Fighter is slightly more interesting, as it has a quirky sense of humor instead of just being painfully earnest. Plus, the story's not as dull and lacking in creativity as Doctor Solar; here we've got a human being who's somehow strong enough to fight rogue robots, but he also has a robot friend, and can interface with the robots in a limited way. That's not to say this is a really good comic; the relationship between the main character and the story's only woman is the classic contentious, they-hate-each-other, they-love-each-other dynamic. And the plot ends up being pretty dull. You can bet I won't be collecting these comics when they start asking you to pay for them.
    Thumbs Down

    Green Hornet
    This book contains previews of most, if not all, of Dynamite's many Green Hornet-related titles. First up is part of Kevin Smith's awful Green Hornet book, which I already read and hated, so I skipped over that. Next up is Green Hornet: Year One, which has some nice art by Aaron Campbell, but pretty ho-hum dialog and story from Matt Wagner. Then there's The Green Hornet Strikes! There's not really enough of this one to get a good feel for it, and there's even less of Kato Origins and Kato (the former has color but no dialog; the latter is black and white and doesn't even have ink, let alone dialog). I doubt there's any reason to buy any of these. The last one, after all, is just a spin-off of Kevin Smith's story, focusing on the hot Kato with large boobs, so it's almost certainly awful.
    Thumbs Down

    Incorruptible/Irredeemable
    This is just a book containing reprints of the first issue of each of Mark Waid's great new series. A good way to get into them for anybody who hasn't yet. Anybody want my copy?
    Thumbs Up

    Iron Man/Nova
    It's Iron Man and Nova versus a team of super apes! Except one of the apes defects and helps them, in return for candy. Pretty cute and fun. In the back is a goofy Superhero Squad short about Iron Man trying to find a way to repair all the damage from Hulk's constant smashing, but Hulk points out that prevention would be the better course. Also kind of cute.
    Thumbs Sideways

    Iron Man/Thor
    The opening image of this one - Thor standing with his hammer in front of a giant oncoming wave and ordering it to yield - is a really powerful one. But it's not the prelude to a surreal, philosophical comic. In fact the story is about some folks who have stolen one of Tony Stark's inventions and are using it to make the moon habitable and the Earth inhabitable. Iron Man and Thor team up to stop them. I'm kind of surprised these two are willing to work together, after the bad blood that's passed between them lately, but whatever. There's some fun banter, Romita provides his usual excellent artwork, and the story is reasonably exciting.
    Thumbs Sideways

    Kizoic Presents
    This book has two Penguins of Madagascar stories on one side and two Shrek stories on the other. The one Shrek story about Donkey and Shrek getting sick and being quarantined together is oddly pointless and never goes anywhere, but the rest are all pretty standard kids' comic stories - mildly entertaining, but not very exciting, and not terribly imaginative either. I wanted to like the Penguins stories more than I did, since I enjoy the cartoon, but they're just okay.
    Thumbs Sideways

    The Library of American Comics
    This is little more than a long ad for collections of old newspaper strips. It includes a bunch of samples of what the company has to offer, including really early Archie, Blondie, and Li'l Abner. Mostly it just convinced me that, yes, some comics do eventually become hopelessly dated.
    Thumbs Sideways

    Toy Story
    It's disappointing to me that nearly every Toy Story story has the same format: a new toy arrives, and the other toys react to it with fear and suspicion, but usually end up embracing it in the end. This story is no exception. The only wrinkle is that this time the new toy is another Buzz Lightyear, which Andy receives by mistake, and which his Mom promises to exchange for a new, better toy. But the new Buzz gets switched with the old Buzz, and is about to be taken back to the store when the comic ends. The book has its moments, but there's nothing so exciting here that it makes me want to start collecting this series again.
    Thumbs Sideways

    War of the Supermen #0
    I've been avoiding all the Superman titles lately because they're all being written by authors whose work I've disliked in the past. This free zero issue convinced me I've been making the right decision. It's just lots of cheesy, overwrought, melodramatic dialog and narration. Plus, Superman comes off as self-righteous and preachy. There's nobody in the book you can like or identify with. Even the villains just stand around and spout the standard villain cliches.
    Thumbs Down

    Worlds of Aspen 2010
    I was not familiar with any Aspen comics before I looked at this sampler, but it seems clear now that all of their books are about boobs. There's some sad attempts at dialog and story attached to the boobs, but they're clearly an afterthought. The only exception is Dellec. The sadly extremely short preview for this book is actually pretty funny, as it involves a gang of big guys dressed as apes who call themselves The Kongs.
    Thumbs Down

    FCBD back issues and old data
    Charlemagne #1
    This is a book put out by a publishing company called Defiant in the early '90s. It's an absolutely awful story which opens up in the '70s with a young boy worrying about his soldier brother, who's overseas in Vietnam. He ends up getting over there somehow and trying to save his brother, only to fail at the last moment. Then he goes into a coma for many years and somehow develops super strength. I couldn't even read the entire thing, the dialog and narration were so poorly written; I just skimmed the last three quarters or so. It's melodramatic and overwrought and cheesy and just bad in every way that writing can be bad. The credits reveal that it was plotted by five different people working together, which is not a good sign; too many cooks in the kitchen, clearly. Apparently the actual writing was done by only one guy, though: D.G. Chichester. I'll have to make sure to avoid his work in the future - assuming it even comes up.
    Thumbs Down

    Fantastic Four Versus the X-Men #2
    Fantastic Four Versus the X-Men #3
    These are two issues from the middle of a four-issue miniseries published in the mid-'80s. They're written by Chris Claremont, so they're exceedingly over-narrated and seriously lacking in subtlety. Plus, Franklin Richards baby-speak dialog makes me want to punch somebody. That being said, it's a surprisingly effective story, which finds the X-Men so desperate to save Shadowcat from an odd medical condition that they are even willing to fight the Fantastic Four when Reed refuses to help them, and accept the assistance of Doctor Doom when he offers it. But the FF is going through its own issues, as it turns out Sue has recently discovered a book that appears to be Reed's diary, and which states plainly that he knew what would happen on the fateful flight that turned them all into superheroes (and Ben into a freakish monster), and that he planned it deliberately. The book is a lie, but that doesn't stop it from briefly tearing the FF apart. Despite how melodramatic the story gets, it never feels unbelievable, and Claremont treats the characters well. Maybe it's because I'm a new father and therefore vulnerable to this sort of thing, but the tender moment between Reed and Franklin put a lump in my throat. As a final note, it's hilarious how incredibly inaccurate and sensationalized the covers of each of these comics are. The scenes they depict have absolutely nothing to do with what actually happens inside the books.
    Thumbs Up

    Fantasy Masterpieces #2
    This book, from January of 1980, finds an extremely emo Silver Surfer (the opening panel features him lying stretched out on his board with one arm flung over his eyes in classic Victorian-lady-with-the-vapors style) protecting the Earth from invisible alien invaders, despite the fact that the humans constantly misinterpret his actions and repay his selfless acts of kindness with only hatred and violence. The writing, because it's by Stan "The Man" Lee, is really rather ridiculous. But, because it's by Stan "The Man" Lee, it's also reasonably fun and entertaining.
    Thumbs Sideways

    The Incredible Hulk #315
    This book, from January 1986, actually documents a pretty important moment in the history of the Hulk, wherein Doc Samson manages to split the Hulk and Bruce Banner into two physically and mentally separate beings, only discovering after he's succeeded what a terrible and dangerous thing he's done. The writing and art are both by John Byrne, whose work I've enjoyed in the past, and he delivers a pretty entertaining comic here, although the opening metaphorical chase between Bruce and the Hulk is a bit overdone, and there's maybe a bit more exposition - and talking in general - than there really needs to be.
    Thumbs Sideways

    JLA: Paradise Lost #2
    The middle issue of a three-part miniseries by Mark Millar, with art by Ariel Olivetti. I hardly need the first and third issues to understand the story, however, as it's a really old one about guardian angels who forsook their places in heaven for the love of mortal women, and another angel who's rebelling and plans to overthrow God. The fact that the Archangel Michael turns out to be a tattooed smoker is kind of amusing, and it's both entertaining and embarrassing to note that this was during the period where Superman didn't have the cape, and instead wore a ridiculous blue and white jumpsuit, and even had purple skin for some reason. This book also features one of the (apparently many) times that the Martian Manhunter died. It doesn't have a lot of that over-the-top, Millar charm, but he does get to show the evil angel burning some people alive and throwing a boat around, so there's that.
    Thumbs Sideways

    Will to Power #8
    This is a short, 16-page book from the mid-'90s about a young, snot-nosed super team and their far more experienced boss facing off against a guy who appears to be a sort of Superman-gone-wild. We're clearly coming in at the middle of the story here, and what with that and the fact that there are so few pages, it's hard to get a feel even for who's meant to be the heroes and who's meant to be the villains. Luckily none of the characters are particularly interesting or fresh, so it doesn't really matter.
    Thumbs Sideways
    Tagged (?): Avengers (Not), Brian Michael Bendis (Not), Buffy (Not), Captain America (Not), Comic books (Not), Ed Brubaker (Not), Fantastic Four (Not), Free Comic Book Day (Not), Green Hornet (Not), Hulk (Not), Iron Man (Not), Kieron Gillen (Not), Mark Millar (Not), Mark Waid (Not), Nova (Not), Pixar (Not), Siege (Not), Simpsons (Not), Superman (Not), Terminator (Not), The Take (Not), Thor (Not), X-Men (Not), Zack Whedon (Not)
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    Tuesday, April 20, 2010 10:09 AM
    Recyclotron
     by Fëanor

    Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

    Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Art (Not), Avengers (Not), Books (Not), Business (Not), Captain America (Not), Cartoons (Not), Celebrities (Not), Iron Man (Not), James Bond (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Products (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Science (Not), Star Trek (Not), Thor (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Wii (Not)
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    Thursday, April 1, 2010 10:39 AM
    Recyclotron
     by Fëanor

    Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

    Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Art (Not), Avengers (Not), Bacon (Not), Batman (Not), Cats (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Flash (Not), Food (Not), Grant Morrison (Not), Hellboy (Not), Hulk (Not), Jason Aaron (Not), Joss Whedon (Not), Links (Not), LOLCats (Not), Mike Mignola (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Spider-Man (Not), Star Wars (Not), Video (Not), Wolverine (Not)
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    Wednesday, March 31, 2010 04:49 PM
    The Take
     by Fëanor

    Fëanor's (semi-)weekly comic book review post.

    This post covers new releases from the week of 3/24. Beware spoilers!

    New releases
    Captain America #604
    The new Cap gets to suit up as Bucky again! It would be awesome and fun, if it weren't for the fact that he's doing it at the behest of the fake, wacko Cap. Meanwhile, Falcon kicks ass on a train. Fake Cap gets the final word, and it's a great supervillain line: "I'm going to blow up the Hoover Dam... and you're going to watch." It's not a fantastic issue, but it's pretty fun.
    Thumbs Up

    The Marvels Project #7
    Speaking of Bucky suiting up, we get to see him do it for the first time in this issue. We also get a glimpse of Union Jack, and a look at the origin of Destroyer. Then Cap, Bucky, and Angel bust in on a Nazi meeting and kick butt with some serious style. I'm looking forward to the next and final issue, when I expect Namor will finally get educated, switch sides, and join the other Marvels to fight against the Nazis and their fellow villains. I'm still a little disappointed with the cursory way this series treats certain events (I would have liked more on Union Jack, Destroyer, and Bucky), but I suppose Brubaker only had so much space to work with, and the series is only meant to be a summary of a rather long and complex history. Still, I think I would've preferred a more focused series, covering a smaller number of events, to this summary that doesn't get a chance to treat hardly any of the events with any detail.
    Thumbs Up

    New Avengers #63
    Yet another look at the giant fight in Asgard, this time interspersed with flashbacks from various heroes about their personal lives and relationships. Sadly, the dialog is not Bendis' best work. Overall a pretty dull and pointless issue. Sure, it ends with a hero apparently dead, but... what comic doesn't?
    Thumbs Sideways

    Supergod #3
    Yep, this series is still amazing. We open with a brutal and depressing deconstruction of where religion comes from and what people really use it for. Then we meet another God, one of the most fascinating yet, who can see all possible futures, and is even able to see us, as readers, and speak directly to us. There's a disturbing moment when our narrator has a hard time remembering the next part of his story, and the whole reality and causality of it seem to be heading toward disintegration and fragmentation. Then our friend pulls things together and continues his tale, revealing that it was his idea to throw two of the Gods together in the hopes that they would negotiate a truce. I have a feeling it's not going to go well. But I'm looking forward to reading the details!
    Thumbs Up

    Thor #608
    I like the archetypal nature of this story, with Tyr paralyzed with fear due to a prophecy about a God of war being doomed. When he realizes the prophecy referred to Ares, he feels free to act again. But the majority of the issue is a big fight between Volstagg and the evil Thor clone, which ends with Asgard falling on evil Thor's head. Which is nice! A reasonably fun issue, but it's lacking something. It could be... meatier.
    Thumbs Sideways
    Tagged (?): Avengers (Not), Brian Michael Bendis (Not), Captain America (Not), Comic books (Not), Ed Brubaker (Not), Kieron Gillen (Not), Siege (Not), The Take (Not), Thor (Not), Warren Ellis (Not)
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    Tuesday, March 30, 2010 11:01 AM
    (Last updated on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 01:31 PM)
    Recyclotron
     by Fëanor

    Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.

    Tagged (?): Avatar (Not), Avengers (Not), Books (Not), Captain America (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Craft (Not), Firefly (Not), Godzilla (Not), Harry Potter (Not), Iron Man (Not), James Bond (Not), Kaiju (Not), LEGO (Not), Links (Not), Monsters (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), News (Not), Obama (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Science (Not), Star Wars (Not), Toys (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Web comics (Not)
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    Welcome to the blog of Jim Genzano, writer, geek, and web developer. For a more detailed run-down of who I am and what goes on here, read this.



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