[Discussed in this post: Mighty Avengers #7-11.]
This storyarc is such a let down after the last one. Venom Virus, Dr. Doom, time travel, Skrull stuff... it never really comes together. Partly, that's the fault of Mark Bagley who draws this arc. After the glory that is Frank Cho, how can the mediocrity that is Bagley compete? But, after the deadline-blowing Cho, the deadline-killing Bagley is just what you want, honestly.
The story kicks off with Spider-Woman coming to Tony with the body of the Skrull and Tony finally seeing what's going on. It's a big deal and handled well by Bendis.
The Venom Virus stuff is kind of fun and stupid, which fits this book, but we already know where it's going, so who cares? (I honestly don't remember when these issues shipped in relation to New Avengers.) Not a lot of new information is added. But, it's discovered that the Virus is a result of Dr. Doom somehow, so off the team goes to Latveria.
The stuff with Doom is only really entertaining when Doom, Stark and the Sentry get sent into the past. I really dislike how the cover to that issue wasn't done in an older style to fit the content. But, even that doesn't really do much. This arc seemed like everyone was just rushing through it with the promise of Secret Invasion at the end. Well, not Bagley so much -- he was just rushed because the book needed to catch up in time for Secret Invasion.
This arc isn't really bad, but it looks that way when compared to the first six issues of this series.
In 30 minutes, Thunderbolts: Caged Angels where I will proclaim Warren Ellis the best writer in mainstream superhero comics currently. Seriously. Even better than Morrison.
[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.]
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Blogathon 26: New Avengers: The Trust
[Discussed in this post: New Avengers #32-37 and annual #2.]
The Trust is the fall-out of the discovery of Elektra as a Skrull. The team doesn't know who to trust anymore. Now, I think introducing the Skrulls this quickly was a bit of a misstep since we weren't really given enough time for "The Initiative" to play out. I'll get into this in my next post on Mighty Avengers, but we get two stories in each book of this status quo before everything changes again? That's a little rushed, don't you think? And this book spends most of its second story worrying about the upcoming story that changes everything again.
In this story, Bendis makes his second big 'lost character resurrection' when he brings back the Hood, a character from a Brian K. Vaughan MAX series. He's reintroduced here as a player trying to be the new kingpin of New York, basically. He begins organising the bad guys -- gives them seed money, beats up on Tigra, puts them in a position where they'll feel important and effective. It's a good idea and I'll admit that since I'm not as familiar with the Hood, it doesn't bother me as much as what he does with the Sentry (which I have mixed feelings on) or Noh-Varr (which really annoys me). But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Before that, the team has to deal with the trust issue. An issue that isn't helped when Spider-Woman runs away with the Skrull's body after the EMP from The Return of Ultron knocks their plane out of the air. She takes the body to Tony Stark, figuring he's the guy who'll know what to do. Understandably, this only adds to the friction in the team.
Luke Cage has the most problems with the Skrull -- at first he's happy, because it could explain everything away and gives them an enemy for everyone to unite against -- but he even loses trust in his wife being who she says she is. Bendis here has a lot of fun with himself and the readers as all of those changes the characters have undergone that some people hate? He raises them all as cause to believe people are Skrulls. Of course, none of these characters (aside from Spider-Woman) turns out to be Skrulls, so that makes it even funnier.
The way by which the trust problem is solved is via a spell by Dr. Strange, which reveals the inner truth of everyone. The cover to issue 34 depicts who everyone sees themself as and it's interesting stuff.
During this time, Wolverine comes across the Hood, who has Deathlok and is deciding what to do with it. Logan overhears the idea of sending it up against Stark's Avengers, so the New Avengers do the right thing and go to warn them -- but that's when the Venom Symbiote Virus breaks out (see Mighty Avengers: The Infiltration) and everyone except Luke Cage and Wolverine (kinda) are taken over by symbiotes. Once the problem is solved the two teams stick around for clean-up and go their separate ways.
This concludes in a couple of confrontation with the Hood's group. The first ends with the Hood's team defeated and some of them in jail. The second takes place in Strange's house where he uses dark magic to save the day, resulting him giving up the title of Sorcerer Supreme, Jessica Jones runs to Avengers Tower, and everyone is kind of fucked with no place to live.
Yu continues to do some great art. I like his rough style here. His character don't always look how they do elsewhere, but that doesn't bother me.
The turn around of the Hood is interesting. I understand people's concern with the Tigra stuff as that is unsettling. No idea why Bendis picked her. The trust issues are handled well and eliminated easily. Like I said, I don't like that the Skrull threat was raised so quickly into "The Initiative." As well, we get two instances in this story where the Mighty Avengers let the New Avengers go without arrest. So maybe it was time for a change, because that got old quickly.
Not as strong as "Revolution," but still really interesting. The dynamic between Luke and Jessica continues to be some of Bendis's best writing. The way he has Luke act like a total jackass is great, because that's not you expect him to act. He's supposed to be The Man, but the Skrull really shakes him up. It shows off just how much it shakes him up in a smart way.
Also, who wasn't hoping so damn much at this point that Tony Stark was a Skrull? We all wanted that so much. Damn, they let us down there, didn't they?
In 30 minutes, Mighty Avengers: The Infiltration.
[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.]
The Trust is the fall-out of the discovery of Elektra as a Skrull. The team doesn't know who to trust anymore. Now, I think introducing the Skrulls this quickly was a bit of a misstep since we weren't really given enough time for "The Initiative" to play out. I'll get into this in my next post on Mighty Avengers, but we get two stories in each book of this status quo before everything changes again? That's a little rushed, don't you think? And this book spends most of its second story worrying about the upcoming story that changes everything again.
In this story, Bendis makes his second big 'lost character resurrection' when he brings back the Hood, a character from a Brian K. Vaughan MAX series. He's reintroduced here as a player trying to be the new kingpin of New York, basically. He begins organising the bad guys -- gives them seed money, beats up on Tigra, puts them in a position where they'll feel important and effective. It's a good idea and I'll admit that since I'm not as familiar with the Hood, it doesn't bother me as much as what he does with the Sentry (which I have mixed feelings on) or Noh-Varr (which really annoys me). But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Before that, the team has to deal with the trust issue. An issue that isn't helped when Spider-Woman runs away with the Skrull's body after the EMP from The Return of Ultron knocks their plane out of the air. She takes the body to Tony Stark, figuring he's the guy who'll know what to do. Understandably, this only adds to the friction in the team.
Luke Cage has the most problems with the Skrull -- at first he's happy, because it could explain everything away and gives them an enemy for everyone to unite against -- but he even loses trust in his wife being who she says she is. Bendis here has a lot of fun with himself and the readers as all of those changes the characters have undergone that some people hate? He raises them all as cause to believe people are Skrulls. Of course, none of these characters (aside from Spider-Woman) turns out to be Skrulls, so that makes it even funnier.
The way by which the trust problem is solved is via a spell by Dr. Strange, which reveals the inner truth of everyone. The cover to issue 34 depicts who everyone sees themself as and it's interesting stuff.
During this time, Wolverine comes across the Hood, who has Deathlok and is deciding what to do with it. Logan overhears the idea of sending it up against Stark's Avengers, so the New Avengers do the right thing and go to warn them -- but that's when the Venom Symbiote Virus breaks out (see Mighty Avengers: The Infiltration) and everyone except Luke Cage and Wolverine (kinda) are taken over by symbiotes. Once the problem is solved the two teams stick around for clean-up and go their separate ways.
This concludes in a couple of confrontation with the Hood's group. The first ends with the Hood's team defeated and some of them in jail. The second takes place in Strange's house where he uses dark magic to save the day, resulting him giving up the title of Sorcerer Supreme, Jessica Jones runs to Avengers Tower, and everyone is kind of fucked with no place to live.
Yu continues to do some great art. I like his rough style here. His character don't always look how they do elsewhere, but that doesn't bother me.
The turn around of the Hood is interesting. I understand people's concern with the Tigra stuff as that is unsettling. No idea why Bendis picked her. The trust issues are handled well and eliminated easily. Like I said, I don't like that the Skrull threat was raised so quickly into "The Initiative." As well, we get two instances in this story where the Mighty Avengers let the New Avengers go without arrest. So maybe it was time for a change, because that got old quickly.
Not as strong as "Revolution," but still really interesting. The dynamic between Luke and Jessica continues to be some of Bendis's best writing. The way he has Luke act like a total jackass is great, because that's not you expect him to act. He's supposed to be The Man, but the Skrull really shakes him up. It shows off just how much it shakes him up in a smart way.
Also, who wasn't hoping so damn much at this point that Tony Stark was a Skrull? We all wanted that so much. Damn, they let us down there, didn't they?
In 30 minutes, Mighty Avengers: The Infiltration.
[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 25: The Order (Part 2)
[Discussed in this post: The Order #6-10.]
Oh my god, we've reached the halfway mark! How the hell did that happen?
Anyway, the second half of The Order revolves around the overall plot put in place by Ezekiel Stane in his effort to fuck with Tony Stark. The M.A.N. from S.H.A.D.O.W. is his as are the Black Dhalias, a group of LA women that Mulholland Black was once a member of -- something the Order is not aware of. Mulholland has psychic powers that tap in LA's collective unconscious and she's got an attitude.
One of the best issues of this bunch is #7 where Henry sits down and has a talk with Namor, who has erected a wall of water around the coast of San Francisco and demands to be arrested. Atlantis is no more and he figures he can be a bigger help to his people as a prisoner of the evil humans than anywhere else -- a figurehead they can all get behind. Henry and Namor's conversation is some of Fraction's best writing as Henry stays with Namor every step, finally outplaying him and forcing Namor to take the wall down. If you weren't convinced that Henry was the real deal yet (and I wasn't), that does it.
The confrontation with Stane and his flunkies doesn't go well for the Order as they lose the powers given to them by the program, which results in the death of one member. Stane nearly destroys LA before the team finally stops him -- but he gets away to fight another day in The Invincible Iron Man. What's interesting is that Stane's flunkies aren't much of a match for the Order -- Stark's team is better than Stane's. A subtle little jab at the villain.
Fraction calls the team a social experiment in the book. I've been trying to figure out what kind exactly. An experiment in social responsibility? People aspiring to be bigger and better themselves? Will the public get behind regular people who sacrifice their personal lives to help others? Is that enough to win people over?
The answer is no, of course.
The Order was a Marvel superhero title featuring classic-style heroics, easy-to-relate-to characters, very good art and writing, and it didn't sell. What do the people want?
Well, what they're familiar with. Characters whose names you don't have to learn is always great. Costumes you recognise is a plus.
In that way, The Order really strikes me as Matt Fraction doing a Joe Casey book. It's not hard to see the leap from Wildcats Version 3.0 to The Order. The Order was Matt Fraction's best work for Marvel, I think.
Later, I'll be discussing The Invincible Iron Man and why I don't like it. Should be fun.
But, in 30 minutes, it will be New Avengers: The Trust.
[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.]
Oh my god, we've reached the halfway mark! How the hell did that happen?
Anyway, the second half of The Order revolves around the overall plot put in place by Ezekiel Stane in his effort to fuck with Tony Stark. The M.A.N. from S.H.A.D.O.W. is his as are the Black Dhalias, a group of LA women that Mulholland Black was once a member of -- something the Order is not aware of. Mulholland has psychic powers that tap in LA's collective unconscious and she's got an attitude.
One of the best issues of this bunch is #7 where Henry sits down and has a talk with Namor, who has erected a wall of water around the coast of San Francisco and demands to be arrested. Atlantis is no more and he figures he can be a bigger help to his people as a prisoner of the evil humans than anywhere else -- a figurehead they can all get behind. Henry and Namor's conversation is some of Fraction's best writing as Henry stays with Namor every step, finally outplaying him and forcing Namor to take the wall down. If you weren't convinced that Henry was the real deal yet (and I wasn't), that does it.
The confrontation with Stane and his flunkies doesn't go well for the Order as they lose the powers given to them by the program, which results in the death of one member. Stane nearly destroys LA before the team finally stops him -- but he gets away to fight another day in The Invincible Iron Man. What's interesting is that Stane's flunkies aren't much of a match for the Order -- Stark's team is better than Stane's. A subtle little jab at the villain.
Fraction calls the team a social experiment in the book. I've been trying to figure out what kind exactly. An experiment in social responsibility? People aspiring to be bigger and better themselves? Will the public get behind regular people who sacrifice their personal lives to help others? Is that enough to win people over?
The answer is no, of course.
The Order was a Marvel superhero title featuring classic-style heroics, easy-to-relate-to characters, very good art and writing, and it didn't sell. What do the people want?
Well, what they're familiar with. Characters whose names you don't have to learn is always great. Costumes you recognise is a plus.
In that way, The Order really strikes me as Matt Fraction doing a Joe Casey book. It's not hard to see the leap from Wildcats Version 3.0 to The Order. The Order was Matt Fraction's best work for Marvel, I think.
Later, I'll be discussing The Invincible Iron Man and why I don't like it. Should be fun.
But, in 30 minutes, it will be New Avengers: The Trust.
[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 24: The Order (Part 1)
[Discussed in this post: The Order #1-5.]
The Order was originally meant to be The Champions until Marvel realised it didn't have the rights to the name. Oops. It's the superhero team that protects California, based on the Greek pantheon only because that's what was mentioned in that issue of Civil War that showed the training camp -- Matt Fraction drops that bit pretty quickly. The only one who keeps that name/relationship is Pepper Potts (Hera), the eyes and ears and mind for the team.
The group is led by Henry Hellrung, the man who played Tony Stark on TV... and has led a very similar life to Stark, including a heavy drinking problem that nearly ruined him. Now, he's very serious and practical, and a natural leader.
The Order was a failed attempt to create new characters and lasted only 10 issues. They're ten pretty good issues, though. Matt Fraction is on here and does some great work. The issues are all structure in the same way: two facing pages with a character being interviewed about their life. On each page, we get four tiers. The first tier: four panels, interview; second tier: a shot from their life; third and fourth tiers: same as first and second. This is followed by a page with two panels: the first the final interview panel, a division between the two by the credits -- the title of the issue always the character being interviewed's name with an OR added and then the real title -- and then a big shot as the story kicks in. The page after that is always three panels, equal size, each containing a quote that ties in thematically to the issue. It's an interesting technique. The interview allows Fraction to introduce a character's entire history (mostly) in a couple of pages for us; the quotes are kind of fun and interesting.
I do think The Order suffers from Fraction's inexperience. He doesn't quite know how to balance the team dynamics yet. But, he does produce some good stories here with some of the characters. Like, in the first issue, most of the team is fired for going out and getting drunk, which is against the contracts they signed. Or, there's the absurdity at having to name the enemy they're facing the Infernal Man.
The team is based out of Los Angeles and they get problems with the building they live in, which is a historical site -- despite Tony Stark owning it and the team saving the city.
The book has a very Joe Casey influence to it. The media perception's of the team is a big issue and concern. If they can get good press, then they'll be able to succeed. It's a very LA way of thinking. You get the idea that if the media loved them, the city council would too. But, no one cares. Gee, does this mirror the comic-reading public a little do you think?
My favourite character here is Calamity, the speedster and former baseball player. Mostly because of the baseball thing. Say what you will about Matt Fraction, but the man is a baseball fan and is therefore better than anyone who is not a baseball fan. Yes, I'm prejudiced in that specific manner.
The threats the team face are decent. The name "The M.A.N. from S.H.A.D.O.W." is a case where Fraction is trying to be too clever, I think. As is the 'Zobos' (zombie hobos)... Fraction has a habit of going for what seems AWESOME! a bit too much rather than what is good. He doesn't fall prey to that habit in The Order too much, thankfully.
I do love his Tony Stark in this series. Flighty, easily excited, the way you'd expect a rich guy who runs the world to be -- always thinks he's got the only problems in the world. Good stuff.
Barry Kitson does the art for most of the series (he bails before the end in that way that artists often do, but writers just aren't allowed to). He's got a solid, realistic style that isn't flashy, but is very quite nice looking. He does great facial expressions. He really shows off in those interview scenes.
In 30 minutes, I'll talk about the plot of the final half of the series in more detail than I did the plot in the first half... because the plot in the second half is payoff from the first half.
[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.]
The Order was originally meant to be The Champions until Marvel realised it didn't have the rights to the name. Oops. It's the superhero team that protects California, based on the Greek pantheon only because that's what was mentioned in that issue of Civil War that showed the training camp -- Matt Fraction drops that bit pretty quickly. The only one who keeps that name/relationship is Pepper Potts (Hera), the eyes and ears and mind for the team.
The group is led by Henry Hellrung, the man who played Tony Stark on TV... and has led a very similar life to Stark, including a heavy drinking problem that nearly ruined him. Now, he's very serious and practical, and a natural leader.
The Order was a failed attempt to create new characters and lasted only 10 issues. They're ten pretty good issues, though. Matt Fraction is on here and does some great work. The issues are all structure in the same way: two facing pages with a character being interviewed about their life. On each page, we get four tiers. The first tier: four panels, interview; second tier: a shot from their life; third and fourth tiers: same as first and second. This is followed by a page with two panels: the first the final interview panel, a division between the two by the credits -- the title of the issue always the character being interviewed's name with an OR added and then the real title -- and then a big shot as the story kicks in. The page after that is always three panels, equal size, each containing a quote that ties in thematically to the issue. It's an interesting technique. The interview allows Fraction to introduce a character's entire history (mostly) in a couple of pages for us; the quotes are kind of fun and interesting.
I do think The Order suffers from Fraction's inexperience. He doesn't quite know how to balance the team dynamics yet. But, he does produce some good stories here with some of the characters. Like, in the first issue, most of the team is fired for going out and getting drunk, which is against the contracts they signed. Or, there's the absurdity at having to name the enemy they're facing the Infernal Man.
The team is based out of Los Angeles and they get problems with the building they live in, which is a historical site -- despite Tony Stark owning it and the team saving the city.
The book has a very Joe Casey influence to it. The media perception's of the team is a big issue and concern. If they can get good press, then they'll be able to succeed. It's a very LA way of thinking. You get the idea that if the media loved them, the city council would too. But, no one cares. Gee, does this mirror the comic-reading public a little do you think?
My favourite character here is Calamity, the speedster and former baseball player. Mostly because of the baseball thing. Say what you will about Matt Fraction, but the man is a baseball fan and is therefore better than anyone who is not a baseball fan. Yes, I'm prejudiced in that specific manner.
The threats the team face are decent. The name "The M.A.N. from S.H.A.D.O.W." is a case where Fraction is trying to be too clever, I think. As is the 'Zobos' (zombie hobos)... Fraction has a habit of going for what seems AWESOME! a bit too much rather than what is good. He doesn't fall prey to that habit in The Order too much, thankfully.
I do love his Tony Stark in this series. Flighty, easily excited, the way you'd expect a rich guy who runs the world to be -- always thinks he's got the only problems in the world. Good stuff.
Barry Kitson does the art for most of the series (he bails before the end in that way that artists often do, but writers just aren't allowed to). He's got a solid, realistic style that isn't flashy, but is very quite nice looking. He does great facial expressions. He really shows off in those interview scenes.
In 30 minutes, I'll talk about the plot of the final half of the series in more detail than I did the plot in the first half... because the plot in the second half is payoff from the first half.
[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 23: Thunderbolts: Faith in Monsters
[Discussed in this post: Thunderbolts #110-115.]
Warren Ellis's Thunderbolts stuff with Mike Deodato are the best comics I will discuss today. Out of around 230 comics, these 12 make up the best without question.
"Faith in Monsters" is the opening arc where Ellis takes the ill-thought idea of using supervillains to hunt down rogue superheroes who have not registered and turns it into a disturbing, twisted examination of very bad people. It's oddly complex and surprising at times.
Norman Osborn has been put in charge of the Thunderbolts (thus making Tony Stark responsible for Osborn's position in "Dark Reign") and soon builds a team featuring the craziest of crazies. Nearly all are kept in check via nanochains. Their first mission is barely a success and that's only because of Bullseye, who is the team's secret weapon. There's no trust in Thunderbolts Mountain, not in their leader, not in one another.
Meanwhile, the nation loves the Thunderbolts! These are the new supercops and they keep the streets safe from evil superheroes who want to kill your children. This book is cynical and twisted in a good way -- we never see the people suppoting the Thunderbolts, we see the media mindlessly supporting the line the government wants them to. Ellis seems careful to make that differentiation, because he's too smart to just blanket people like that -- which Millar doesn't.
What I love about Ellis's run is that it's devoted to showing why this was the dumbest idea in the history of superhero comics. Not as an idea for a title, but as an idea for a program. He really makes you question what intelligence a supposedly brilliant man like Tony Stark has when he sets up a program with these people. Venom eats arms! Moonstone all-but-openly wants to take over the team. The Swordsman is a creepy aristocrat obsessed with his dead sister -- whose skin covers the hilt of his sword. And Bullseye... Bullseye thinks killing people makes him God's only friend.
And the whole thing is run by Norman fucking Osborn. The Green Goblin who is 100% absolutely batshit insane.
This comic is so damn entertaining I can't even get it across in words. And Mike Deodato does his best work with creepy and twisted characters. He doesn't do heroic well, but a guy who wears an iron maiden for a costume? Hell yes. Tommy Lee Jones as Norman Osborn is a bit distracting, though.
The entire build-up of this arc leads to the Thunderbolts getting their asses handed to them by three nobodies. The best scene of all? American Eagle kicking the shit out of Bullseye who'd been set up as such a dangerous, lethal individual, but, as American Eagle puts it, is used to picking on people without superpowers -- he's a bully, not a lethal killer.
There are some great gags in here like "Who Wants to be a Thunderbolt?" as hosted by Stan Lee.
This book made my top ten comics of the year in 2007.
In 30 minutes, The Order (Part 1).
As well, we're up to $135 raised for the CBLDF! Keep the donations coming, folks!
[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.]
Warren Ellis's Thunderbolts stuff with Mike Deodato are the best comics I will discuss today. Out of around 230 comics, these 12 make up the best without question.
"Faith in Monsters" is the opening arc where Ellis takes the ill-thought idea of using supervillains to hunt down rogue superheroes who have not registered and turns it into a disturbing, twisted examination of very bad people. It's oddly complex and surprising at times.
Norman Osborn has been put in charge of the Thunderbolts (thus making Tony Stark responsible for Osborn's position in "Dark Reign") and soon builds a team featuring the craziest of crazies. Nearly all are kept in check via nanochains. Their first mission is barely a success and that's only because of Bullseye, who is the team's secret weapon. There's no trust in Thunderbolts Mountain, not in their leader, not in one another.
Meanwhile, the nation loves the Thunderbolts! These are the new supercops and they keep the streets safe from evil superheroes who want to kill your children. This book is cynical and twisted in a good way -- we never see the people suppoting the Thunderbolts, we see the media mindlessly supporting the line the government wants them to. Ellis seems careful to make that differentiation, because he's too smart to just blanket people like that -- which Millar doesn't.
What I love about Ellis's run is that it's devoted to showing why this was the dumbest idea in the history of superhero comics. Not as an idea for a title, but as an idea for a program. He really makes you question what intelligence a supposedly brilliant man like Tony Stark has when he sets up a program with these people. Venom eats arms! Moonstone all-but-openly wants to take over the team. The Swordsman is a creepy aristocrat obsessed with his dead sister -- whose skin covers the hilt of his sword. And Bullseye... Bullseye thinks killing people makes him God's only friend.
And the whole thing is run by Norman fucking Osborn. The Green Goblin who is 100% absolutely batshit insane.
This comic is so damn entertaining I can't even get it across in words. And Mike Deodato does his best work with creepy and twisted characters. He doesn't do heroic well, but a guy who wears an iron maiden for a costume? Hell yes. Tommy Lee Jones as Norman Osborn is a bit distracting, though.
The entire build-up of this arc leads to the Thunderbolts getting their asses handed to them by three nobodies. The best scene of all? American Eagle kicking the shit out of Bullseye who'd been set up as such a dangerous, lethal individual, but, as American Eagle puts it, is used to picking on people without superpowers -- he's a bully, not a lethal killer.
There are some great gags in here like "Who Wants to be a Thunderbolt?" as hosted by Stan Lee.
This book made my top ten comics of the year in 2007.
In 30 minutes, The Order (Part 1).
As well, we're up to $135 raised for the CBLDF! Keep the donations coming, folks!
[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 22: Mighty Avengers: The Return of Ultron
[Discussed in this post: Mighty Avengers #1-6.]
The formation of a new Avengers team happens here and Bendis tries to bring thought balloons back god bless him.
The attempt to use thought balloons in a new way by Bendis, as quick interjections and one-liners, is a good attempt. I don't think it works, because they disrupt the flow of his dialogue. Say what you will, but Bendis's dialogue has a very specific rhythm and flow, and suddenly introducing this new element really screws with that. It's a little jarring and makes the comic more difficult to read in a very bad way. If you've read Bendis books for a long time, you'll recognise immediately that it's a failure right from the get-go. I didn't see that right away because I'd been reading Bendis books for all of three or four months and hadn't read many. At first, I loved that he'd brought thought balloons back, but, this time, I found it very difficult to get through.
I love good dialogue, particularly a writer who can make it work like Bendis. Yes, he's heavily influenced by Mamet and Sorkin, but he's got his own spin on it, and to see an experiment butcher it like this does... I hate to see that.
I really enjoyed this story, though, despite the thought balloon experiment. It's big and loud and dumb and Bendis and Cho just have a lot of fun. It's the other side of the coin to New Avengers and a very distinct-looking book. The actual team selection cut in with the team's first mission, fighting the Mole Man and his monsters is very effective. The power struggle between Tony and Carol is interesting since it's Carol's team except when Tony says so. Heh.
The actual threat here is appropraitely big. I love how, on the first day of the Initiative basically, Tony is taken over by the villain and turned into Ultron. A female Ultron at that.
The team's interactions in the field are interesting. You'll notice that, in New Avengers, the team gets along great in the field, while has endless conflicts at home, but, here, the team has endless conflicts in the field. That's a good way to differentiate the teams.
I didn't get right away that this Ultron is meant to look like Jan. Some of the thoughts/comments direct at Pym are also horribly harsh, which is both good and bad. The guy created Ultron, so he's always responsible, but at what point do you begin to stop blaming the guy in a harsh, angry fashion?
You'll notice that this team lacks a 'Captain America.' It never really works out because there's no unifying voice. The leader is in conflict with her boss...
Frank Cho does big, stupid, fun superhero comics very well. These are some absolutely gorgeous issues. It's a shame he's so slow and he delayed these issues quite a bit.
But, again, aside from the thought balloons, I have no real complaints here.
In 30 minutes, Thunderbolts: Faith in Monsters.
[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.]
The formation of a new Avengers team happens here and Bendis tries to bring thought balloons back god bless him.
The attempt to use thought balloons in a new way by Bendis, as quick interjections and one-liners, is a good attempt. I don't think it works, because they disrupt the flow of his dialogue. Say what you will, but Bendis's dialogue has a very specific rhythm and flow, and suddenly introducing this new element really screws with that. It's a little jarring and makes the comic more difficult to read in a very bad way. If you've read Bendis books for a long time, you'll recognise immediately that it's a failure right from the get-go. I didn't see that right away because I'd been reading Bendis books for all of three or four months and hadn't read many. At first, I loved that he'd brought thought balloons back, but, this time, I found it very difficult to get through.
I love good dialogue, particularly a writer who can make it work like Bendis. Yes, he's heavily influenced by Mamet and Sorkin, but he's got his own spin on it, and to see an experiment butcher it like this does... I hate to see that.
I really enjoyed this story, though, despite the thought balloon experiment. It's big and loud and dumb and Bendis and Cho just have a lot of fun. It's the other side of the coin to New Avengers and a very distinct-looking book. The actual team selection cut in with the team's first mission, fighting the Mole Man and his monsters is very effective. The power struggle between Tony and Carol is interesting since it's Carol's team except when Tony says so. Heh.
The actual threat here is appropraitely big. I love how, on the first day of the Initiative basically, Tony is taken over by the villain and turned into Ultron. A female Ultron at that.
The team's interactions in the field are interesting. You'll notice that, in New Avengers, the team gets along great in the field, while has endless conflicts at home, but, here, the team has endless conflicts in the field. That's a good way to differentiate the teams.
I didn't get right away that this Ultron is meant to look like Jan. Some of the thoughts/comments direct at Pym are also horribly harsh, which is both good and bad. The guy created Ultron, so he's always responsible, but at what point do you begin to stop blaming the guy in a harsh, angry fashion?
You'll notice that this team lacks a 'Captain America.' It never really works out because there's no unifying voice. The leader is in conflict with her boss...
Frank Cho does big, stupid, fun superhero comics very well. These are some absolutely gorgeous issues. It's a shame he's so slow and he delayed these issues quite a bit.
But, again, aside from the thought balloons, I have no real complaints here.
In 30 minutes, Thunderbolts: Faith in Monsters.
[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 21: New Avengers: Revolution
[Discussed in this post: New Avengers #27-31.]
We're finally post-Civil War, people! Took long enough! But we're square in "Initiative" country, folks. The war is over and these people lost.
This story focuses on two plots: the New Avengers hiding out from Iron Man's Mighty Avengers (I'm just going to use the adjectives from the titles of the comics for simplicity's sake); the New Avengers heading to Japan to rescue Ronin/Echo from Elektra and the Hand. It's actually pretty good stuff and ends with the Skrull heard 'round the world.
The two Avengers teams confronting one another is handled well. The New Avengers are hiding out in Dr. Strange's house and they use a lie that Captain America is still alive to try and lure them to the Raft (where he's been kept as they try to keep him alive). Dr. Strange uses his astral form to go there and... holy shit, Captain America is alive, y'all! Except, when they get there, he's totally not. IT'S A TRAP! But, Dr. Strange does that magic stuff and gets them out of there. The Mighty Avengers show up at his house and don't find anything. So they bring in Brother Voodoo and he doesn't find anything. But they know those dirty rebels are there -- if only it were legal to just bomb houses owned by Starbucks without just cause.
Then, the Avengers go to Japan to save Echo/Ronin who has been captured and killed and brought back to life by Elektra and the Hand. But, do you know who's already with the Avengers? Ronin! What gives? Clint Barton is Ronin is what gives, folks! I know! So, they fight and rescue here, but Elektra and company follow them and they fight more and Echo stabs Dr. Strange, but he saves himself via magical communion with Wong and cures Echo of the Hand's influence and she kills Elektra, causing the Hand to retreat and...
elektra is a skrull
SHITS!
Okay, I'll stop writing like that. Sorry.
Bendis addresses the conflict that continues to exist between the two teams early and well. The New Avengers almost get outsmarted, but are able to outsmart the Mighty Avengers because of magic. Magic playing an odd/unpredictable role is something Bendis will use a lot from now on. These characters aren't used to magic.
The team's interactions at Dr. Strange's house are rather good. It's only been a day and they're already on one another's nerves. Wong is not Jarvis. Luke and Wolverine almost get into it when Logan makes a crack too many about Luke being whipped -- these guys aren't friends yet. It's all quite good.
The Japan stuff is also entertaining. I think the fight plays out better here than in the first "Ronin" story because Leinil Francis Yu is a much better artist than David Finch. Look at how Yu choreographs a fight scene compared how Finch does it and tell me any different. Yu creates chaos that you can understand, Finch creates messy chaos that looks like a bunch of shitty art.
Luke Cage delivering Matt Murdock's 'message' to Elektra is entertaining. And a move that you just don't see enough in comics. (A kick to the groin. You'd think it would come up more.)
Clint joining the team is a smart move because he fills the absent Captain America spot -- I can't think of anyone more fitting. I do wonder how he grew his hair back so quickly, though.
I have no real complaints about this storyarc.
In 30 minutes, Tony Stark is a girl! Mighty Avengers: The Return of Ultron.
[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.]
We're finally post-Civil War, people! Took long enough! But we're square in "Initiative" country, folks. The war is over and these people lost.
This story focuses on two plots: the New Avengers hiding out from Iron Man's Mighty Avengers (I'm just going to use the adjectives from the titles of the comics for simplicity's sake); the New Avengers heading to Japan to rescue Ronin/Echo from Elektra and the Hand. It's actually pretty good stuff and ends with the Skrull heard 'round the world.
The two Avengers teams confronting one another is handled well. The New Avengers are hiding out in Dr. Strange's house and they use a lie that Captain America is still alive to try and lure them to the Raft (where he's been kept as they try to keep him alive). Dr. Strange uses his astral form to go there and... holy shit, Captain America is alive, y'all! Except, when they get there, he's totally not. IT'S A TRAP! But, Dr. Strange does that magic stuff and gets them out of there. The Mighty Avengers show up at his house and don't find anything. So they bring in Brother Voodoo and he doesn't find anything. But they know those dirty rebels are there -- if only it were legal to just bomb houses owned by Starbucks without just cause.
Then, the Avengers go to Japan to save Echo/Ronin who has been captured and killed and brought back to life by Elektra and the Hand. But, do you know who's already with the Avengers? Ronin! What gives? Clint Barton is Ronin is what gives, folks! I know! So, they fight and rescue here, but Elektra and company follow them and they fight more and Echo stabs Dr. Strange, but he saves himself via magical communion with Wong and cures Echo of the Hand's influence and she kills Elektra, causing the Hand to retreat and...
elektra is a skrull
SHITS!
Okay, I'll stop writing like that. Sorry.
Bendis addresses the conflict that continues to exist between the two teams early and well. The New Avengers almost get outsmarted, but are able to outsmart the Mighty Avengers because of magic. Magic playing an odd/unpredictable role is something Bendis will use a lot from now on. These characters aren't used to magic.
The team's interactions at Dr. Strange's house are rather good. It's only been a day and they're already on one another's nerves. Wong is not Jarvis. Luke and Wolverine almost get into it when Logan makes a crack too many about Luke being whipped -- these guys aren't friends yet. It's all quite good.
The Japan stuff is also entertaining. I think the fight plays out better here than in the first "Ronin" story because Leinil Francis Yu is a much better artist than David Finch. Look at how Yu choreographs a fight scene compared how Finch does it and tell me any different. Yu creates chaos that you can understand, Finch creates messy chaos that looks like a bunch of shitty art.
Luke Cage delivering Matt Murdock's 'message' to Elektra is entertaining. And a move that you just don't see enough in comics. (A kick to the groin. You'd think it would come up more.)
Clint joining the team is a smart move because he fills the absent Captain America spot -- I can't think of anyone more fitting. I do wonder how he grew his hair back so quickly, though.
I have no real complaints about this storyarc.
In 30 minutes, Tony Stark is a girl! Mighty Avengers: The Return of Ultron.
[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 20: Civil War Wrap-Up, Initiative Kick-Off
[Discussed in this post: Civil War: The Return #1, Civil Wardrobe #1, What If? Civil War #1, Civil War: The Confession #1, and Civil War: The Initiative #1.]
A bunch of quickies, honestly:
* Civil War: The Return #1: Two stories, one about Captain Marvel returning that simply recaps his history with a lot of melodramatic captions and doesn't really go anywhere. The other about the Sentry as he fights the Absorbing Man before registering (how does that fit with New Avengers #24?). The Sentry story isn't that bad, but the Captain Marvel one is a stinker.
* Civil Wardrobe #1: I include this because I own it and it relates to the subject matter. A fun little comic that has Tony Stark reinvent Marvel's superheroes for the 21st century through a series of splash pages. Some jokes land, others don't. Some great art for the splashes -- some awful Rich Johnston art for the framing sequences. The jokes I like best: Spider-Mart; Captain Beckham (Captain Britain); the Mighty Thor of the Church of Scientology; Nick Fury, Bad Transvestite of SHIELD; and the Jailbait Avengers.
* What If? Civil War #1: There are two stories here with some framing stuff written by Ed Brubaker that's... alright. It's framing sequences -- what do you want from the man? The first story, by Kevin Grevioux is pretty weak. Somehow, a senator uses the authority of the president to single-handedly pass the SHRA (a way to move a scene forward, I know, but still...). That story basically has Iron Man die from the Extremis and Captain America be the man they have debate the SHRA in congress instead of Stark. It all goes wrong and people die and it's not that great. The second story, by Christos Gage, is the story that shows how Civil War would have gone if written by a sane person: instead of fighting, Captain America and Iron Man talk, compromise, and work it all out so that the SHRA goes into effect, but under the Avengers' control with Captain America being the only one to know the true identities of everyone. It ends with everyone happy and a brand new status quo of unity. Brilliant.
* Civil War: The Confession #1: The third Bendis/Maleev collaboration we'll be looking at. There are two speeches/discussions here. The first, has Iron Man discuss the war and his regrets to Captain America's dead body, admitting that it wasn't worth it. The second has Cap, under arrest, just screaming at Iron Man, laying into him, demanding to know if it was worth it -- and Iron Man responding, "Well... you're a sore loser, Captain America." What a fucking douchebag. This is actually a strong comic, Bendis working in monologues, which is different from his usual rhythm of speech. Maleev continues to just be impressive as hell.
* Civil War: The Initiative #1: Three teasers for future books! Omega Flight! Thunderbolts! Mighty Avengers! With art by Marc Silvestri! Goddamn, I wasted my money!
In 30 minutes, New Avengers: Revolution.
[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.]
A bunch of quickies, honestly:
* Civil War: The Return #1: Two stories, one about Captain Marvel returning that simply recaps his history with a lot of melodramatic captions and doesn't really go anywhere. The other about the Sentry as he fights the Absorbing Man before registering (how does that fit with New Avengers #24?). The Sentry story isn't that bad, but the Captain Marvel one is a stinker.
* Civil Wardrobe #1: I include this because I own it and it relates to the subject matter. A fun little comic that has Tony Stark reinvent Marvel's superheroes for the 21st century through a series of splash pages. Some jokes land, others don't. Some great art for the splashes -- some awful Rich Johnston art for the framing sequences. The jokes I like best: Spider-Mart; Captain Beckham (Captain Britain); the Mighty Thor of the Church of Scientology; Nick Fury, Bad Transvestite of SHIELD; and the Jailbait Avengers.
* What If? Civil War #1: There are two stories here with some framing stuff written by Ed Brubaker that's... alright. It's framing sequences -- what do you want from the man? The first story, by Kevin Grevioux is pretty weak. Somehow, a senator uses the authority of the president to single-handedly pass the SHRA (a way to move a scene forward, I know, but still...). That story basically has Iron Man die from the Extremis and Captain America be the man they have debate the SHRA in congress instead of Stark. It all goes wrong and people die and it's not that great. The second story, by Christos Gage, is the story that shows how Civil War would have gone if written by a sane person: instead of fighting, Captain America and Iron Man talk, compromise, and work it all out so that the SHRA goes into effect, but under the Avengers' control with Captain America being the only one to know the true identities of everyone. It ends with everyone happy and a brand new status quo of unity. Brilliant.
* Civil War: The Confession #1: The third Bendis/Maleev collaboration we'll be looking at. There are two speeches/discussions here. The first, has Iron Man discuss the war and his regrets to Captain America's dead body, admitting that it wasn't worth it. The second has Cap, under arrest, just screaming at Iron Man, laying into him, demanding to know if it was worth it -- and Iron Man responding, "Well... you're a sore loser, Captain America." What a fucking douchebag. This is actually a strong comic, Bendis working in monologues, which is different from his usual rhythm of speech. Maleev continues to just be impressive as hell.
* Civil War: The Initiative #1: Three teasers for future books! Omega Flight! Thunderbolts! Mighty Avengers! With art by Marc Silvestri! Goddamn, I wasted my money!
In 30 minutes, New Avengers: Revolution.
[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 19: Civil War: Punisher War Journal
[Discussed in this post: Punisher War Journal #1-3.]
These issues explore and expand the Punisher's involvement with Captain America's group of rebels and are some decent comics, if not a little goofy at times. Matt Fraction is very hit and miss in these early issues. The line "Action is my reward, too!" is a classic, though. One of the funniest lines Spider-Man has ever said.
I kind of want to ignore the Bridge/Stuart Clarke stuff and focus on the Punisher's interactions with Captain America and his group. Fraction expands on the idea that the Punisher is a fan of Cap's where he both criticises Cap and follows his orders. The juxtaposition between the two here is interesting since the Punisher is right: Captain America doesn't know how to fight this war. Cap is used to a war where the good guys charge forward and kill the shit out of the bad guys... not one where you need to hide and sneak around and gut your enemies in the middle of the night... not like Frank Castle. He was born in a war like that.
Frank really drives home the idea that Captain America doesn't understand that he's a 'bad guy' here. He's the fugitive and he needs to act as such. None of the heroes really realise that, only Frank. And they get more accomplished with his help. They may not kill, by god they get shit done.
The fight between Frank and Cap loses an interesting line here that's in Civil War where Spider-Man says, "Same man, different war." And, there, for a second, you can almost see in Cap's eyes that while his mouth calls Frank insane, his eyes suggest that that may be true: what would Captain America look like if he was created for and fought in Vietnam? Would he look like Frank Castle?
Castle takes the beating from Cap for two reasons: he won't hit a superior officer and it promotes company unity. I love that.
Ariel Olivetti's art in these issues (and in this series) is just awful. It doesn't accomplish anything for me. All of his figures look the same: too damn big. It's got horrid computer colouring and looks like a bad video game screen shot comic.
In 30 minutes, we wrap up Civil War and kick off "The Initiative."
[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.]
These issues explore and expand the Punisher's involvement with Captain America's group of rebels and are some decent comics, if not a little goofy at times. Matt Fraction is very hit and miss in these early issues. The line "Action is my reward, too!" is a classic, though. One of the funniest lines Spider-Man has ever said.
I kind of want to ignore the Bridge/Stuart Clarke stuff and focus on the Punisher's interactions with Captain America and his group. Fraction expands on the idea that the Punisher is a fan of Cap's where he both criticises Cap and follows his orders. The juxtaposition between the two here is interesting since the Punisher is right: Captain America doesn't know how to fight this war. Cap is used to a war where the good guys charge forward and kill the shit out of the bad guys... not one where you need to hide and sneak around and gut your enemies in the middle of the night... not like Frank Castle. He was born in a war like that.
Frank really drives home the idea that Captain America doesn't understand that he's a 'bad guy' here. He's the fugitive and he needs to act as such. None of the heroes really realise that, only Frank. And they get more accomplished with his help. They may not kill, by god they get shit done.
The fight between Frank and Cap loses an interesting line here that's in Civil War where Spider-Man says, "Same man, different war." And, there, for a second, you can almost see in Cap's eyes that while his mouth calls Frank insane, his eyes suggest that that may be true: what would Captain America look like if he was created for and fought in Vietnam? Would he look like Frank Castle?
Castle takes the beating from Cap for two reasons: he won't hit a superior officer and it promotes company unity. I love that.
Ariel Olivetti's art in these issues (and in this series) is just awful. It doesn't accomplish anything for me. All of his figures look the same: too damn big. It's got horrid computer colouring and looks like a bad video game screen shot comic.
In 30 minutes, we wrap up Civil War and kick off "The Initiative."
[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 18: New Avengers: Disassembled
[Discussed in this post: New Avengers #21-26.]
We've finally left trade paperback territory here at the blogathon. That's the reason why Civil War: Captain America came before these issues. I have it in trade, I have these in singles. It made more sense to just do the giant stack of trades in order before jumping to singles.
I began reading New Avengers with #23 and I didn't really like it. At all. I still don't. It's the Spider-Woman issue of this arc and it's not very good. Actually, a lot of the issues in this arc aren't very good. #23 suffers from me wondering about SHIELD again, Spider-Woman being annoying, Iron Man being a dick, and Hydra using the ability to nearly crash the SHIELD Helicarrier for the sole purpose of... rescuing Spider-Woman. You'd think they'd at least make sure it crashed or do more damage or something. Ariel Coipel provides some art that falls between House of M and New Avengers annual #1 in quality.
The following issue, a Sentry-centric one isn't really bad or good. It's just kind of there as the Sentry thinks about what to do, encounters the Inhumans, and then leaves with Iron Man.
The next, which focuses on Iron Man and one of his employees attacking him for misusing his tech designs to take down superheroes. What bothers me there isn't that the guy fails or anything, it's that Stark is never shown actually listening and considering what the guy says. An absolute failure on the part of the writers at this time was Stark rarely (if ever) being shown as a guy who actually hears new information and thinks about it before discounting it. When the guy talks about how Stark betrayed them, he simply responds, "I paid for it, it's mine." Fantastic dialogue there. Way to show a supposedly bright guy as a flippant moron.
The quality issues, though, are rather good. Issue 21 centres on Captain America and seems to take place in the early days of the Civil War storyline as he spends some time simply trying to draw as that relaxes him. Of course, Cape Killers show up and he's soon on the run again, but it's still pretty good. It's got Howard Chaykin art.
Issue 26 is a different issue, more of a sequel to Avengers Disassembled and House of M as it explores what the newly alive Clint Barton does once alive. Turns out, he hunts down Wanda and, when he finds her, she has no memory of anything and he sleeps with her. Alex Maleev does the art and it's a strangely haunting issue that has a guy act in a way you wouldn't expect -- nor would he. But, what it comes down to is, he goes there wanting to kill her and then finds that he can't... she doesn't know she did anything wrong -- hell, in that state, she didn't do anything wrong, and those feelings of frustrating and anger just come out in a different way. I kind of wish subsequent artists kept the buzz cut look for Clint.
By far the best issue in this arc and one of the best New Avengers issues period is #22, the Luke Cage/Jessica Jones issue (those issues are always damn good). The issue begins with Iron Man and Ms. Marvel visiting the two, both refusing to sign up. Jessica argues that while she has powers, she doesn't use them and doesn't want the government to tell her she has to when they want her to. Luke argues that they're doing something wrong: arresting people for being different, pulling people out of their homes in the middle of the night... and Iron Man has no response, he just dismisses it all. I think that's the only weakness of the issue: Bendis doesn't have it in him to articulate the opposite side to his own beliefs. That's where Civil War fell apart the whole way... none of the writers could argue the pro-registration side, so readers felt no reason to relate to that side of the issue.
Jessica and the baby go to Canada. What I love is how Luke just sits in his apartment, doing nothing, when they come to arrest him -- something he does purposefully. He escapes and joins up with Cap's crew, of course. Leinil Francis Yu does his first work on the title and it won't be his last. I really am a fan of his art.
In 30 minutes, Civil War: Punisher War Journal.
[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.]
We've finally left trade paperback territory here at the blogathon. That's the reason why Civil War: Captain America came before these issues. I have it in trade, I have these in singles. It made more sense to just do the giant stack of trades in order before jumping to singles.
I began reading New Avengers with #23 and I didn't really like it. At all. I still don't. It's the Spider-Woman issue of this arc and it's not very good. Actually, a lot of the issues in this arc aren't very good. #23 suffers from me wondering about SHIELD again, Spider-Woman being annoying, Iron Man being a dick, and Hydra using the ability to nearly crash the SHIELD Helicarrier for the sole purpose of... rescuing Spider-Woman. You'd think they'd at least make sure it crashed or do more damage or something. Ariel Coipel provides some art that falls between House of M and New Avengers annual #1 in quality.
The following issue, a Sentry-centric one isn't really bad or good. It's just kind of there as the Sentry thinks about what to do, encounters the Inhumans, and then leaves with Iron Man.
The next, which focuses on Iron Man and one of his employees attacking him for misusing his tech designs to take down superheroes. What bothers me there isn't that the guy fails or anything, it's that Stark is never shown actually listening and considering what the guy says. An absolute failure on the part of the writers at this time was Stark rarely (if ever) being shown as a guy who actually hears new information and thinks about it before discounting it. When the guy talks about how Stark betrayed them, he simply responds, "I paid for it, it's mine." Fantastic dialogue there. Way to show a supposedly bright guy as a flippant moron.
The quality issues, though, are rather good. Issue 21 centres on Captain America and seems to take place in the early days of the Civil War storyline as he spends some time simply trying to draw as that relaxes him. Of course, Cape Killers show up and he's soon on the run again, but it's still pretty good. It's got Howard Chaykin art.
Issue 26 is a different issue, more of a sequel to Avengers Disassembled and House of M as it explores what the newly alive Clint Barton does once alive. Turns out, he hunts down Wanda and, when he finds her, she has no memory of anything and he sleeps with her. Alex Maleev does the art and it's a strangely haunting issue that has a guy act in a way you wouldn't expect -- nor would he. But, what it comes down to is, he goes there wanting to kill her and then finds that he can't... she doesn't know she did anything wrong -- hell, in that state, she didn't do anything wrong, and those feelings of frustrating and anger just come out in a different way. I kind of wish subsequent artists kept the buzz cut look for Clint.
By far the best issue in this arc and one of the best New Avengers issues period is #22, the Luke Cage/Jessica Jones issue (those issues are always damn good). The issue begins with Iron Man and Ms. Marvel visiting the two, both refusing to sign up. Jessica argues that while she has powers, she doesn't use them and doesn't want the government to tell her she has to when they want her to. Luke argues that they're doing something wrong: arresting people for being different, pulling people out of their homes in the middle of the night... and Iron Man has no response, he just dismisses it all. I think that's the only weakness of the issue: Bendis doesn't have it in him to articulate the opposite side to his own beliefs. That's where Civil War fell apart the whole way... none of the writers could argue the pro-registration side, so readers felt no reason to relate to that side of the issue.
Jessica and the baby go to Canada. What I love is how Luke just sits in his apartment, doing nothing, when they come to arrest him -- something he does purposefully. He escapes and joins up with Cap's crew, of course. Leinil Francis Yu does his first work on the title and it won't be his last. I really am a fan of his art.
In 30 minutes, Civil War: Punisher War Journal.
[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 17: Civil War: Captain America
[Discussed in this post: Captain America #22-25 and Winter Soldier: Winter Kills.]
I almost did all of Ed Brubaker's Captain America up until Reborn as well. I figure, since I'm doing storylines, it would have been only an additional eight or so posts. I would have cut other stuff if necessary. But, then I decided against it, because I don't think this format would suit the sort of story he's telling -- if only because he's still in the middle of it. Bendis introduces new status quos, but tells complete stories and where I stop with his work is just fine.
Ed Brubaker uses Civil War to further his plots quite well, I think. One issue is centred on Sharon Carter, one on the Winter Soldier, and one on Captain America plus the Winter Soldier special. Each offer a unique perspective on Civil War.
The Sharon Carter issue has her struggling between her SHIELD duty and her personal relationship with Steve. She should turn him over to SHIELD, but she doesn't. She doesn't know why either, because her career matters more to her. We learn a big secret about her then -- that she doesn't know and advances Brubaker's story. The tension between Sharon and Steve here is interesting as they have an actual conversation about their views. And there's no big fights or raised voices, just two people sad that things are the way they are.
The Winter Soldier issue barely relates to Civil War, it just has the Winter Soldier and Nick Fury taking advantage of the situation to allow Fury to get into SHIELD's database via a Fury LMD and steal some Cape Killer armour. The most 'advance Brubaker's story' issue of the bunch. I love how the Winter Soldier and Nick Fury are both almost above the whole Civil War bullshit -- they aren't superheroes, they're intelligence operatives and everyone paying attention to the guys in masks hitting each other just makes it easier for them. Neither like seeing Cap in ths position he's in, but there's not much they can do about it without sacrificing a lot of their work.
The Captain America issue shows something that Civil War didn't show much of: a superhero stopping some villains. He tries to take down a Hydra base. I understand this sort of scene not appearing in Civil War proper as it would distract from the main thrust of the story, but's nice.
Those three stories are drawn by Mike Perkins, who does some very, very good work. I love how he adopted a Steve Epting style when he drew Captain America, soft pencils, heavy shadows... Frank D'Armata's colours really help for the unified visual look.
Winter Kills is a nice nostalgia story drawn by Lee Weeks. Fury asks the Winter Soldier to stop three members of the Young Avengers from taking down a Hydra base since it's one that he watches -- and therefore learns from. It's the first time we see Barnes stepping into the role of a mentor/leader, hinting at his upcoming gig as Captain America. Also, we get his first meeting with Namor since WWII.
I originally didn't have Captain America #25 down as a book I'd be doing, but figured I should include it since Captain America dies in it. The issue itself is good, but works better within the context of Brubaker's run. I still would like to believe that if a guy like Captain America existed, people wouldn't turn on him so easy. Come on, folks!
In 30 minutes, New Avengers: Disassembled.
[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.]
I almost did all of Ed Brubaker's Captain America up until Reborn as well. I figure, since I'm doing storylines, it would have been only an additional eight or so posts. I would have cut other stuff if necessary. But, then I decided against it, because I don't think this format would suit the sort of story he's telling -- if only because he's still in the middle of it. Bendis introduces new status quos, but tells complete stories and where I stop with his work is just fine.
Ed Brubaker uses Civil War to further his plots quite well, I think. One issue is centred on Sharon Carter, one on the Winter Soldier, and one on Captain America plus the Winter Soldier special. Each offer a unique perspective on Civil War.
The Sharon Carter issue has her struggling between her SHIELD duty and her personal relationship with Steve. She should turn him over to SHIELD, but she doesn't. She doesn't know why either, because her career matters more to her. We learn a big secret about her then -- that she doesn't know and advances Brubaker's story. The tension between Sharon and Steve here is interesting as they have an actual conversation about their views. And there's no big fights or raised voices, just two people sad that things are the way they are.
The Winter Soldier issue barely relates to Civil War, it just has the Winter Soldier and Nick Fury taking advantage of the situation to allow Fury to get into SHIELD's database via a Fury LMD and steal some Cape Killer armour. The most 'advance Brubaker's story' issue of the bunch. I love how the Winter Soldier and Nick Fury are both almost above the whole Civil War bullshit -- they aren't superheroes, they're intelligence operatives and everyone paying attention to the guys in masks hitting each other just makes it easier for them. Neither like seeing Cap in ths position he's in, but there's not much they can do about it without sacrificing a lot of their work.
The Captain America issue shows something that Civil War didn't show much of: a superhero stopping some villains. He tries to take down a Hydra base. I understand this sort of scene not appearing in Civil War proper as it would distract from the main thrust of the story, but's nice.
Those three stories are drawn by Mike Perkins, who does some very, very good work. I love how he adopted a Steve Epting style when he drew Captain America, soft pencils, heavy shadows... Frank D'Armata's colours really help for the unified visual look.
Winter Kills is a nice nostalgia story drawn by Lee Weeks. Fury asks the Winter Soldier to stop three members of the Young Avengers from taking down a Hydra base since it's one that he watches -- and therefore learns from. It's the first time we see Barnes stepping into the role of a mentor/leader, hinting at his upcoming gig as Captain America. Also, we get his first meeting with Namor since WWII.
I originally didn't have Captain America #25 down as a book I'd be doing, but figured I should include it since Captain America dies in it. The issue itself is good, but works better within the context of Brubaker's run. I still would like to believe that if a guy like Captain America existed, people wouldn't turn on him so easy. Come on, folks!
In 30 minutes, New Avengers: Disassembled.
[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 16: Civil War
[Discussed in this post: Civil War #1-7.]
Actually, according to the cover, the proper title of this is Civil War: A Marvel Comics Event. Oh ho ho.
Civil War is a frustrating read, because it's not a story. It's a series of moments that have some relationship to one another. It's one 'fanboy orgasm' after another. I don't really buy into the incident that starts everything, first of all. Nitro, a human bomb explodes mid-fight and kills hundreds of innocents, including a large number of children... and how would that be prevented by government-trained superhumans? The guy can blow himself up at will! How can Iron Man stop that? Ellis has Doctor Samson say it in an issue of Thunderbolts later: it could have happened to any of them.
This is the first of Marvel's very cynical comics. This treats people in the Marvel universe in a very cynical fashion, including the heroes. How is it that the pro-registration side is filled with people who are willing to hunt down and fight people who were teammates days previous? Where was the person going "I agree with the SHRA, but I'm not going to arrest Captain America..."? It's such a 'with us/against us' mindset that it betrays Millar's cynicism about America. It's meant to capture that political climate of red states/blue states, but never really reaches any level of complexity in the process. There's no debate, just talking points. Which is fine for the TV excerpts, but for the heroes, it's just awful to read. A lot of these people are friends and we're to expect they'd fight in the streets?
Why is SHIELD, a UN organisation, enforcing US law in the US? Where is the goddamn Security Council demanding an answer?
Tony Stark makes some serious missteps, like using the villains. Seriously, how could any of them see that as a good idea? They were really making the leap from being friends to enemies to using former enemies to hunt down their former friends?
Reading this, I couldn't find a single thing I really enjoyed.
A lot of the meaningful action happens off-panel. Like the Thing leaving the country and the return of Captain Marvel.
Civil War is really constucted as the basic spine of a much larger story with the real stuff happening elsewhere and it shows. It's very uneven and doesn't really take the time to explain any of its internal logic.
I can't remember who said this, but one thing that Civil War does right is create a story where superheroes choose their fates. Everyone makes a choice -- granted, there are only two choices you can make and they're both stupid. And that's the making of an interesting, dynamic story that comes from the characters. However, the way in which it's executed doesn't show that part of the story off at all. None of the characters make choices with any sense of logic or explanation -- they all seem thrust on the characters from above (which they were).
As I'll discuss soon, another big downside is that when meaningful debate does happen, no one ever changes their minds. NOT A SINGLE PERSON. Horribly cynical and really goes against the idea that any of these people like or respect one another at all. I don't expect every superhero to be best friends with every other superhero, but Captain America and Iron Man reformed the Avengers together about a week ago! I think they'd have a goddamn conversation before beating the shit out of one another.
I honestly dealt with this book again because I had to here. It's a piss poor comic through and through.
In 30 minutes: Civil War: Captain America.
I would be more coherent in my thoughts, but the storytelling of the comic warrants only quick, unrelated thoughts... that's how the story is constructed after all.
[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.]
Actually, according to the cover, the proper title of this is Civil War: A Marvel Comics Event. Oh ho ho.
Civil War is a frustrating read, because it's not a story. It's a series of moments that have some relationship to one another. It's one 'fanboy orgasm' after another. I don't really buy into the incident that starts everything, first of all. Nitro, a human bomb explodes mid-fight and kills hundreds of innocents, including a large number of children... and how would that be prevented by government-trained superhumans? The guy can blow himself up at will! How can Iron Man stop that? Ellis has Doctor Samson say it in an issue of Thunderbolts later: it could have happened to any of them.
This is the first of Marvel's very cynical comics. This treats people in the Marvel universe in a very cynical fashion, including the heroes. How is it that the pro-registration side is filled with people who are willing to hunt down and fight people who were teammates days previous? Where was the person going "I agree with the SHRA, but I'm not going to arrest Captain America..."? It's such a 'with us/against us' mindset that it betrays Millar's cynicism about America. It's meant to capture that political climate of red states/blue states, but never really reaches any level of complexity in the process. There's no debate, just talking points. Which is fine for the TV excerpts, but for the heroes, it's just awful to read. A lot of these people are friends and we're to expect they'd fight in the streets?
Why is SHIELD, a UN organisation, enforcing US law in the US? Where is the goddamn Security Council demanding an answer?
Tony Stark makes some serious missteps, like using the villains. Seriously, how could any of them see that as a good idea? They were really making the leap from being friends to enemies to using former enemies to hunt down their former friends?
Reading this, I couldn't find a single thing I really enjoyed.
A lot of the meaningful action happens off-panel. Like the Thing leaving the country and the return of Captain Marvel.
Civil War is really constucted as the basic spine of a much larger story with the real stuff happening elsewhere and it shows. It's very uneven and doesn't really take the time to explain any of its internal logic.
I can't remember who said this, but one thing that Civil War does right is create a story where superheroes choose their fates. Everyone makes a choice -- granted, there are only two choices you can make and they're both stupid. And that's the making of an interesting, dynamic story that comes from the characters. However, the way in which it's executed doesn't show that part of the story off at all. None of the characters make choices with any sense of logic or explanation -- they all seem thrust on the characters from above (which they were).
As I'll discuss soon, another big downside is that when meaningful debate does happen, no one ever changes their minds. NOT A SINGLE PERSON. Horribly cynical and really goes against the idea that any of these people like or respect one another at all. I don't expect every superhero to be best friends with every other superhero, but Captain America and Iron Man reformed the Avengers together about a week ago! I think they'd have a goddamn conversation before beating the shit out of one another.
I honestly dealt with this book again because I had to here. It's a piss poor comic through and through.
In 30 minutes: Civil War: Captain America.
I would be more coherent in my thoughts, but the storytelling of the comic warrants only quick, unrelated thoughts... that's how the story is constructed after all.
[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 15: Bendis's New Avengers Pre-Civil War and Some Ryan Adams
Before I get into Civil War, I want to stop a minute and discuss what we've covered so far. We've covered the first 20 issues of New Avengers (plus other stuff, but I'm ignoring it right now) and, as one commenter, Scott, pointed out, the team has only been on a handful of missions before disbanding. If you include the Sentry's involvement, only one. If you actually read the comics, you'll notice that the time frame hinted at tells us that, by the end of issue 20, only a week or so has passed since the breakout at the Raft. The events of the first 20 issues happen very quickly and in quick succession, but go by in our time at a very, very, very slow pace thanks to Bendis's writing style and art delays. Even if every issue shipped on time that's still more than a year-and-a-half in the real world for a week to pass there... that's weird.
Something the characters never really address in story is how much of this happens in such a short period of time. How the New Avengers formed and then broke up pretty much right away. Or, even later, how short a time Tony Stark was SHIELD Director (a month at most by my estimation). It's a weird method of writing comics, brought on directly by decompressed storytelling.
There's always been a difference in how characters and readers experience time in comics, but this is such a big difference -- made explicit by references to time within the comics -- that it's shocking almost. It actually gives fuel to the people who say that Bendis's Avengers aren't the real Avengers, because the team lasted a week before the two main members decided they hate one another.
I still have no problem with the characters that Bendis picked for his team, but they never feel like the real Avengers in the first 20 issues, because they don't do a whole lot. Four stories happen. Four. In an older comics storytelling style, that would mean this Avengers team lasted for four issues. Not the most effective way to build up characters like Luke Cage and Spider-Woman.
That said, I think elements of it work. I like the idea that so much happened in a week, that from the get-go, the New Avengers didn't have a free day, it was constant action and problem-solving.
I do think Bendis's New Avengers gets better once we hit Civil War though.
Also, I've been spending the morning/afternoon listening to Ryan Adams while doing these posts. I'm currently in the middle of lloR N kcoR, which used to be my favourite album of his, but would currently rank... I don't know, actually. Man, Adams is just so fucking good. He began alt-country, but does rock with ease and everything between. lloR N kcoR was done after his label rejected Love is Hell and is just straight-up rawk. It was the first Adams album I got. I joined the Columbia House music club and needed my 275 initial selections for a penny and something about the cover called to me. One of the best decisions I've ever made.
Love is Hell was released in two parts as EPs, the first of which shipped the same day as lloR N kcoR and, eventually, was released as a single album.
After this will be his double-album, his first with his band, the Cardinals, Cold Roses. It was the first of three albums he released in 2005. Three albums in one year, one of them a double-album. All three were unique in style and feeling -- and all three are fantastic. Cold Roses is some laid back rock, Nashville City Nights (also with the Cardinals) is country, 29 (totally solo, recorded before the other two, but released last) is depressing.
He began in a band called Whiskeytown and that stuff is okay. His first solo album, Heartbreaker has some great stuff, but Gold is where he really took off. Pure fucking brilliance. Demolition was a collection of demos and outtakes. He's got, like, 12 records sitting in the drawers. AT LEAST.
He didn't release anything in 2006, but released Easy Tiger, an album that doesn't credit the Cardinals officially over his protests. It was the finest album he did until 2008's Cardinology, which marked his swansong (sorta, no one belives it really) since he has an ear disease that makes the whole life in a band thing difficult. The song "Magick" off Carinology is essential listening and should have been the hit song of 2008 if anyone with any goddamn sense paid attention. Just a bit over two minutes and catchy as hell.
Here's my quick list of Essential Ryan Adams (limiting myself to one song per album plus a couple that break that rule when I so choose):
"Come Pick Me Up" (Heartbreaker)
"Touch, Feel and Lose" (Gold)
"The Bar is a Beautiful Place" (Gold 'side four' bonus track)
"Nuclear" (Demolition)
"English Girls Approximately" (Love is Hell)
"Note to Self: Don't Die" (lloR N kcoR
"Rock n Roll" (lloR B kcoR)
"Magnolia Mountain" (Cold Roses)
"Beautiful Sorta" (Cold Roses)
"The End" (Nashville City Nights)
"29" (29)
"Halloweenhead" (Easy Tiger)
"Magick" (Cardinology)
In 30 minutes, Civil War.
And seriously! DONATE, PEOPLE!
[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.]
Something the characters never really address in story is how much of this happens in such a short period of time. How the New Avengers formed and then broke up pretty much right away. Or, even later, how short a time Tony Stark was SHIELD Director (a month at most by my estimation). It's a weird method of writing comics, brought on directly by decompressed storytelling.
There's always been a difference in how characters and readers experience time in comics, but this is such a big difference -- made explicit by references to time within the comics -- that it's shocking almost. It actually gives fuel to the people who say that Bendis's Avengers aren't the real Avengers, because the team lasted a week before the two main members decided they hate one another.
I still have no problem with the characters that Bendis picked for his team, but they never feel like the real Avengers in the first 20 issues, because they don't do a whole lot. Four stories happen. Four. In an older comics storytelling style, that would mean this Avengers team lasted for four issues. Not the most effective way to build up characters like Luke Cage and Spider-Woman.
That said, I think elements of it work. I like the idea that so much happened in a week, that from the get-go, the New Avengers didn't have a free day, it was constant action and problem-solving.
I do think Bendis's New Avengers gets better once we hit Civil War though.
Also, I've been spending the morning/afternoon listening to Ryan Adams while doing these posts. I'm currently in the middle of lloR N kcoR, which used to be my favourite album of his, but would currently rank... I don't know, actually. Man, Adams is just so fucking good. He began alt-country, but does rock with ease and everything between. lloR N kcoR was done after his label rejected Love is Hell and is just straight-up rawk. It was the first Adams album I got. I joined the Columbia House music club and needed my 275 initial selections for a penny and something about the cover called to me. One of the best decisions I've ever made.
Love is Hell was released in two parts as EPs, the first of which shipped the same day as lloR N kcoR and, eventually, was released as a single album.
After this will be his double-album, his first with his band, the Cardinals, Cold Roses. It was the first of three albums he released in 2005. Three albums in one year, one of them a double-album. All three were unique in style and feeling -- and all three are fantastic. Cold Roses is some laid back rock, Nashville City Nights (also with the Cardinals) is country, 29 (totally solo, recorded before the other two, but released last) is depressing.
He began in a band called Whiskeytown and that stuff is okay. His first solo album, Heartbreaker has some great stuff, but Gold is where he really took off. Pure fucking brilliance. Demolition was a collection of demos and outtakes. He's got, like, 12 records sitting in the drawers. AT LEAST.
He didn't release anything in 2006, but released Easy Tiger, an album that doesn't credit the Cardinals officially over his protests. It was the finest album he did until 2008's Cardinology, which marked his swansong (sorta, no one belives it really) since he has an ear disease that makes the whole life in a band thing difficult. The song "Magick" off Carinology is essential listening and should have been the hit song of 2008 if anyone with any goddamn sense paid attention. Just a bit over two minutes and catchy as hell.
Here's my quick list of Essential Ryan Adams (limiting myself to one song per album plus a couple that break that rule when I so choose):
"Come Pick Me Up" (Heartbreaker)
"Touch, Feel and Lose" (Gold)
"The Bar is a Beautiful Place" (Gold 'side four' bonus track)
"Nuclear" (Demolition)
"English Girls Approximately" (Love is Hell)
"Note to Self: Don't Die" (lloR N kcoR
"Rock n Roll" (lloR B kcoR)
"Magnolia Mountain" (Cold Roses)
"Beautiful Sorta" (Cold Roses)
"The End" (Nashville City Nights)
"29" (29)
"Halloweenhead" (Easy Tiger)
"Magick" (Cardinology)
In 30 minutes, Civil War.
And seriously! DONATE, PEOPLE!
[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 14: The Road to Civil War
[Issues discussed in this post: New Avengers: Illuminati, Fantastic Four #536-537, and Amazing Spider-Man #529-531.]
This is an odd trade collection that I picked up one day as I wanted the New Avengers: Illuminati one-shot. It's the first of four Bendis/Maleev New Avengers one-shots/issues and introduces to us the Illuminati, who we saw in New Avengers: The Sentry. Shortly after the Kree-Skrull War, Iron Man calls together Namor, Professor X, Reed Richards, Dr. Strange, Black Bolt, and the Black Panther and they meet in Wakanda to hear his idea of putting together a large group, to effectively unify the world's superhumans as a cohesive whole. This idea is quickly shot down, but the idea for a smaller group to work behind the scenes, made up of the seven of them comes up. Except the Black Panther doesn't join. No worries, six members is still good.
We then get the group dealing with the Hulk problem, seemingly for good, by sending Banner to space, which sets up Planet Hulk and World War Hulk. During this time, Maria Hill mentions the idea that superheroes are responsible for the actions of supervillains are a while. Like, it's Spider-Man's fault for what the Green Goblin does because he could just kill him -- never mentioning that the system that simply locks him up again even though he escaped every time before may want to reconsider simply locking him up. I do love the irony of people blaming superheroes for not simply killing villains in a story that leads up another where people don't want superheroes doing anything without the government's approval -- a government that would try and charge superheroes with murder if they killed their villains. Oh ho ho, people sure are complex! The story also sets up the Superhuman Registration Act and Civil War.
Not much actually happens in New Avengers: Illuminati. It's all set up and weird fighting. I can't stand these characters when they question 'Who put you in charge' or 'Who says you can just do that?' when that's all they ever do. All of these characters simply decided that they're qualified to do as they like and have been doing as such for years. To pretend otherwise is wrong.
I like the idea of the Illuminati group. It makes sense. I don't think Bendis ever uses it in a way that works, but the idea is sound.
Alex Maleev is a goddamn good artist.
The other issues included in this trade are written by J. Michael Straczynski and the Fantastic Four ones are red herrings, supposedly building up the return of Thor in Civil War, but that's Clor... so their inclusion here is somewhat insulting. They're not very good either.
The Amazing Spider-Man issues work better as they cement the Peter/Tony friendship more and also deal with the creation of the SHRA in a larger way. They also reveal Stark as a corrupt jackass... and that US senators are assholes. This also isn't that great.
If this is The Road to Civil War, Civil War better be good. We'll see in 60 minutes, because I want to stop and talk about Bendis's New Avengers until this point in 30.
[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.]
This is an odd trade collection that I picked up one day as I wanted the New Avengers: Illuminati one-shot. It's the first of four Bendis/Maleev New Avengers one-shots/issues and introduces to us the Illuminati, who we saw in New Avengers: The Sentry. Shortly after the Kree-Skrull War, Iron Man calls together Namor, Professor X, Reed Richards, Dr. Strange, Black Bolt, and the Black Panther and they meet in Wakanda to hear his idea of putting together a large group, to effectively unify the world's superhumans as a cohesive whole. This idea is quickly shot down, but the idea for a smaller group to work behind the scenes, made up of the seven of them comes up. Except the Black Panther doesn't join. No worries, six members is still good.
We then get the group dealing with the Hulk problem, seemingly for good, by sending Banner to space, which sets up Planet Hulk and World War Hulk. During this time, Maria Hill mentions the idea that superheroes are responsible for the actions of supervillains are a while. Like, it's Spider-Man's fault for what the Green Goblin does because he could just kill him -- never mentioning that the system that simply locks him up again even though he escaped every time before may want to reconsider simply locking him up. I do love the irony of people blaming superheroes for not simply killing villains in a story that leads up another where people don't want superheroes doing anything without the government's approval -- a government that would try and charge superheroes with murder if they killed their villains. Oh ho ho, people sure are complex! The story also sets up the Superhuman Registration Act and Civil War.
Not much actually happens in New Avengers: Illuminati. It's all set up and weird fighting. I can't stand these characters when they question 'Who put you in charge' or 'Who says you can just do that?' when that's all they ever do. All of these characters simply decided that they're qualified to do as they like and have been doing as such for years. To pretend otherwise is wrong.
I like the idea of the Illuminati group. It makes sense. I don't think Bendis ever uses it in a way that works, but the idea is sound.
Alex Maleev is a goddamn good artist.
The other issues included in this trade are written by J. Michael Straczynski and the Fantastic Four ones are red herrings, supposedly building up the return of Thor in Civil War, but that's Clor... so their inclusion here is somewhat insulting. They're not very good either.
The Amazing Spider-Man issues work better as they cement the Peter/Tony friendship more and also deal with the creation of the SHRA in a larger way. They also reveal Stark as a corrupt jackass... and that US senators are assholes. This also isn't that great.
If this is The Road to Civil War, Civil War better be good. We'll see in 60 minutes, because I want to stop and talk about Bendis's New Avengers until this point in 30.
[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 13: The Pulse: Fear
[Discussed in this post: The Pulse #11-14 and New Avengers Annual #1.]
The issues of The Pulse collected here at the best issues of that series. Bendis really brings his A-game to issue 11-14, which chronicle the birth of Luke and Jessica's baby, Luke asking Jessica to marry him, and the unknown story of D-Man. Bendis is joined by Alias collaborator Michael Gaydos, which is very appropriate since this is the end of The Pulse (it mutated into Frontline: Civil War or Civil War: Frontline, whatever), so no more Jessica Jones solo book.
I'll begin with the D-Man plot since the other stuff leads right into the New Avengers annual. There are probably some who hated this story as it turned the normally goofy-yet-heroic D-Man into a sadder version of himself, portraying him as mentally unstable and not as heroic. Except he is as heroic. Ben Urich investigates a few prevented robberies that Daredevil apparently stopped -- in his old costume. He eventually figures out that it's D-Man (as Kat Farrel tells him: Daredevil costume with a Wolverine hat) and also learns that a few of jewelery stores noticed, after the robbery, that some items were missing -- is D-Man preventing robberies only to steal himself?
Urich eventually discovers where D-Man enters/exits the sewers and goes down, and meets D-Man who is a big Daredevil fan and thinks that the jewels he took from the stores are Infinity Gems. He's on a quest, you see, to gather them and save the world. This is a man who could have been a great Avengers (well, 'great' being optional) and chose to be a superhero for the homeless, now mentally ill but still doing his best to save the world. Ben writes the story and it ends with Daredevil coming down to the sewers to tell D-Man his quest is over and to take him to get the help he needs. Man, when Daredevil shows up, I always get a little lump in my throat...
I understand people who would argue that Bendis ruins D-Man somehow, but something Bendis does very well at times is show just how dangerous being a superhero could be -- and the result of it. D-Man chooses to be a superhero for the homeless and pays the price through his mental balance. He's a victim of his heroism and gets the help he needs. Besides, it's the best use of D-Man... ever.
The main story has Jessica, first, freaking out over having the baby, so Carol sets up a lunch with Susan Richards. That's okay... it's got some of Bendis's wonky dialogue (which I'll probably discuss in a post all it's own at some point). The actual birth stuff is handled very well. The hospital is worried about the effects of a superhuman giving birth, Jessica is freaking because she's having the baby, and Luke Cage will not be stopped from seeing his child being born -- first, he's stranded while Carol flies Jessica to the hospital and then has to jump to catch the Quinjet. Luke Cage is the motherfucking man. Jessica gives birth at Dr. Strange's house and there's a lot of media -- one of the deals Jessica made when she took the job at The Daily Bugle was to give them exclusive access, but after Jameson lying about giving the team fair coverage in issue 15 of New Avengers, she tells him to go fuck himself. The baby is born and Luke Cage proposes.
All of that is done with skill and the right amount of frantic, excited energy. It's kind of goofy and wacky, but the right kind. It's exactly how a superhuman birth should be handled.
Issue 14 of The Pulse has Jessica considering Luke's proposal and has a flashback to her final attempt at being a superhero before giving it up. She helps take down the Owl with Power Man and Iron Fist (more accurately, they help her) and, after, a couple of kids are left since their dad was a criminal and brought them to see the supervillain. Instead of leaving the kids to spend the night at a police station, Jessica takes off her mask, reveals her identity, and takes the kids for one last night of normal living before things go bad. Luke shows up and they have a little moment. The issue ends with her deciding to accept Luke proposal.
These issues are, as I said, illustrates by Michael Gaydos and he does an amazing job. The man can draw people without being a hyper-realist sort of artist. His style is heavy on blacks and thick lines and it's just so damn good. He and Bendis do fantastic work together every time they work together. The best New Avengers issues are the ones that Michael Gaydos draws... all two of them.
The New Avengers annual is mostly just the team fighting the new Super-Adaptoid, the Black Widow II after Jessica accepts Luke's proposal and before the actual marriage ceremony. One big fight scene that's okay. Nothing special. A little long.
The wedding itself is fine. Stan Lee performs the ceremony, which would work if he had anything to do with either of these characters, but he doesn't. Has Stan Lee ever written Luke Cage even? It just feels hollow and forced.
Olivier Coipel does much weaker work here than he did in House of M. He uses a much more manga-influenced style that has energy, but the characters don't quite look like themselves. It's a little disappointing after House of M was so strong.
And so ends New Avengers pre-Civil War, because we're on The Road to Civil War in 30 minutes.
[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.]
The issues of The Pulse collected here at the best issues of that series. Bendis really brings his A-game to issue 11-14, which chronicle the birth of Luke and Jessica's baby, Luke asking Jessica to marry him, and the unknown story of D-Man. Bendis is joined by Alias collaborator Michael Gaydos, which is very appropriate since this is the end of The Pulse (it mutated into Frontline: Civil War or Civil War: Frontline, whatever), so no more Jessica Jones solo book.
I'll begin with the D-Man plot since the other stuff leads right into the New Avengers annual. There are probably some who hated this story as it turned the normally goofy-yet-heroic D-Man into a sadder version of himself, portraying him as mentally unstable and not as heroic. Except he is as heroic. Ben Urich investigates a few prevented robberies that Daredevil apparently stopped -- in his old costume. He eventually figures out that it's D-Man (as Kat Farrel tells him: Daredevil costume with a Wolverine hat) and also learns that a few of jewelery stores noticed, after the robbery, that some items were missing -- is D-Man preventing robberies only to steal himself?
Urich eventually discovers where D-Man enters/exits the sewers and goes down, and meets D-Man who is a big Daredevil fan and thinks that the jewels he took from the stores are Infinity Gems. He's on a quest, you see, to gather them and save the world. This is a man who could have been a great Avengers (well, 'great' being optional) and chose to be a superhero for the homeless, now mentally ill but still doing his best to save the world. Ben writes the story and it ends with Daredevil coming down to the sewers to tell D-Man his quest is over and to take him to get the help he needs. Man, when Daredevil shows up, I always get a little lump in my throat...
I understand people who would argue that Bendis ruins D-Man somehow, but something Bendis does very well at times is show just how dangerous being a superhero could be -- and the result of it. D-Man chooses to be a superhero for the homeless and pays the price through his mental balance. He's a victim of his heroism and gets the help he needs. Besides, it's the best use of D-Man... ever.
The main story has Jessica, first, freaking out over having the baby, so Carol sets up a lunch with Susan Richards. That's okay... it's got some of Bendis's wonky dialogue (which I'll probably discuss in a post all it's own at some point). The actual birth stuff is handled very well. The hospital is worried about the effects of a superhuman giving birth, Jessica is freaking because she's having the baby, and Luke Cage will not be stopped from seeing his child being born -- first, he's stranded while Carol flies Jessica to the hospital and then has to jump to catch the Quinjet. Luke Cage is the motherfucking man. Jessica gives birth at Dr. Strange's house and there's a lot of media -- one of the deals Jessica made when she took the job at The Daily Bugle was to give them exclusive access, but after Jameson lying about giving the team fair coverage in issue 15 of New Avengers, she tells him to go fuck himself. The baby is born and Luke Cage proposes.
All of that is done with skill and the right amount of frantic, excited energy. It's kind of goofy and wacky, but the right kind. It's exactly how a superhuman birth should be handled.
Issue 14 of The Pulse has Jessica considering Luke's proposal and has a flashback to her final attempt at being a superhero before giving it up. She helps take down the Owl with Power Man and Iron Fist (more accurately, they help her) and, after, a couple of kids are left since their dad was a criminal and brought them to see the supervillain. Instead of leaving the kids to spend the night at a police station, Jessica takes off her mask, reveals her identity, and takes the kids for one last night of normal living before things go bad. Luke shows up and they have a little moment. The issue ends with her deciding to accept Luke proposal.
These issues are, as I said, illustrates by Michael Gaydos and he does an amazing job. The man can draw people without being a hyper-realist sort of artist. His style is heavy on blacks and thick lines and it's just so damn good. He and Bendis do fantastic work together every time they work together. The best New Avengers issues are the ones that Michael Gaydos draws... all two of them.
The New Avengers annual is mostly just the team fighting the new Super-Adaptoid, the Black Widow II after Jessica accepts Luke's proposal and before the actual marriage ceremony. One big fight scene that's okay. Nothing special. A little long.
The wedding itself is fine. Stan Lee performs the ceremony, which would work if he had anything to do with either of these characters, but he doesn't. Has Stan Lee ever written Luke Cage even? It just feels hollow and forced.
Olivier Coipel does much weaker work here than he did in House of M. He uses a much more manga-influenced style that has energy, but the characters don't quite look like themselves. It's a little disappointing after House of M was so strong.
And so ends New Avengers pre-Civil War, because we're on The Road to Civil War in 30 minutes.
[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 12: New Avengers: The Collective
[Discussed in this post: New Avengers #16-20.]
We're fast approaching the end of the pre-Civil War New Avengers run and all of a week has passed. It was during my reading of this arc that I realised that. Decompressed storytelling in action, folks. A GODDAMN WEEK HAS PASSED!
This story is what it is... a long fight with a naked guy that's fallout from House of M. Steve McNiven draws the first issue, half of which is splash pages. Seriously, the first eight pages are splashes for no good reason except that THESE EVENTS ARE BIG TIME SERIOUS, GUYS! PAY ATTENTION!
Basically, the collective energy of every mutant that Wanda wished away is drawn to a guy named Michael who is a postman in Alaska. It destroys his home town and possesses him, causing him to gain all of those powers and go running across Canada (where he slaughters Alpha Flight in seconds) and the US and fight in space until eventually he settles in Genosha where it's revealed that it's actually Xorn in control somehow. Oh yeah, Magneto is writing a book in Genosha and he apparently dies at the end of this story.
It's really a big, long fight scene. There are a couple of interesting parts. The Avengers going to Detroit and 'policing' a bad neighbourhood to try and clean things up? Fantastic. Bendis does more great Luke Cage stuff here. Luke would be the sort of Avengers that would demand the group do more -- and I really like that no one argues with the idea. No one says it's a waste of their time or beneath them, they just do it because it's a great idea.
The tensions between SHIELD and the group are amped up here, which I'm not sure works with the way that Iron Man and Spider-Man will work with SHIELD during Civil War. Spider-Man, in particular, gets arrested, unmasked, and his mind invaded by a telepath. I think he would have some issues with SHIELD after this.
The Sentry joins the action and we get to see him hit a lot of stuff. That Peter Parker is the only one who can figure out what the Collective is after they see all of the energy matches is weird. Isn't SHIELD aware of the depowered mutants?
This is a rather weak story, honestly, not helped by its drawn-out nature. Now, Michael receiving the energy because that's his new power and then going crazy from all of the power would have worked, but the Xorn connection takes it too far.
McNiven's art is what it is and I won't badmouth it since he's obvious talented, just not to my taste. Mike Deodato's work here is some of his weaker stuff. He isn't doing his best work, it looks rushed, and not complete. That helps this arc sink a bit lower in quality since it's frustrating to see such shoddy work from an otherwise talented artist.
In the content/promise of content department, I'll call this one a wash since there's not much content, but not much 'come back next time' crap either.
Now, the brutal slaughter of Alpha Flight? That is cheap. This guy kills them in two seconds and yet doesn't kill a single Avenger? That's not good writing and the worthless sacrifice of characters for no reason other than an "Oh wow cool awesome!" moment.
New Avengers wraps up its pre-Civil War status in 30 minutes with The Pulse: Fear, which contains New Avengers Annual #1, for anyone who was about to say I'm lying.
[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.]
We're fast approaching the end of the pre-Civil War New Avengers run and all of a week has passed. It was during my reading of this arc that I realised that. Decompressed storytelling in action, folks. A GODDAMN WEEK HAS PASSED!
This story is what it is... a long fight with a naked guy that's fallout from House of M. Steve McNiven draws the first issue, half of which is splash pages. Seriously, the first eight pages are splashes for no good reason except that THESE EVENTS ARE BIG TIME SERIOUS, GUYS! PAY ATTENTION!
Basically, the collective energy of every mutant that Wanda wished away is drawn to a guy named Michael who is a postman in Alaska. It destroys his home town and possesses him, causing him to gain all of those powers and go running across Canada (where he slaughters Alpha Flight in seconds) and the US and fight in space until eventually he settles in Genosha where it's revealed that it's actually Xorn in control somehow. Oh yeah, Magneto is writing a book in Genosha and he apparently dies at the end of this story.
It's really a big, long fight scene. There are a couple of interesting parts. The Avengers going to Detroit and 'policing' a bad neighbourhood to try and clean things up? Fantastic. Bendis does more great Luke Cage stuff here. Luke would be the sort of Avengers that would demand the group do more -- and I really like that no one argues with the idea. No one says it's a waste of their time or beneath them, they just do it because it's a great idea.
The tensions between SHIELD and the group are amped up here, which I'm not sure works with the way that Iron Man and Spider-Man will work with SHIELD during Civil War. Spider-Man, in particular, gets arrested, unmasked, and his mind invaded by a telepath. I think he would have some issues with SHIELD after this.
The Sentry joins the action and we get to see him hit a lot of stuff. That Peter Parker is the only one who can figure out what the Collective is after they see all of the energy matches is weird. Isn't SHIELD aware of the depowered mutants?
This is a rather weak story, honestly, not helped by its drawn-out nature. Now, Michael receiving the energy because that's his new power and then going crazy from all of the power would have worked, but the Xorn connection takes it too far.
McNiven's art is what it is and I won't badmouth it since he's obvious talented, just not to my taste. Mike Deodato's work here is some of his weaker stuff. He isn't doing his best work, it looks rushed, and not complete. That helps this arc sink a bit lower in quality since it's frustrating to see such shoddy work from an otherwise talented artist.
In the content/promise of content department, I'll call this one a wash since there's not much content, but not much 'come back next time' crap either.
Now, the brutal slaughter of Alpha Flight? That is cheap. This guy kills them in two seconds and yet doesn't kill a single Avenger? That's not good writing and the worthless sacrifice of characters for no reason other than an "Oh wow cool awesome!" moment.
New Avengers wraps up its pre-Civil War status in 30 minutes with The Pulse: Fear, which contains New Avengers Annual #1, for anyone who was about to say I'm lying.
[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 11: House of M
[Discussed in this issue: House of M #1-8.]
Bendis writes an event book. It's an Avengers-centric event that spins out of Avengers Disassembled, so it only makes sense that Bendis would write this. The only other writer who tackled the material is Chris Claremont in Excalibur and I think we all know that he's not writing a big Marvel event book anytime soon.
House of M suffers from having a clear beginning and clear ending with nothing in between beyond 'Hey, look, alternate reality fun!' Now, you can carry your story a long way on alternate reality fun. I love alternate reality fun, but not for eight issues. House of M works at, oh, let's say four issues. If this was a four-issue New Avengers story, it would be pretty good. As an eight-issue Marvel event, it's a failure.
There simply isn't enough meat to this story. The Avengers and X-Men get together to discuss the problem of Wanda: she's too powerful and too crazy to allow to live. Some agree, others disagree, but they figure they'll go to Genosha and talk it out. There, the world goes white and everything it different. Mutants are dominant and most of the heroes here are leading happier, more fulfilling lives. Wolverine remembers the truth, though, and freaks out. There's also a mutant named Layla Miller who remembers the truth and can cause others to remember, so they gather up a posse, attack Genosha and Wanda says "No more mutants," putting the world back to normal except for there only being 198 mutants left.
Notice that issues 2-7 are all summed up in three lines? Not enough damn meat to the story! Looking back, I can't remember how Bendis and Olivier Coipel filled those issues. I'm sure the second issue was all "This is how it is now," but the rest?
In that way, House of M is Bendis's first real failure in the content/promise of content ratio. There isn't a lot of content, but the promise of the new mutantless status quo looms big. It seems like the entire event happened just to get to that point with little rhyme or reason. It ends almost on that "Okay, so this wasn't that great, we know, but keep reading, because now it's interesting!" note.
This also shows his habit of leaving the final chapter of a story to act as epilogue completely as happens here. The big climax is "No more mutants," and that happens at the end of issue seven. Issue eight is all reaction -- Secret Invasion repeats this. I actually like that since it's an attempt to avoid the 'Now keep reading for it to be good!' feeling, but it doesn't quite work.
Olivier Coipel does some nice work here. I like Coipel -- he's just about the only one of this crop of 'Young Guns' whose work I dig. He designs a whole new Marvel universe and isn't afraid to keep things the same if there's no call for change. His style is really dynamic. I think his work suffers under Frank D'Armata's colours at times in this series. Layla Miller using her powers is just ugly because of the colouring. Otherwise, this is a great looking comic.
Bendis nails some characters here, I will admit. Peter Parker's reactions are all 100% spot-on. Absolutely perfect. Same with Wolverine. Bendis can do some great character stuff.
I'm still not sure how they made Charles Xavier help them -- did Wanda use her powers to control him? What? That's never really explained.
In 30 minutes: New Avengers: The Collective.
[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.]
Bendis writes an event book. It's an Avengers-centric event that spins out of Avengers Disassembled, so it only makes sense that Bendis would write this. The only other writer who tackled the material is Chris Claremont in Excalibur and I think we all know that he's not writing a big Marvel event book anytime soon.
House of M suffers from having a clear beginning and clear ending with nothing in between beyond 'Hey, look, alternate reality fun!' Now, you can carry your story a long way on alternate reality fun. I love alternate reality fun, but not for eight issues. House of M works at, oh, let's say four issues. If this was a four-issue New Avengers story, it would be pretty good. As an eight-issue Marvel event, it's a failure.
There simply isn't enough meat to this story. The Avengers and X-Men get together to discuss the problem of Wanda: she's too powerful and too crazy to allow to live. Some agree, others disagree, but they figure they'll go to Genosha and talk it out. There, the world goes white and everything it different. Mutants are dominant and most of the heroes here are leading happier, more fulfilling lives. Wolverine remembers the truth, though, and freaks out. There's also a mutant named Layla Miller who remembers the truth and can cause others to remember, so they gather up a posse, attack Genosha and Wanda says "No more mutants," putting the world back to normal except for there only being 198 mutants left.
Notice that issues 2-7 are all summed up in three lines? Not enough damn meat to the story! Looking back, I can't remember how Bendis and Olivier Coipel filled those issues. I'm sure the second issue was all "This is how it is now," but the rest?
In that way, House of M is Bendis's first real failure in the content/promise of content ratio. There isn't a lot of content, but the promise of the new mutantless status quo looms big. It seems like the entire event happened just to get to that point with little rhyme or reason. It ends almost on that "Okay, so this wasn't that great, we know, but keep reading, because now it's interesting!" note.
This also shows his habit of leaving the final chapter of a story to act as epilogue completely as happens here. The big climax is "No more mutants," and that happens at the end of issue seven. Issue eight is all reaction -- Secret Invasion repeats this. I actually like that since it's an attempt to avoid the 'Now keep reading for it to be good!' feeling, but it doesn't quite work.
Olivier Coipel does some nice work here. I like Coipel -- he's just about the only one of this crop of 'Young Guns' whose work I dig. He designs a whole new Marvel universe and isn't afraid to keep things the same if there's no call for change. His style is really dynamic. I think his work suffers under Frank D'Armata's colours at times in this series. Layla Miller using her powers is just ugly because of the colouring. Otherwise, this is a great looking comic.
Bendis nails some characters here, I will admit. Peter Parker's reactions are all 100% spot-on. Absolutely perfect. Same with Wolverine. Bendis can do some great character stuff.
I'm still not sure how they made Charles Xavier help them -- did Wanda use her powers to control him? What? That's never really explained.
In 30 minutes: New Avengers: The Collective.
[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 10: New Avengers: Secrets & Lies
[Discussed in this post: New Avengers #11-15 and a story from Giant-Sized Spider-Woman #1.]
There are three stories in this trade/set of issues and I'll tackle them one at a time.
The first is "Ronin" where the identity of Ronin is finally revealed. Except, if you've just been reading the issue, you'd have no idea that there was anyone named Ronin around anywhere. See, this is why you don't announce the line-up first and then introduce them. The whole controversy where Ronin turns out to be Echo instead of Daredevil, which people assume is a swerve because Bendis didn't like everyone online figuring out the secret, is totally stupid and Marvel/Bendis's fault. They created a needless mystery that wouldn't be 'solved'/actually intoduced in the comics until issue 11 at the earliest and then the title suffered massive delays and... oh well who cares.
Ronin is Echo, sent by Captain America to Japan to take down the Clan Yashida and the Hand, which are vulnerable. This is at Daredevil's suggestion, because he doesn't want the gig. Daredevil would have made sense, but, in-story, Echo works just as good. The actual story where the Avengers go to Tokyo and get sucked in is fine enough. They fight ninjas and we get another hint that Spider-Woman may be a traitor as she has a discussion with Viper/almost kills Captain America to let Viper escape.
It's a nice little story. Finch returns to do the art. I have no real complaints, but no real praise either.
The Spider-Woman plot is an interesting one: she is a triple agent working for SHIELD while working for Hydra and the Avengers, all under the direction of Nick Fury. Again, not a lot here once you get the actual revelations. Her story is sad and full of pathos and ends with a revelation that *GASP!* she's actually betraying them all, even Nick Fury.
Spider-Woman's stuff introduces the idea of trust into the book, something Bendis will return to a lot, especially in the lead-up to Secret Invasion.
Rick Mays illustrates the story from Giant-Sized Spider-Woman #1 that adds nothing, because it's recapped in New Avengers #14 with art by Frank Cho, who is better. Cho is probably the best artist to work on the title by this point. Very good stuff. I love Cho's art.
Issue 15 spotlights Ms. Marvel and takes place post-House of M, which happened somewhere in all of this. I don't know where. It also has the New Avengers revealing themselves officially to the public. It's at this point that we realise that we're on issue 15 and only, like, three days have gone by. Actually, you'll notice that pre-Civil War, this team of Avengers only exists for... oh, two weeks. The insanely compressed time is very odd.
Ms. Marvel narrates this issue via blog posts that begin and end every page and offer no real idea of how anyone would blog. I get whay Bendis is going for, but it doesn't work. He does some good character work with her, though. She saw her full potential during House of M and wants to reach it before rejoining the Avengers.
There's also a bit where Stark makes a deal with J. Jonah Jameson ahead of time for favourable coverage in exchange for exclusive access to the group. Jameson even shakes Spider-Man's hand... and then slams the group in the press. Fuck J. Jonah Jameson. Fuck him right in the ear.
The page the new team introduces itself (minus Wolverine who opts out) is great as guys like Luke Cage and Spider-Man finally get some big time recognition for their acts of heroism.
Frank Cho, again, does a stellar job.
In the content/promise of content area, this trade/set of issues does a decent job. A kind of lacklustre "Ronin" story sets up two character-based issues that tell good stories. All that's set up is Spider-Woman's possible betrayal in the future and that there's a new Avengers team.
In 30 minutes: House of M.
[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.]
There are three stories in this trade/set of issues and I'll tackle them one at a time.
The first is "Ronin" where the identity of Ronin is finally revealed. Except, if you've just been reading the issue, you'd have no idea that there was anyone named Ronin around anywhere. See, this is why you don't announce the line-up first and then introduce them. The whole controversy where Ronin turns out to be Echo instead of Daredevil, which people assume is a swerve because Bendis didn't like everyone online figuring out the secret, is totally stupid and Marvel/Bendis's fault. They created a needless mystery that wouldn't be 'solved'/actually intoduced in the comics until issue 11 at the earliest and then the title suffered massive delays and... oh well who cares.
Ronin is Echo, sent by Captain America to Japan to take down the Clan Yashida and the Hand, which are vulnerable. This is at Daredevil's suggestion, because he doesn't want the gig. Daredevil would have made sense, but, in-story, Echo works just as good. The actual story where the Avengers go to Tokyo and get sucked in is fine enough. They fight ninjas and we get another hint that Spider-Woman may be a traitor as she has a discussion with Viper/almost kills Captain America to let Viper escape.
It's a nice little story. Finch returns to do the art. I have no real complaints, but no real praise either.
The Spider-Woman plot is an interesting one: she is a triple agent working for SHIELD while working for Hydra and the Avengers, all under the direction of Nick Fury. Again, not a lot here once you get the actual revelations. Her story is sad and full of pathos and ends with a revelation that *GASP!* she's actually betraying them all, even Nick Fury.
Spider-Woman's stuff introduces the idea of trust into the book, something Bendis will return to a lot, especially in the lead-up to Secret Invasion.
Rick Mays illustrates the story from Giant-Sized Spider-Woman #1 that adds nothing, because it's recapped in New Avengers #14 with art by Frank Cho, who is better. Cho is probably the best artist to work on the title by this point. Very good stuff. I love Cho's art.
Issue 15 spotlights Ms. Marvel and takes place post-House of M, which happened somewhere in all of this. I don't know where. It also has the New Avengers revealing themselves officially to the public. It's at this point that we realise that we're on issue 15 and only, like, three days have gone by. Actually, you'll notice that pre-Civil War, this team of Avengers only exists for... oh, two weeks. The insanely compressed time is very odd.
Ms. Marvel narrates this issue via blog posts that begin and end every page and offer no real idea of how anyone would blog. I get whay Bendis is going for, but it doesn't work. He does some good character work with her, though. She saw her full potential during House of M and wants to reach it before rejoining the Avengers.
There's also a bit where Stark makes a deal with J. Jonah Jameson ahead of time for favourable coverage in exchange for exclusive access to the group. Jameson even shakes Spider-Man's hand... and then slams the group in the press. Fuck J. Jonah Jameson. Fuck him right in the ear.
The page the new team introduces itself (minus Wolverine who opts out) is great as guys like Luke Cage and Spider-Man finally get some big time recognition for their acts of heroism.
Frank Cho, again, does a stellar job.
In the content/promise of content area, this trade/set of issues does a decent job. A kind of lacklustre "Ronin" story sets up two character-based issues that tell good stories. All that's set up is Spider-Woman's possible betrayal in the future and that there's a new Avengers team.
In 30 minutes: House of M.
[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 09: The Sentry: Reborn: #1-8
[Discussed in this post: The Sentry: Reborn #1-8.]
This series is an absolute trainwreck failure on every level except for the art, which is done by John Romita, Jr. -- and his talents are put to waste.
The entire series leads up to a revelation about the true nature of the Sentry and here it is: the formula that Bob Reynolds took trying to get high would have worked on anyone. It wasn't a unique, one-in-six-billion accident where it somehow combined with his cellular structure to produce the Sentry. Wow. Big frickin' deal.
Beyond that, the General is made to look a joke and quickly killed, eliminating the one good thing about Bendis's story reintroducing the Sentry. Nice job there, Jenkins.
Um... the Sentry and the Void are possibly separated, but not really, and the Sentry throws the Void into the sun, but that doesn't last since we've seen the Void at least three times since.
This series has no purpose. It really doesn't. Sorry for the short blog post, but I can't muster up anything else to say.
In 30 minutes: New Avengers: Secrets & Lies.
[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.]
This series is an absolute trainwreck failure on every level except for the art, which is done by John Romita, Jr. -- and his talents are put to waste.
The entire series leads up to a revelation about the true nature of the Sentry and here it is: the formula that Bob Reynolds took trying to get high would have worked on anyone. It wasn't a unique, one-in-six-billion accident where it somehow combined with his cellular structure to produce the Sentry. Wow. Big frickin' deal.
Beyond that, the General is made to look a joke and quickly killed, eliminating the one good thing about Bendis's story reintroducing the Sentry. Nice job there, Jenkins.
Um... the Sentry and the Void are possibly separated, but not really, and the Sentry throws the Void into the sun, but that doesn't last since we've seen the Void at least three times since.
This series has no purpose. It really doesn't. Sorry for the short blog post, but I can't muster up anything else to say.
In 30 minutes: New Avengers: Secrets & Lies.
[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 08: New Avengers: The Sentry
[Discussed in this post: New Avengers #7-10.]
First off, thanks to Robot 6 for giving the blogathon a little promotion. Now, back to the comics...
So, Bendis brings the Sentry back. In Breakout, he's in the Raft for killing his wife. Since then, he's been hiding out in a cave where Iron Man and Captain America find him -- and inform him that his wife, Lindy, is alive and the Sentry isn't real, he's the creation of comic writer Paul Jenkins.
While I had high hopes for Bendis bringing back the Sentry, he falls down here. It is just brutal how much he screws this up through worthless, bullshit changes that don't add anything. Bendis has a habit of bringing back unused characters or ideas and changing them for the hell of it. He reminds me of movie studios who option a book and then change it so completely that you wonder why they bothered with the original.
The inclusion of Paul Jenkins here goes nowhere and adds nothing. It's a needless little stunt that tries to play into the way that the Sentry disappeared/was forgotten, but never quite does anything.
Eventually, Bob is suddenly home and finds all of the heroes outside. Then, the Void attacks and Emma Frost goes into his head to solve things. This is all very well and good, but, during the course of this, we get a revelation: the Sentry didn't make the world forget him on purpose, his mind was altered by the Mastermind at the command of an old enemy, the General to do so. So, I guess, the Void and all of that is a result of them? Except the Sentry's own powers -- coming from him -- make the world forget? It really changes what Jenkins originally wrote and for no good reason. The situation is unchanged, but the reasons behind it are... but they don't make it a better story in any way. All it does it make it so the heroes don't make the world forget the Sentry again, which is kind of lame. Bendis needed to find a way for the Sentry to remain an existing character... but he doesn't.
The Void is still a threat. The Sentry is still mentally ill. Why wouldn't they get him to go away again? It also lessens the idea that so much power would harm a person mentally, which was a big part of the Sentry to this point. Now, he's just a victim of a little punk like the Mastermind? And constantly referring to the Mastermind as a little punk as they do doesn't help -- why can't Emma undo the damage?
I like the idea of the General being a badass villain who gets rid of his arch-enemy and is satisfied, at the time, knowing that he did so even if he won't remember later.
During the beginning of the arc, the Avengers take on the Wrecker and it's an entertaining fight. We're also introduced to Edward Gross, a collector of superpeople items... he had the Wrecker's crowbar. The fight is good and shows off the team (minus Cap and Iron Man) working together well.
Steve McNiven does the art here and I'm not a fan. His people look like their skin is made of plastic. They don't look right. But, he does do some very pretty pages. It's really he's just not to my taste and I accept (and see why) others liking him.
A couple of other things:
* The Sentry's 'fate' element to the team is cemented when it's revealed that the new Avengers Tower is really the Sentry's Tower!
* The Illuminati appear here for the first time. And Tony Stark lies to them about the Savage Land.
* On the content/promise of content, this story is pretty content packed without much 'stay tuned for something better next time' crap.
The Sentry coming back also raises a lot of questions... few that are answered, sadly. Not even in the book I'll be discussing in 30 minutes: The Sentry: Reborn, which has Jenkins return to the character and spend eight issues doing absolutely nothing.
[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.]
First off, thanks to Robot 6 for giving the blogathon a little promotion. Now, back to the comics...
So, Bendis brings the Sentry back. In Breakout, he's in the Raft for killing his wife. Since then, he's been hiding out in a cave where Iron Man and Captain America find him -- and inform him that his wife, Lindy, is alive and the Sentry isn't real, he's the creation of comic writer Paul Jenkins.
While I had high hopes for Bendis bringing back the Sentry, he falls down here. It is just brutal how much he screws this up through worthless, bullshit changes that don't add anything. Bendis has a habit of bringing back unused characters or ideas and changing them for the hell of it. He reminds me of movie studios who option a book and then change it so completely that you wonder why they bothered with the original.
The inclusion of Paul Jenkins here goes nowhere and adds nothing. It's a needless little stunt that tries to play into the way that the Sentry disappeared/was forgotten, but never quite does anything.
Eventually, Bob is suddenly home and finds all of the heroes outside. Then, the Void attacks and Emma Frost goes into his head to solve things. This is all very well and good, but, during the course of this, we get a revelation: the Sentry didn't make the world forget him on purpose, his mind was altered by the Mastermind at the command of an old enemy, the General to do so. So, I guess, the Void and all of that is a result of them? Except the Sentry's own powers -- coming from him -- make the world forget? It really changes what Jenkins originally wrote and for no good reason. The situation is unchanged, but the reasons behind it are... but they don't make it a better story in any way. All it does it make it so the heroes don't make the world forget the Sentry again, which is kind of lame. Bendis needed to find a way for the Sentry to remain an existing character... but he doesn't.
The Void is still a threat. The Sentry is still mentally ill. Why wouldn't they get him to go away again? It also lessens the idea that so much power would harm a person mentally, which was a big part of the Sentry to this point. Now, he's just a victim of a little punk like the Mastermind? And constantly referring to the Mastermind as a little punk as they do doesn't help -- why can't Emma undo the damage?
I like the idea of the General being a badass villain who gets rid of his arch-enemy and is satisfied, at the time, knowing that he did so even if he won't remember later.
During the beginning of the arc, the Avengers take on the Wrecker and it's an entertaining fight. We're also introduced to Edward Gross, a collector of superpeople items... he had the Wrecker's crowbar. The fight is good and shows off the team (minus Cap and Iron Man) working together well.
Steve McNiven does the art here and I'm not a fan. His people look like their skin is made of plastic. They don't look right. But, he does do some very pretty pages. It's really he's just not to my taste and I accept (and see why) others liking him.
A couple of other things:
* The Sentry's 'fate' element to the team is cemented when it's revealed that the new Avengers Tower is really the Sentry's Tower!
* The Illuminati appear here for the first time. And Tony Stark lies to them about the Savage Land.
* On the content/promise of content, this story is pretty content packed without much 'stay tuned for something better next time' crap.
The Sentry coming back also raises a lot of questions... few that are answered, sadly. Not even in the book I'll be discussing in 30 minutes: The Sentry: Reborn, which has Jenkins return to the character and spend eight issues doing absolutely nothing.
[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.]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
