Random reading: Random books!

Another trip to the shop here and another pile of books chosen at random. Well, let's dive in!

Blade #5

Actually bought earlier this week at the bookstore because I thought "What the hell, I'll give the book another shot!" based entirely on the badass cover of Wolverine's claws running through Blade's head--and Blade smiling because he fucking loves it.

Yeah, the comic sucked compared to that cover. Too much space wasted on a cliched flashback subplot and not enough space devoted to a badass fight where Wolverine runs Blade through and then Blade is all "Motherfucker, that's the way I like it!" and then it's REALLY fucking on.

Teen Titans #43

"Hey, let's do a story where it's like an evil Teen Titans!"

"You mean like an Injustice League, but with the Titans?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah!"

So, yeah, the real Titans get their asses handed to them by the evil Titans and I'm sure this matters to people who read this title and care about these characters.

Green Lantern #16

Green Lantern is an idiot.

That sums up this issue.

Apparently, to keep things separate, Hal Jordan, while flying in the air force, is dumb enough to NOT WEAR HIS MAGICAL RING THAT WILL MAKE SURE HE DOESN'T DIE! And the he got caught by terrorists and put the woman he loves in danger and caused an international incident and is being pursued by alien bounty hunters because the kid of that alien who died and made him Green Lantern now wants his daddy's ring. And if this idiot had just worn his ring to begin with, this would have all been solved rather quickly, but he's an idiot and we're supposed to feel sorry for him, except he's such an idiot we don't.

The Creeper #6

Yeah, I didn't see that this was issue six of six until I got to the end and it was the end.

I bet if I had read the previous five issues, I might have enjoyed this issue more. Except there's fun bits of dialogue like:

"BACKSTAB ME, WILL YA?"

Said by the Creeper after punching Batman in the face.

Yeesh.

Fantastic Four #542

I rather liked this comic. It reminded me of that episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine where Dr. Bashir and the group of genetically-enhanced people figure out using math that the Federation WILL lose the war with the Dominion no matter what. No hope. No chance. So why not surrender now and save billions of lives?

I always agreed with that choice and I find myself agreeing with Reed here. He's figured out the way to save the planet is to do shit like the Registration Act and he's going to make damn sure it happens no matter the cost.

I only hope that Marvel has the balls to see the story through where Reed is right. THAT would be impressive, I think.

But, they'll probably puss out in favour of the whole "siding with good will beat the odds" bullshit eventually.

Civil War: The Return

Oh, shut up, it wasn't that bad.

First off, it doesn't negate the death of Captain Marvel. He doesn't even come back from the dead really.

Second off, the Sentry story was kind of interesting--at least if you're a fan of the Sentry. It did more to explain his joining up with Iron Man more than Bendis' spotlight issue did.

Third off, it wasn't that great either, but I read worse comics THIS WEEK let alone in the past few years.

Fourth off, I do think that the Mar-Vell story could have worked better as a full-issue story. It was a little too compressed, especially when he returns, for my taste. Everyone seems to accept what's happened a little too quickly--they don't even ask WHERE he came from, they just go "Oh, you're here, run the prison!" Seems kind of stupid.

X-Factor #15

I'd heard good things and this issue was good. I've never been a big fan of Peter David's comic stuff--his prose has always done it for me--but this was good. Interesting characters, snappy dialogue and the funniest way of taking down terrorists I've ever seen--while being disturbing at the same time. I'm tempted to hunt down all the previous stuff for this series. (And I just checked with Amazon.ca and I could get the Madrox trade and two X-Factor collections for a decent price, so maybe I will sometime soon.)

The Spirit #2

So, the Spirit gets his ass kicked and then later kicks the asses of those who kicked his ass plus a few more people without much effort? I can't stand it when shit like that happens. It's something that happens in shit like this and it takes me right out of the story. It's one thing if the hero comes up with a sneaky way of overcoming the difficulty, but when there is literally no difference in the two situations I just don't get it. (You COULD argue he does it so he can find out later what the real plan is, but I don't see why he couldn't have, I don't know, kicked a little ass since doing that and then leaving wouldn't have affected anything except how much pain he'd be in.)

But, this book is steeped heavily in such conventions and it adheres to them well. Not my thing.

Captain America: Winter Soldier Vols. 1&2 and Winter Soldier: Winter Kills

Well-drawn, well-written, well-conceived. They brought Bucky back and did it in a way that adds to the character. Never thought I'd see that coming. I do think had I read this without that knowledge, it would have been better. So sorry, I just spoiled it for you, but I figure everyone knows it by now. I don't know what to say. As is obvious, I'm not great at praising stuff, I'm much more of a "tear shit down" guy.

I did think the Jack Monroe interlude issue killed the pacing of the story a bit without adding a whole lot.

The Winter Soldier special had some touching moments, especially at the end. Am confused about how the trio of Young Avengers say they won't kill anyone, but then they knock out all the Hydra members before burning the warehouse down--did they carry them all out?

Come to think of it, Hydra has been popping up a lot lately in the MU. In that Spider-Woman issue of New Avengers, in Iron Fist, in X-Factor, in Fantastic Four, here. And in nearly every case (Iron Fist is the odd one out), they are getting their asses handed to them and losing large numbers of people and equipment. Kind of makes Iron Fist look like a little pussy, doesn't it? I'm going to have to think about that.