True love waits (Or, come back Monday for "The Infinity Gauntlet")

The sixth part of my look at Jim Starlin's Marvel cosmic work will have to wait until Monday as I've got newer comics to discuss.

The shop here in Windsor's debit was down, so I had to rely on the cash I had on me. Thankfully, there were only five books that I wanted and I managed to walk away with seven cents in change. Really just a coincidence that I had just enough cash on me to cover it.

The Immortal Iron Fist #10

Wow, the cover price for this issue is $2.99US/$3.05CAN... Marvel adjusted it. Sure, the prices should be reversed now, but I must say I'm impressed. Of course, that's the only thing about the cover that impresses me as they only had one copy left and it was the zombie variant.

As for the issue, Danny Rand doesn't appear at all and it's still an awesome comic. I'm loving this tournament and the characters Fraction, Brubaker and Aja have created. And, as... someone noted elsewhere, Fat Cobra is a great character. Okay, not really a great character as all he does in this issue is demand that he be given ten--no, TWENTY--women that he can have sex with while drinking Davos under the table. Nice little bit there.

Mighty Avengers #5

If I learned one thing in this issue, it's this: superheroes are assholes to one another now that they work for the government. They're snippy and sarcastic and generally "fuck off, you don't know shit the way I know shit." Government work is evil.

My favourite part was how Cho subtly altered the Sentry's appearance to suggest the Void having an influence over him.

The Boys #11

Ennis writes Russians well. Funny part where Hughie drinks insane vodka while everyone else (save the giant Russian) dumps it out--the Russian's reaction of "UIQTE A KICK, LITTLE HUGHIE! WILL PUT HAIR UP THE SHAFT OF YOUR COCK!" makes me giggle.

The Death of the New Gods #1-2

And you thought you would escape Jim Starlin today. Silly, reader. The writing is pretty average, but I'm a sucker for those moments of Starlin just doing what he does. The final two pages of the first issue where Mr. Miracle reacts to finding Barda dead is such a moment. Over-the-top narration, lots of panels, hints of madness--that's what it's all about. He does it again in the second issue with Mr. Miracle sitting there as the JLA investigates. He just repeats the same panel over and over again, throwing some narration over them. Scott's struggle to resist using the Anti-Life Equation to bring her back is well done.

The story itself is interesting enough. I do like how Starlin references Cosmic Odyssey, a story he wrote and Mike Mignola drew that, well, only he remembers probably. I'll probably discuss this entire series when it's over in more detail.

Secret War

Got this trade a week or two back as part of my attempt to get all of Bendis' Avengers-related stuff. It's a fine story, but didn't really wow me. I think I wanted more of the fight in Latveria. The story seemed to suffer from the attempt to create a mystery about the whole thing when a more straight-forward story about the same events could have been better. I do like how Bendis points out that a plane containing Steve Rogers, Luke Cage, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker and Logan looks suspicious to us, but wouldn't to anyone else because who the fuck are half of those people?

Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality

Got this on Tuesday with the Gødland "celestial" edition hardcover. This collection was subject to a lot of discussion when it came out, because it has lots of goofy fun, metafiction and questions about what characters work, etc. All sorts of fun for bloggers. Eh, it didn't wow me as much as I thought it would. It had some nice moments, but... well, I hate to be nit-picky, but the Grant Morrison stuff bothered me. It shouldn't since it wasn't meant seriously or anything, but is there any writer more devoted to using any and all characters no matter how stupidly lame when possible than him? Just saying. (Sure, he JUST killed Doctor 13 in the first issue of Zatanana, but, er, shut up.) It's a nice little story, but just didn't do it for me.

On Monday... The Infinity Gauntlet.