Sketch Reviews (October 20 2011)

It's a week with new comics from Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, David Lapham/Kyle Baker, and Joe Casey/Nick Dragotta. Give me a hell yeah.

Avengers #18: "Who will be the new Avengers?" I don't know, because that's not in the fucking comic. Man, fuck you and your bullshit covers. Either get Bendis to actually confine himself to a single issue or read the comic before you write the cover copy. I liked the issue fine, but am sick of shit like this. It happens all of the time with Bendis's Avengers stuff and I don't understand how. The guy is seven years ahead on scripts! He's probably the only writer who turns in complete scripts before the covers are drawn. Why do you lie to me like that, Marvel? Huh? I'm already buying the comic. It's on my pull list. And, if it weren't, I wouldn't come back next time. I'm tempted not to as it is. I didn't expect a new lineup until your cover told me there would be one -- and then the comic didn't have one. It just had Cap asking that question as the final scene with the Avengers. That's fucked up. You're goddamn professionals and you do amateurish shit like this all of the time. Fuck. [I liked the comic, but refuse to give it a good rating officially after that...]

Avengers 1959: #2: There are no scene transitions. I'm not sure there's any cause and effect. I still hate the colouring. [***1/2]

Batman #2: Damn you, David Brothers. You know what you did. A fine comic, except for the stuff with fancy "soon to be mayor" man and his life story that parallels Bruce's down to the detail. Sure, the details are changed, but they're the same details. That's not clever aside from how it was meant to make us think he's evil and then SWERVE he's stabbed! Also, the Bruce/Dick relationship is beyond fucked up. [***1/4]

Fear Itself #7: I almost did my Random Thoughts this week on Holy Terror instead of Fear Itself. I changed my mind for a few reasons, including wanting an excuse to reread Fear Itself before the final issue came out. What I found more surprising than how snarky the post turned out to be is that I've yet to receive a single comment defending the series. Not one. In fact, I've had a few that basically said "I was thinking about buying this in trades and, now, I won't." Not my intention, but somewhat troubling for Marvel's big event, don't you think? And that brings us to the final issue. Tony didn't make Steve a weapon because his shield is totally awesome... except it was destroyed. Thor gets killed by... falling from a great height after being dropped from great heights so many times in this series that he made a joke about it (and that's not foreshadowing, that's making your payoff lame). Steve grabs Thor's hammer and isn't transformed at all even though everyone who grabs it (aside from Odin) is transformed. And Odin is sad, so he's told his people to fuck off so he can mope in his room with his dead brother. And the evil hammers got sucked up into the great Deux Ex Machina in the sky before one of the 'epilogues' (previews) shows that the force inside one of them has escaped conveniently. Well, at least it shipped on time... (I did like Immonen's art. But, that's a given.) [**]

Journey into Mystery #629: A recipe for disaster: Kieron Gillen writing purple prose over top of Whilce Portacio's art. [**]

Uncanny X-Men #544: Okay, that Mr. Sinister stuff was funny. He writes the book until he's destroyed and an identical body takes over -- NOTHING EVER CHANGES! Except, of course, when Cyclops basically says at the end that going back to the school is creative devolution. Kieron Gillen using the final issue of Uncanny X-Men to trash the X-offices? Now, I'm sure he (and many) would say that's a misreading -- if it is, what's the proper one? I'm glad I bought this issue. The art is horrible, but it may have convinced me to check out the relaunch of this book in addition to Wolverine & the X-Men. [****]

Vengeance #4: Four classic villain covers; one villain that still looks like the cover. I'm surprised how much this issue stuck with the Young Masters of Evil. LADRONN! Loki thinks girls are yucky. Of course I loved this comic. Did you expect otherwise? [****1/2]

Wonder Woman #2: Is Wonder Woman ever drawn with a belly button? That question occurred to me. Then again, do we ever see her bare midriff? Maybe, if she were born from clay, her mother would have put a belly button on so she felt normal, though. I don't know. Cliff Chiang rocks it on this issue. Excellent fight sequence. Azzarello's writing isn't as obtuse as the first issue's. This may quickly become that ONE book I've wanted from the DC relaunch. It's close. [****1/4]

Later