Blogathon 03: The Pulse: Thin Air

[Discussed in this post: The Pulse #1-5.]

While the inclusion of the opening storyarc of The Pulse may not seem essential, only a fool would think so, because this is absolutely essential to Bendis's Avengers work. And I will tell you why.

Firstly, The Pulse was a short-lived title that spun out of the MAX title Alias by Bendis and Michael Gaydos, a series that introduced us to Jessica Jones, a former superhero (now private detective) who was even an Avenger once. The only reason Alias isn't in this blogathon is that I don't own anything after the first two trades. Damn, man...

Anyway, by the end of that series, she's pregnant with Luke Cage's baby and they're involved. In The Pulse, she's given a job offer by J. Jonah Jameson to work for The Daily Bugle as part of a new weekly section on superheroes called 'The Pulse.' She winds up taking the job despite being unsure -- she does it for the medical benefits and money because of the baby.

The story here involves people disappearing at Oscorp and the Green Goblin being involved -- something that's capped off when a Bugle reporter is found dead, apparently dropped from a great height. Jameson is reluctant to go after Osborn when the connection is revealed to him, because of past problems where Osborn pretty much took over the Bugle.

The reason why Thin Air is essential is that this is where we get introduced to Jessica and Luke as we'll know them: a somewhat happy couple dealing with being adults. While Alias has a lot of that growth (probably), I think this is a great place to begin as we see Jessica constantly make decisions based on what's best for the baby -- when was the last time you saw a superhero that selfless (even though she's not a superhero now)? Luke is a bit slower in coming to that point, but he's getting there. The idea of being a father is a lot less immediate for him, but, when it's called for, he shows up.

The final confrontation with Osborn who goes all nuts and reveals officially that he's the Green Goblin is fantastic -- as an earlier scene had Jessica worried that he forced a miscarriage (but her superhuman toughness prevented any damage). Luke, as you'd expect, is pissed the fuck off and acts accordingly. It's nice to see, because we're not used to superheroes just randomly grabbing a limo, demanding that the guy get out, so he can get his face pounded in -- and then Luke does it. He takes out the Green Goblin with one punch... but then adds a few more for good measure.

This story also marks Bendis's first writing of Norman Osborn who is different here than he is later on, mostly because Warren Ellis hasn't gotten to him yet. Spider-Man also makes some appearances, teaming up with Luke and saving Jessica, basically, making their being teammates a little more easy of a transition.

Mark Bagley provides the art and it's fine. Bagley is a solid artist. I don't like his Luke Cage, but everything else is done well. This arc marks the first real appearance of something I find slightly annoying in Bendis books: the use of double-page-with-grid layouts. They're damn hard to follow sometimes, particularly with Bendis's dialogue, which can be a bit stilted and non-sequitur at times. But, I'd learn to cope.

This arc also brought to light the obvious West Wing/Aaron Sorking influence on Bendis (and that's not a negative, by the way) with his love of 'behind the scenes' books. Sorkin did a sports show, the White House, and a sketch comedy show... Bendis does a newspaper. His dialogue doesn't have the same rhythm or cadence as Sorkin's, but there are similarities. They're both fond of the joke where someone says something only to have an external event make them look wrong and/or foolish. I noticed this primarily because my girlfriend and I are watching The West Wing currently, so it's been on my mind.

In 30 minutes: Secret War (my favourite Bendis Avengers story, I think).

[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]

Blogathon 02: Avengers Disassembled

[Discussed in this post: Avengers #500-503, Avengers Finale.]

I didn't actually begin reading Bendis's Avengers stuff until New Avengers #23, a random Civil War issue that I picked up at my university's bookstore because I wanted a comic to read. Everything before then, I've gone back and read in trades, so I don't have a firsthand experience with Avengers Disassembled, a story that I'm told may have pissed off a lot of the hardcore Avengers fanbase. If that's the case, then I love it even more. Pissing off the fanbase is good, it shakes it up a bit. You shouldn't cater to them anyway, you should be doing new things and making people feel uneasy.

I actually don't understand their complaints, for the most part, because I really think Avengers Disassembled is one of Bendis's strongest stories that I'll be looking at today. Hey, we're starting on a high note!

Your enjoyment of this story may depend on how much you agree with Bendis's goal: to destroy the Avengers. He gives the Avengers the worst day of their lives and just devastates them. Jack of Hearts returns from the dead to explodes at the mansion's entrance; Tony Stark address the UN drunk; the Vision is controlled by something and unleashes an Ultron attack; She-Hulk, in the process, goes berserk; the Kree invade... Scott Lang, the Vision, Hawkeye? All dead. The Wasp, She-Hulk, Captain Britain? All seriously hurt. Things get fucked up.

It's effective because it all happens so fast that it catches us as off-guard as it does the heroes. No one has any time to really figure out what's going on or to catch their breath. The team just gets wrecked, pure and simple.

The ultimate revelation that the Scarlet Witch is behind it all, having snapped when she remembers her children, doesn't really bother me much. Some people hate it -- and the death of Hawkeye -- most of all and that's the reason they dislike this story so much, but it makes enough sense to me. Wanda has a lot of power and that alone could play some tricks with her brain -- toss in having and then losing two kids, and, well, who knows what will happen. That we aren't given many clues is a slight weakness of the story, but I think the clues are there: she shows up on every cover, and she's at the UN but then doesn't rejoin the team later... very minor, subtle clues.

For all those who complained that Bendis just didn't 'get' the Avengers, Avengers Finale is so dripping with sentiment and nostalgia that you know that's wrong. I mean, it's just over-the-top as characters remember their favourite Avengers moments -- conveniently in chronological order with no repeats! Avengers Finale is a decent book if you want to see a variety of quality artists. After the David Finch-drawn "Disassembled" issues, it's a lovely change of pace.

Yes, I hate Finch's art. It is ugly and horrible. I hate it less here, because it almost matches the ugliness of the events being depicted.

Now, one of the things I want to explore with these posts is the idea that Marvel lately, particularly in the Bendis Avengers stuff, has been a company where stories are less stories with strong content and more teases for what happens next. So, in each post, I'll be weighing the content and the promise of future content.

This is a story where the content far outweighs the promise of future content, because there is no such promise -- at least not in the story. I know that Bendis was telling people in interviews to wait and see, they've got stuff planned, but there's no indication of that in-story except something about Magneto trying to help his daughter. So, I think that ratio is pretty favourable.

The death of Hawkeye is a little problematic, because I still can't figure out why he dies here. The Kree are invading, he gets shot in the back, which sets his quiver on fire, so he rushes a Kree soldier and uses its jetpack to crash them both into the Kree ship, which causes it to explode? What? Couldn't he have just taken the quiver off? Ah well, he's back now, shut up all you whiners.

There isn't a lot to Avengers Disassembled, but there isn't meant to be. It's meant to be a quick, harsh read as the Avengers are just beaten down into the ground -- and it feels that way for the reader, too. We get a few glimpses of Bendis's attempts at team writing and he's still new at it, so it's not great. But, a good start to his run.

In 30 minutes: The Pulse: Thin Air.

[Don't forget to donate what you can to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund! After you do, let me know via comment or e-mail (found at the righthand side) so I can keep track of donations -- and who to thank.]

Blogathon 01: Good Morning Good Morning Good Morning

Good morning, everyone! Welcome to the blogathon. For the next 24 hours, I will be your host, Chad Nevett. Every half hour, I will be providing you with content in an effort to raise to some money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a charity that fights for freedom of speech and helps out people who are wrongfully prosecuted because some still have antiquated views of what comics are. So far, $110 has been pledged/donated to sponsor me in this blogathon and, of course, you can continue to donate throughout the day and beyond. Just go to the CBLDF's website and give whatever you're comfortable with. Don't forget to tell me about it, though, either in the comments section here or by e-mailing me (my address can be found on the right-hand side of the blog) so I can keep track of the money donated -- and who to thank.

This is my second blogathon, I did one two years ago, and this one promises to be bigger and more crazy. In my first one, I discussed three Joe Casey runs issue-by-issue, so it was nice and relaxed. Not so much this year when I will be discussing Brian Michael Bendis's Avengers work along with a lot of books that relate to it. About 230 comics or so. I'll be doing one storyarc per post (sometimes the storyarc will get multiple posts). That's a lot of comics to discuss in a short period of time. But, hey, I've got 49 of these posts to fill up (well, 47 really since the first and last ones are pretty simple)...

A few things you should know:

1. I read all of the comics in advance, but have not written any of the posts. I didn't even take notes. I meant to but didn't. Oops.

2. I may try and work ahead a little bit to give me time to go get a slushy from 7-11 or whatever, but I will ALWAYS work on a post during its half-hour period. Last time, in a couple of cases, I did 3/4s of a post before leaving and finished it when I got back. I take the whole 'post every 30 minutes' thing seriously. This is meant to be a pretty constant thing I'm doing here.

3. I won't be using images in my posts, because I don't feel like searching for so many damn covers. Also, the images would just be covers at the beginning of the post and... who cares? If people do care, let me know and I'll possibly change my policy there.

4. Not every post is going to be a winner. In fact, a lot of them won't be. Nor will I get to say everything I want to or would if I were writing about these works the way I normally do.

5. Posts are being set for the hour/half-hour for simplicity. That means they ARE being scheduled technically, but by only a few minutes... better to be early than late.

6. I picked the Bendis Avengers stuff for a variety of reasons. It's quite popular, so more people will be interested in it. I wanted an excuse to reread it. I wanted to write about it. I want to figure it out. Why can't I drop it? It's a constant 3- or 3.5-star book. It's average to slightly-above-average in quality... why does it have such a hold on me? Why do some people hate it so much? How does it work? That's just a brief summary of why, but I hope that gives you some idea.

7. I was crazy and stupid to do this, but it's too late to back out now.

Enjoy. And remember to donate if you can. Coming up in 30 minutes: Avengers Disassembled!

Blogathon 2009 is a Go Tomorrow!

A final reminder for anyone who reads this and doesn't check out Comics Should be Good where I posted a more detailed version of this post: tomorrow, at 9 am, I will be doing a blogathon here to raise money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. That means I will be posting every 30 minutes for 24 hours. More details can be found at CSBG as I don't feel like writing all of that out again... I'll have enough writing to do tomorrow.

So, see you then!

CBR Review: Punisher #8

I recently reviewed Punisher #8 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "There’s an inherent flaw to the Punisher operating in the Marvel universe that this issue highlights particularly well: he will only ever kill the d-list nobody villains that, two months later, no one will remember. You know how I know this? In this issue, the Punisher goes up against 16 villains that the Scourge of the Underworld killed and the Hood has resurrected — and I don’t recognize a single one of them. Now, maybe my knowledge of Marvel history isn’t as extensive as it should be or maybe these are a bunch of losers and not really that much of a threat."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: Punisher Noir #1

I recently reviewed Punisher Noir #1 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "Some elements of the regular Punisher story carry over with Frank Castelione, a World War I veteran and single father after his wife died of cancer sometime after the war. It’s 1928 and Frank runs a general store in the Bronx, doing his best to keep his son out of trouble. But, for a young boy of Italian and Jewish descent in New York in the late ‘20s, trouble finds him and he’s soon pickpocketing people with his buddies, much to his father’s frustration and despair."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: Punisher: Frank Castle #73

I recently reviewed Punisher: Frank Castle #73 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "'Welcome to the Bayou' reads like a Garth Ennis outtake in many ways. In fact, it could be the plot of a Punisher/Preacher crossover with Frank Castle running into Jesse Custer’s swamp-residing family and being forced to kill them all to escape. It’s almost surprising that Ennis never did a story like this, actually. The concept has that right amount of serious danger and pure absurdity that Ennis likes to play with, after all: Frank Castle runs into a family of cannibalistic rednecks and has to avoid being dinner."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: Swordsmith Assassin #1

I recently reviewed Swordsmith Assassin #1 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "When I first heard about Swordsmith Assassin from BOOM!’s marketing director, Chip Mosher, he assured me that it was a book that I would enjoy. The man was right. While the concept of a Japanese swordsmith becoming dissatisfied with his life as a maker of deadly weapons and wanting to undo the damage of his work isn’t entirely original, the execution in this opening issue is strong and sets the stage well for the rest of the series."

You can read the rest HERE!

Blogathon 2009: One Week Away

In one week, I will be doing a 24-hour blogathon here to raise money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. A blogathon is where you post on your blog every 30 minutes for 24 hours for charity and it's quite a lot of fun. You can sponsor me by donating monye to the CBLDF here. The CBLDF is a great organisation that fights for free speech and deserves some love. Give whatever you can and let me know that you have so I can keep track of how much money is raised -- and of who to thank. And, if you can't, that's fine, too, just stop by next Saturday beginning at 9am EST where I will be discussing Brian Michael Bendis's Avengers books with many, many tangents. Unlike the last time I did this, I won't be going issue-by-issue, but rather story-by-story. As such, I have gathered all of the books I plan to discuss and the total number of comics? 195. I am not kidding. 195 comics that I must read in a week to prepare for this. And, if I need to fill more blog posts (as I will be writing 49 of them), I have another 30 or so comics in mind to do that job.

It should be a lot of fun. Spread the word if you can and join me then.

Thanks

CBR Review: Wednesday Comics #6

I recently reviewed Wednesday Comics #6 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "We’ve hit the halfway mark on DC’s weekly newspaper-esque series, Wednesday Comics, and things still looking pretty good. I mean that literally: this comic is just as gorgeous now as it was in its first week and has remained so, possibly improving thanks to clearer printing on Ben Caldwell’s 'Wonder Woman' strip. What’s more, the writing has grown stronger, too, as writers grow more accustomed to the unique demands of the format. That said, the few bad spots continue to stand out with crystal clarity as the strips around them grow in quality, while they linger in the dregs."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: Incredible Hercules #132

I recently reviewed Incredible Hercules #132 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "For over a year now, people have been telling me that I’ve got to check out Incredible Hercules. Every time a list of books that no one is reading but everyone should be reading crops up, there’s Incredible Hercules, staring me in the face, reminding me that I haven’t picked an issue up yet. Well, I have finally read an issue and it was okay."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: The Marvels Project #1

I recently reviewed The Marvels Project #1 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "Telling stories in the past that reveal unknown connections is a somewhat divisive move. Some fans like to see the fictional world gain a more coherent design as characters have no relationships to build stories upon in the future. Others wonder why everything has to be connected to everything else and question why these relationships weren’t mentioned beforehand if they supposedly existed. The best way to please both groups? Put a creative team like Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting on your book, because nothing pleases like a quality comic, which The Marvels Project #1 most certainly is."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: Ultimate Comics Avengers #1

I recently reviewed Ultimate Comics Avengers #1 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "Pacheco’s first work for Marvel under his new exclusive is exactly what he — and the Ultimate line — needs. Acting as the successor to Bryan Hitch is a tough gig, but Pacheco is a dynamic, highly skilled superhero artist, and shows off just how skilled with pages of difficult helicopter fight scenes. He imbues these scenes with a real sense of danger and excitement. As well, his Red Skull looks scary and threatening, something essential to the plot."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: Uncanny X-Men #514

I recently reviewed Uncanny X-Men #514 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "As it continues, the Uncanny X-Men/Dark Avengers crossover 'Utopia' reveals itself as less a story and more an ongoing promise of big things to come. Take the fourth part, the subject of this review, one Uncanny X-Men #514: nothing actually happens. Without getting into it too much, Cyclops sets his plan in motion, while the Dark X-Men confront a horde of Simon Trask’s human Sentinels, and both of those events merely work to suggest that actual important events will happen at some point in the future, maybe in part five, more likely in the finale of the crossover."

You can read the rest HERE!

I Bought Comics: August 5, 2009

[Who knows what I'll say here? I sure don't! I never plan these things out. It probably shows. Oh well. Remember, as always, these aren't reviews, these are just whatever thoughts I happen to have on these books right now...]

The Boys #33

Great, John McCrea is in the actual title, too. You know why The Boys will never be as great as Preacher? The art. Every issue of Preacher was done by Steve Dillon, only specials and one-shots done by others. Not so here. And, I know, Robertson had a snake bite thing and contractual obligations at DC, but his absence really kills this book, because a guy like McCrea can't measure up to his standard. Otherwise, decent issue.

Captain America: Reborn #2

I'm liking this.

Dark Reign: Zodiac #2

Now this is the motherfucking Joe Casey that I know and love. Partner him with a energetic, fantastic artist and let him go hog wild, and see what you get... a fantastic comic book. Pitch fucking perfect.

Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire #1

This was alright. I love that Roland Boschi is back, but the story itself doesn't grab me. I still want to know how an angel could overthrow Heaven and God if God is supposedly omnipotent and omniscient... unless God is just fucking with everyone because it's part of His plan. If so, I might enjoy this more.

Strange Adventures #6

Jim Starlin's art never looks better than when Al Milgrom inks it. It's a fact. Gorgeous pages. The story continues to intrigue me, especially Synnar's involvement as he goes from the Bad Guy of the previous story to Good Guy of this one. Also, Starlin doing a nice little romp through someone's psyche? Always good.

CBR Review: Greek Street #2

I recently reviewed Greek Street #2 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "With the extra-sized first issue, you would hope that Milligan got all of the introductions out of the way, but this issue continues to put characters into play and outline their relationships. This slower pace is because there are a large number of characters and plots. Milligan is laying out a broad, intricate playing field, and that’s slowing down the book’s momentum. He does use quick pacing to keep things moving, though, shifting from plot to plot at a breakneck pace."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: Absolution #1

I recently reviewed Absolution #1 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "To Christos Gage’s credit, Dusk’s transition is an understandable and believable one that begins with a superpowered skinhead that nearly kills Dusk until Dusk uses his powers -- a dark aura, sort of like smoke/energy he controls -- to cut off the perp’s arms and free himself. While he initially uses his aura to prevent the criminal from dying from blood loss, he stops when he sees the two women, only one still alive, that the skinhead has tied up and has been raping. He just allows the skinhead to die and claims that it was a result of the beating and being out of proximity —- and everyone believes him, because he’s a good cop and the dead body is a murdering, raping skinhead."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly #2

I recently reviewed The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly #2 for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "Dixon's writing is very witty and entertaining in this issue as he has fun with the cast of scoundrels and criminals he's populated the book with. The Mexican bandits in particular lend themselves to a shocking and smart scene where the leader tells his captives to pick a card out of his deck -- each card signifying the method of torture he then inflicts on them. Combing Americans, Mexicans, and the French in a single story also leads to some humorous moments and cultural misunderstandings."

You can read the rest HERE!

CBR Review: Frankenstein's Womb

I recently reviewed Frankenstein's Womb for CBR and, in the process, wrote the following sentences: "Around the end of 1999, Wizard had an issue that featured an article where they argued who the next ‘insert name’ in comics is. I don’t remember most of the pairings, but one that’s always stayed with me was the section that proclaimed Warren Ellis is the next Alan Moore. It featured some glowing quotes on Ellis from Moore and some arguments based mostly on both men being British, having beards, and being confident in their abilities to the point of doing whatever projects suit their fancy. Beyond that, I’ve never really bought into the comparison since each writer’s approach is different as their work shows."

You can read the rest HERE!

Vacation is Over

Returned Monday night from four days at a cottage with the girlfriend and her cadre of friends. Good times. Good food. Read the first 200 pages of Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (this is my third attempt at reading the book, the previous two never getting past page 20), so I'm pleased about that and hope to finish it sometime this month if at all possible. Oh, and I got to go swimming for the first time in... I want to say over ten years. I honestly cannot remember the last time I went swimming, so that was a lot of fun. But, enough about that, let's get to comics...

First, the Splash Page: Wednesday Comics week four went up with me contributing for part of it before leaving town. Tim, wisely, found several others to contribute and make up for my absense. Yes, it takes four people to fill in for me. Damn right.

Second, this week's reread review on Mark Millar's Ultimate X-Men is actually just a reposting of one I did here (and is found in the links at the right). I assumed that many/most of Comics Should be Good's readers had never read it and it's one of my favourite essays that I've written.

Third, I'm doing a reread review series counting down to the finale of Young Liars, looking at one issue a day with issue 17's post going up on the day before issue 18 arrives. So far, I've done issues one, two, and three. Issue four's post will go up tonight around 9 pm EST (the daily time for every post).

Fourth, go read non-random thoughts posts from yesterday where I discuss my planned upcoming blogathon on Saturday August 22, which will be happening right here. I did it in 2007 and I'm doing it again this year. I will be discussing Brian Michael Bendis's Avengers work with many, many tangents. I want to save those as surprises, but I will give you a hint for two of the tangents (as they're related): they're mini-series that happen to have the same name as a New Avengers story/trade and will be discussed before and after said story/trade. And they're not written by Bendis, but both are written by the same writer. Remember, it's for charity! So donate if you can and let me know so I can keep track of how much I raise, and dole out the proper thanks.

That's about it. I'm off soon to buy comics. I should be reviewing five books this week -- and both Tim and I are in our respective homes, so the Splash Page will be normal... except for the special guest commentator that's joining us. I'm excited about his joining us, too, since I'm a fan of his online writing. Let the speculation begin!