As you can imagine, one of the last things I really feel like doing this week is writing about more comics. But, I love the stupid things. And CBR pays me to write about comics. Anyway, the Blogathon was fun and the window for sponsoring me/donating to the Hero Initiative is open until 9am Tuesday morning (not that you can't donate after that...). I've even sweetened the pot a but by promising the return of Random Thoughts if the total tops $500. Considering the number when I made that promise was $350, the heavy lifting has been done by the generous donators that did it before the Blogathon itself ended. Now, onto new comics...
Avengers #16: Steve Rogers is James Kirk... also, Captain America is the Spirit of America. A weak tie-in that felt forced and like Bendis was trying to address Bucky dying without stepping on Brubaker's toes. Whatever. [**]
Butcher, Baker, Candlestickmaker #2: This issue held together better than the first until Butcher got himself tossed out of the marines. That felt rushed and almost like a means to an end. The battle scene was just well done on all fronts. [***1/4]
Captain America #2: Okay, this shit got fucking goofy. And that's pretty awesome. Everything else surrounding this comic felt tedious, but the weird dream world that a little boy can access and the Allies were using as a way to sneak up on Nazis? I can dig that. And, damn, that's some 'all over the map' inking. [***]
Flashpoint: The Outsider #3: Man, you know the Martian Manhunter is a badass, because he wears a leather jacket and leather pants. That's... that's actually pretty fucking weird. I did enjoy how this was basically a story about how the world fucks you up and makes you worse than you would have been otherwise. I'd be surprised if the Outsider doesn't show up in the regular DCU. [***1/2]
Journey into Mystery #626: You know how you know Loki is fucking awesome at what he does? Everyone tells him that they know he's a liar and they won't trust him... and, then, they go ahead and make a deal with him and trust him anyway. He's that damn good. [***3/4]
X-Men: Schism #3: My favourite part: "I don't understand... why are they smiling?" Best line of the whole comic. I do dig a methodical takedown of the bad guys, especially when it's teased with a big hero comeback via Emma. Also, this felt like a more natural cause of the beginning of a Logan/Scott rift than we've seen yet. I'm digging this. I'm not sold on picking up any of the relaunched books yet -- we'll see how the final two issues of this play out. [***1/2]
Also, I picked up Hellblazer: Bloody Carnations, 'Breed II: The Book of Ecclesiastes, and the WE3 hardcover (the new pages suckered me in). Because they all had to come out today, of course...
Later
Phoenix #5 annotations
14 hours ago
