A Special Comment on Marvel's Preview Books, by Matt

So, you know, I review these preview books all the time, right? Each week, I read through the envelope and give my pithy thoughts. Usually, these consist of "_______ was pretty good!" or "______ is on a down week, but I look forward to future issues," or "Wolverine Origins is just a terrible comic." But, see, here's the thing: who cares?

Not rhetorical: who actually cares? Once in a great while, I can do some good -- say something like, "Hey, that SKAAR book is better than it sounds," or "Holy crap, Guardians of the Galaxy is good even if you don't like Annihilation." That's a nice feeling, even if only six of you are reading this. Less frequently, I can warn you off some kind of horrid abomination, although usually it's just another issue of Wolverine Origins.

This week, though ... this week, Marvel really irritated me. Here's what we got in the preview pack, along with my incredibly terse (and always spoiler-free!) review:

• Amazing Spider-Man #564 - Fine. Not nearly as clever as it thinks it is, but fine.
• Avengers Invaders #3 - I find this unreadable, but those of you that are liking it will probably continue to do so.
• Cable #5 - Eh. It's ... readable. Fine. Inoffensive. Wraps up the storyline adequately.
• Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #41 - I'm not the fan of the Marvel Adventures books that some are, but this is decent enough. Does what it sets out to do, anyhow.
• Punisher War Journal #21 - My love of Matt Fraction is on frightening public display in my other posts here, and I've worked hard to sell his other awesome work (buy the THOR thing! It's TERRIFIC!) so I feel totally fine saying that this is, um, far from his best.
• Squadron Supreme 2 #1 - Continues Straczynski's work accurately in tone and pacing, which means that I want nothing to do with it. But that's a personal issue more than anything else. Supreme Power fans should be very happy.

Okay, so that's five perfectly adequate comics that may or may not please existing fans of the title/character/creator, plus a first issue that's pretty much a continuation of a recently cancelled title.

Meanwhile, here's what was NOT in the preview pack:

• Astonishing X-Men #25 - Because god forbid I be able to confidently recommend Warren Ellis's first issue, right?
• Patsy Walker Hellcat #1 - No doubt Marvel is so confident in the built-in Hellcat audience, there's no reason to let word get out if this thing is actually good or not. Yep, all eleven Hellcat fans nationwide are just LOCKED IN TO BUY.
• Secret Invasion Front Line #1 - The Front Line books have been frankly abominable for the last two big events, but they've put a new, more appealing creative team on this one ... so why not give retailers a chance to put the word out if it's better?

Look, seriously? What's the POINT of these preview packs? If it's just to give people like me a chance to read Cable a week early, well, fair enough. But it's an OPPORTUNITY, a chance for me -- and people like me around the country -- to tell our customers when there's something out there that they're not picking up. And, realistically, that's not going to be mid-storyline in Cable, Punisher War Journal, or anything else, even if those books were better than they actually are.

I dunno. Is anyone actually reading these things of mine? If so, does anyone find them helpful? Because this week's previews depressed the hell out of me, and it had nothing to do with the quality of the books involved.

Good night, and good luck.

Matt hurries through comics for 6/23

So I have, like, eleven billion other things to do, most of which I'm even being paid for, so of course I'm doing this to procrastinate. But I'm going to make it quick, though! In, out, comment, done, bam!

(I also previewed a bunch of this week's Marvel books a few days ago but can't be bothered finding the link. Scroll down a bit.)

Here we go!

۞ What If This Was The Fantastic Four: A Tribute To Mike Wieringo is a review-proof book, really, because what kind of jerk would complain about paying five bucks to donate to the HERO Initiative in honor of a really terrific artist...? Okay, fine. I'll do it: this isn't a great comic. Wieringo was one of my favorite superhero artists, he brought a real sense of fun to his work, and his death really is a tragic loss for the comic book community as well as his family and loved ones ... but this isn't his strongest work by any stretch, and it's in service of a Jeff Parker story that's ... well-intentioned, anyhow. The tributes in the book are genuinely moving, and I'm glad to have bought it for charity purposes, but as a comic book, it's really only so-so.

Annnnnnnnnnnd that's me going to hell, I suppose.

۞ No Hero #0 from Avatar is an interesting book, Warren Ellis hammering his particular vision of superheroes onto a Marshall McLuhan/Timothy Leary type. Could go either way, but ... did Black Summer ever finish? I don't remember an ending, but can't see Ryp and Ellis starting something new with that still uncompleted. Yes? No? No time for questions! Onward!

۞ Oh, look, it's eleven thousand Secret Invasion crossovers! Runaways/Young Avengers is actually really strong; it captures the voices of both teams, and has some strong artwork from Spidey Loves MJ mainstay Takeshi Miyazawa. New Avengers #42 and Mighty Avengers #15 are both Bendis showing us what's REALLY been going in his books, and they're good if you're into that sort of thing.

I'm kind of tired of Bendis feeling compelled to actually show me whole entire scenes again and again, because I know something slightly new now, but whatever. It's not like I have to pay for it again each time or anythin-- wait, I do? Oh, well THAT'S annoying.

۞ My Matt Fraction love continues unabated with his work on Young Avengers Presents #6: Hawkeye. (And, seriously, the last issue of a mid-selling miniseries is suddenly written by Matt Fraction and drawn by ALAN DAVIS?!? What the hell?) The double entendre on "god, he moves so fast" alone is worth the cover price on this one. Great stuff. Make Sheldon try to reorder it for you.

۞ I'm going to be honest about this, even though I hate reviewers who say this sort of lazy crap, but I literally fell asleep during 1985 #2. Just dozed right off. Not a reflection on the book, I don't think -- I really am juggling a whole bunch of stuff right now, and it's tiring -- but ... yeah, I'm not really qualified to say. I don't like the art very much, though, so there's that.

۞ Meanwhile, over in the DC books....

You know, cutting all the DC books that I haven't been liking really makes their output seem much stronger to me. Green Lantern #32 continues to be an excellent (if somewhat unnecessary, maybe) retelling of Hal Jordan's origin -- I'm really liking this run on GL through and through. Pity about Green Lantern Corps, but I think I've already covered that.

۞ And the big one: Final Crisis #2 I loved it. Just loved it. It feels less like a stupid, continuity-heavy crossover "event" and more like one of Grant Morrison's better efforts on JLA. (Also, I didn't read Countdown or any affiliated books once I realized how terrible they were, so I couldn't care less about the continuity hiccups, which might help.) Anyhow, yeah, good, packed issue with a real sense of menace for the heroes and some characteristically great throwaway ideas from Grant Morrison. (Bullet shot through time indeed.) This one seems to be getting better with each page, unlike the whell-spinning Secret Invasion on the other side of the store. I'm optimistic.

Okay, back to real work. Bye.

I take no solace in being right all of the time.

Firstly, man, Jeph Loeb is (expletive deleted) up. Just had to throw that out. Which brings me to the title of this week's post. It pertains to the identity of the red Hulk. And now they have finally made it even more obvious so I'm going to call it a win. Barring some left field red herring developments. Now, I, personally find this development to be obvious, banal and a slap in the face of years of characterization. And it may make logical sense given the Bruce Banner is a puss so he has the bottled up aggression angle vis a vis this character being a new age puss...you get the idea. Anyway, just thought I'd get that out there. As for Hulk #4 - The only redeeming parts are the first three pages. Also, I dig how they've chosen to totally get rid of the smarter WWH Hulk in favor of the classic "savage" Hulk. Sarcasm is harder on the internet sometimes. Not like my opinion matters on this one though. Oh, and McGuinness looks a tiny bit off of his game too. Which saddens me to no end. This leads to the next bit of mind scrubbing compliments of Mr. Loeb.

Ultimates 3#4 - This may have been the worst comic I've read in years. It's just silly. And it's got this whole Secret Invasion meets Ultron gimmick thing going on that is just...wow. It's all been leading up to this. Really? They're replacing everyone with robots. . It's just silly and uninspired. And what the hell does Magneto have to do with anything? Glad to see Joe Mad getting work though. Wish it was something less insipid. Like my opinion matters on this either. (begin rant) And does anyone in editorial bother to check up on what characters are where? Pyro in the Savage Land? Mastermind out of prison? And I'm PAYING TO READ THIS. That's right. This is not my job, but I can keep all of this inconsequential BS straight in my head. Is it that hard? Apparently so. (end rant)


Final Crisis #2 - Um, right. I'm so conflicted on this book. I guess my only real qualm with it is that I'm looking for the book to really gel into a cohesive thought. I mean it's not as all encompassing as Infinite Crisis, but it still seems a tad scattered to me. That's my only real qualm with the book. I'm also curious to see how the events within transition into the DCU proper. What with the shocking dearth of tie ins (comparatively). But, two points for Sunny Sumo when all is said and done.

Mighty Avengers #15 - The weakest of the Avengers tie ins this week in my opinion. I don't know there's nothing really wrong with the art or the characterization it's just that it took so long to get to the meat of the story, and frankly, the method of removal of Pym is pretty obvious from the get go. The one thing I will say is that the bit on the last page does raise an interesting question. Wholly, better than last issue.

New Avengers # 42 - It was alright. I'm a sucker for Jimmy Cheung so that helped. Okay, so this issue pretty much connects all of the dots since the beginning of New Avengers until House of M. It's neat stuff, but some of the dots should connect themselves given the prior information doled out in other recent issues of NA. There's nothing wrong with this book, and I guess some of the revelations are huge if you're not that great at ratiocination, I don't know. I am however really excited for next issue...because I'm curious about how they explain that one.

Avengers: Initiative # 14 - I was always a big "They Live" fan. That is probably going to influence my opinion of this book seeing as the main element in at least part of the SI tie in arc is centered around a pair of magic goggles that well...you've either seen the movie or not. And I also dug the Pym flashback moments so all in all I thought it was entertaining. Anyway, this is totally on par with the rest of the Initiative run so go get it. Now I've just got to wait for Mondo vs. Paydirt. Unless they're the same guy..?

Runaways/ Young Avengers: SI #1 - Better than the Cvil War crossover one in my book. Seems a little less forced given the established Skrull presence on both teams. And I dig the manga style so there you have it in a nutshell. As far as unnecessary tie ins go this one doesn't seem totally abhorrent.

Young Avengers Presents # 6 - Just as hug filled as the rest of this series, but less cloying given the input of Matt Fraction. Best of the run in my opinion. And with the incomparable Alan Davis on the pencils it's all the better. That's really all there is to it. An entirely entertaining confection. I hope they don't kill off Kate Bishop in SI...or make Clint Barton a skrull in SI. That'd be a pretty big dick move now that I think about it. Anyway, tangents aside, if you have to get one of the YA mini books it should be this one.

Fantastic Four # 558 - I'm sticking with it after the underwhelming, in my opinion, World's Greatest arc and I think that I may have made the right decision. I don't know this new arc seems to have some of the dimension hoping fun of Millar's tenure on Ultimate FF. And given the reveals towards the end of the issue well, my interest has been piqued. All in all I'd say it's a solid improvement. Part of my does think that the Invisible Woman in question is actually the nanny i.e. an older reality hopping Sue Storm.
Thunderbolts #121 - I'm kind of sad to see Ellis and Deodato leave the book. And the issue in question is overall a success with keeping the characterization, mean spiritedness and the violence all on the level I've come to expect. And yes, the resolution is a tad Deus Ex-Machina, but it's fitting in the pre established realm of character's and their proclivities. Also, it's comics I mean the Deus Ex-Machina is a pretty well respected trope. All in all thumbs up. Oh, and points for a young Edward Norton making an appearance in two Marvel properties in one month. (You'll know it when you see it.)

Immortal Iron Fist # 16 - Nooooooooooo!!!!! God, I hope the new team doesn't mess this one up. Pretty much, this one is a nice bookend for the run (one of the finest in recent years) and sets things up for what could be a rebirth of the classic Power Man and Iron Fist of yore, but with less dated writing...jive fool. Anyway, it's a great send off to Fraction and Aja, but god I'm going to miss them. Just as long as this doesn't degenerate to Cable quality when the regime change goes into effect next issue I'll be good.


Captain America # 39 - I don't think I have anything else to say about this book. I think it may actually be the most consistently high quality book in years. This issue is no different. Intrigue is mounting, tension keeps rolling and yeah. It's all good over here. My only question is how they're going to top this "Death of Cap" epic. I mean damn.

X-Men Legacy #213 - This is, currently, the best X-book on the shelves and it doesn't really lose any steam this month. Although, part of me has some qualms with the ending of the issue...at least Carrey is trying some new ideas that fit perfectly into the pre established X-Mythos. So, thumbs up and go buy it. Actually the only real fault I could find with the book is, as previously mentioned, you have to be up on your X-Men lore to really get the full effect. But I am, so it doesn't really matter.

Uncanny X-Men #499 - Is not the worst X-men book on the shelves these days (Young X-Men), but it's close. Anyway, this issue wraps up the SF/Russia arcs and sets it up for the big 500. And with Matt Fraction jumping on the book I only have high hopes for it getting up to the level of Legacy. Anyway, the issue itself just feels inconsequential. There's nothing terribly wrong with the art or characterization it's just not very interesting is all. Yeah, that about sums it up.

Ultimate Spider-Man #123 - Since the clone saga this book has been back on it's grind as the kids say. This issue is no different. Decent framing devices, a good glimpse at Ultimate Venom for newcomers and if I'm not mistaken it may incorporate some moments from the Ultimate Spider-Man video game from a few years ago. Overall, it's as solid as ever.

Trinity #4 - Why am I still reading this? I think that says it all.

Black Panther # 37 - I forgot that I hadn't been getting this one pulled for a couple months. And hey, much like some of the books on here it's consistent. Interpret that for yourselves.

Green Lantern #32 - Go buy it. I mean seriously, this is one of the best books in the DC super hero line.

Marvel 1985 #2 - It's a good read. Solid art, and a good pacing overall. Millar does know how to write the kids and write them he does. It's some decent rising action. I don't know it's issue two of six. That's about it for me. You can highlight the space after my FF review when everything is over to see if I called that one too. Or not. Is anybody out there? Oh, well. Take it easy internet.

Holy crap there are a lot of Marvel books this week - Matt pre-reviews for 6/23

There are a ton of books in the Marvel Preview Pack, an absolute TON -- and even more of them on the advance shipping list. It's a HUGE week, Marvel Fans, and a suprising number of the books (the ones I've read, anyhow) are really good. Anyhow, given the volume of books and the always SPOILER-FREE nature of these preview reviews, let's see how quickly we can knock these out.

۞ Uncanny X-Men #499 - Wraps up the SF story and the Russia story adequately, and clears the decks for an interesting run with the updated creative team. Perfectly sound.

۞ X-Men Legacy #213 - Very interesting twists here. I'm really growing to dig this storyline a lot.

۞ Runaways #30 is so late that I have no recollection what's happening, but I get the sense that I would really like it if I did. Stupid late books.... I'm NOT looking forward to the new creative team, though.

۞ Wolverine First Class #4 - Fun. Not my usual cuppa tea, but if you like this sort of thing (Kitty Pryde transformed into a cat warrior, for example), this is a well-executed version of it.

۞ Ultimate Spider-Man #123 - Not quite as appealing to me as last issue, but a suitably creepy introduction to this storyline, and one that has me at least a bit intrigued.

۞ Thor Reign of Blood One-Shot - This is the second of three linked Matt Fraction Thor one-shots, and, like the last one, this one is AWESOME. Captures the violent, sleazy tone of true myth and just goes to town with it.

۞ Captain America #39 - Consistent like the sun, taxes, and traffic. This is good stuff.

۞ Thunderbolts #121 - A lively but slightly rushed wrap-up to the Ellis run. Good, but I was hoping for something sublime.

۞ Fantastic Four #558 - Promising start to the new storyline, this feels like a much denser read than the last one. I hate the fuzzy panel edges, though. Not sure why that drives me so nuts, but it does.

۞ Immortal Iron Fist #16 - Snif. Matt Fraction bids goodbye to Iron Fist the way it deserves. Great stuff. I'll give the new creative team a shot, but they've got a lot to live up to. (And, if there are any other Fraction junkies out there, he's the writer on the Young Avengers Presents issue shipping this week also.)

۞ Wolverine Origins #26 - I'm predisposed to hate this book in general, but replacing the dependable Steve Dillon with a much lesser artist (think Lenil Yu + Mark Texiera + someone who has no clue how to layout a page) really takes it to alarming new lows.

Blah blah blah about 6/18 from Matt

Last week, I proudly declared that I was going to chop books to save money and then only found two books to get rid of. I can guarantee that number jumps by one this week, but let's see how we do.

۞ The book that's gone is Trinity. I know this is a bit strange, as I was just singing its praises last week, but I realized with issue #3 that I just kind of don't care. The art is painfully static, the writing more than adquate but still not particularly interesting, and the plot unremarkable. Ironically, I think the weekly scheduling is working against the book -- I'd pay three bucks a month for this, but 12 bucks every month? For 12 months? I'd rather buy Wii Fit, or Rock Band Wii, or a palette-load of diapers at Sam's Club. Sorry for misleading y'all before, but I'm done.

۞ Glad I got that off my chest. Now we can turn to ... hmmm ... yeah, let's do another negative one before we get happy. I'm done with Flash. My go-to line on the book has been that I'll buy anything with Freddie Williams II art, but, well looks like I was wrong about that. I really hope DC can figure out what to do with this title, though, because I loved the character back in the mid-90s.

۞ On to happier things! (Happier things which, perhaps not coincidentally, include NO futher DC books. Hmmmm.) Still loving the Incredible Hercules. Last week I called Captain Britain the best thing to come out of Secret Invasion, but the God Squad here is pretty entertaining as well. Hell, writers Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente also manage to do something vaguely interseting with Nightmare, that depressingly dull knock-off of Neil Gaiman's Sandman. (Down to the word balloons, no less. Good lord, Marvel. Have you no shame?) Nice last page twist, also.

۞ My goodness, but the cover for X-Factor #32 is ugly. And dull. I think we should have a word for that. Dugly? Ull? I'll work on it. Anyhow, yeah, ugly cover but some really nice interior art from Valentine De Landro, and Peter David manages to keep building on the story he's telling here -- he's done an incredibly good job of rolling with the various crossover punches and still letting his story feel organic. Good book, hideous cover -- feel free to send Glenn Fabry back to Vertigo where he fits in a bit better.

۞ Although I have an avowed fondness for Mark Millar's writing of young kids, he's pretty clearly at his best when he's A) working in his Big Dumb Action Story mode, and B) he doesn't need to rely on a bunch of other writers making his ideas make sense. (I think B is what really crippled Civil War at points; Millar wanted to write creepy, vaguely incenstuous dialogue for Johnny Storm and Sue Richards, and the Fantastic Four writers had actually read the characters before.)

ANYHOW, Wolverine #66 sets off Millar's big Future Wolverine In The Bad Marvel Future story, and it looks like it's going to hew pretty close to his strengths. Still plenty of time, as always, for Millar to give in to his more puerile impulses ("...and then in issue #69, the villain has sex with the corpse of Wolverine's children!" or something like that), but he's set himself off to a very strong start.

۞ My favorite book this week, though, was one that most people probably missed: Genius #1, from Top Cow. It's part of their Pilot Season thing, where they release a whole bunch of first issues into the wild with virtually no publicity, and everyone votes on what should become an actual series. (Where "everyone" equals "all seven people nationwide who are aware of the promotion," I guess.)

Genius is a pretty clever book, though -- the high concept seems to be "What if the 21st century's military genius were born into an L.A. gang, and used her military tactics to band the gangs together to declare war on the cops." It works much better than it sounds thre, and the art is stinkin' GORGEOUS, somewhere between cel-shaded animation and Adam Hughes. This Afua Richardson girl is going to be big at some point, I suspect. (Unless she becomes big for her music, which is not entirely impossible either. Good, big voice. God, I loathe talented people.)

Anyhow, all of you should pester Sheldon to order this for you (Diamond Order Code: APR082211, I believe), and then vote for it to become a series, and only then will I accept your gracious thanks.

۞ And I also bought the final trade of Y The Last Man to read, having remained remarkably unspoiled as to the ending. Hopefully I'll get to that today, but I'm pretty confident it'll be fabulous.

Ain't no party like my Nana's Tea Party: Paul flips through 6/18 books

This week was pretty light, just picking up a few random and unexciting books. What we get is:

Trinity #3 was not as good as #2 and I don't know if I can handle that let-down. The "Trinity", because this is a book that will star the three biggest DC characters, get about three pages of exposure in the weak lead. It reminded me of Secret Invasion #2 and 3, actually, where it was just people you didn't care about fighting. Then the back-up, which was decent last week, was boring as all get-out this week. Just a character who, I assume, will be important reading tarot cards and watching gang members get filleted. After last week, I didn't think I'd say this, but you get two more trys to turn this ship around.

Amazing Spider-Man #563 was another let-down after a strong issue last week. Still, good stuff. Fun, breezy, enjoyable entertainment. Mike McKone's art is still strong, but Bob Gale's writing is proving to be the weak link in the "Brain Trust"'s chain.

Ex Machina #37 was good. It's hard to talk about a book that's a long, continuing story like this because it defies normal jumping-on points. Though, I will say this: mayor's in New York City are elected for four years and we know Mayor Hundred will only last one term (it said so in issue 1). So how did Journal tell her sister something "years before she died" if Journal herself died a year after finding out that bit of information?

Ultimate Fantastic Four #55 is a very strange book. The story is okay, if underwhelming, and it seems to be heavily padded to have "gotcha" moments that lack punch. They might mean something if similar things happened in the "real" Marvel Universe (kill me now for writing that...), but in the Ultimate Universe, where Ultimate Namor (spoiler?) has appeared in a whopping three (bland) issues that failed to generate chemistry between him and Ultimate Invisible Woman, it just sits there. Plus the art is dreadful. I thought it reminded me of Top Cow house style, but I was wrong: with this issue's atrocious inking and coloring, it reminds me more of Awesome Comics, one of Rob Liefeld's publishers. Back in the 90s, guys like Chris Sprouse, Jeff Matsuda, Joe Madueira, Roger Cruz, and a whole bunch of others slummed it there and turned in stuff that looked, well, a lot like this issue: badly colored and trying to impersonate the great Rob Liefeld. And if you can imagine Ian Churchill aping Rob Liefeld with colors by Mack Yackey (assuming you know who all those people are), you get a good idea of what this book looks like: crap. Or Lionheart.

Wolverine #66 is a decent start to what I'm sure will be a decent run on Wolverine for Mark Millar and Steve McNiven. I liked it a lot: there were nice bits, it was dialogue heavy, especially for a Wolverine comic, and the characters dialogue was all surprisingly natural. One gripe: if, on page 1, you say that no one knows what happened to Wolverine, that he just vanished, you should not have every character in the issue know that Logan is Wolverine. Maybe have them NOT call him Wolverine every time they see him. Maybe have them call him "Logan" once or twice. But, no, instead we get everyone from next door neighbors to gamma-irradiated thugs calling him Wolverine and reminding us (because we're reading a Wolverine comic, so we may not know who he is?) that he used to be a bad-ass. But if you skip the first three pages, it's really good. Oh, and the back cover.

Finally, The Spirit #18, well, landed with a loud thud this week and, finally, I figured out the problem here: Mark Evanier used to write Scooby Doo. And when he was told to co-write Spirit, he just picked up a few old Scooby Doo scripts, hit find and replace, and turned them in. Because the last five issues have all read like Scooby Doo episodes: lame twists, globe-trotting, talking dogs. Actually, that last bit would make these loads more enjoyable. As it is, we get a series of half-baked adventures that so little but remind you how great Darwyn Cooke was at capturing the essence (spirit?) of the Spirit. In conclusion, don't read this. Actually, if you thought to yourself, "I like Scooby Doo, but I wish it had more fighting and murder and double entendre's and a main character who is a complete and utter tool", then brother this is the book for you! Otherwise, terrible, terrible stuff.

So, I like, what, three of the six books I read this week? Nice. I'm as bad as Matt.

I don't even know any more.

The book that caused my feelings of unease and self doubt is Ultimate X-men. It started out really kick ass when Mark Millar, author of Kick-Ass, was working on it. And it was still good when Bendis was working on it. And then there was Vaughn, who had some ideas that I didn't gel with at the time, but in retrospect were pretty inspired for an Ultimate book. And then there was Robert Kirkman who should frankly only write his own creator owned books and Marvel Team-Up. (Ant-man was alright, but more so salacious than irredeemable) And Kirkman pretty much dropped a huge, for lack of a better term, deuce on the book. And now we've got Aaron Coliete doing his thing. And while it's less silly and over blown it's still pretty silly and over blown. Just this whole team of suer duper powered hardasses/D.A.R.E created characters are just aren't compelling. I don't know it's just silly, and retcony, but less silly and retcony than the whole Cable-rine/ Sini-lypse thing. So, I'm going to say that it's slightly better, but still crap. Oh, and a lot of people's jacked up powers are just silly...mainly Beak/Angel as well as energy blast dom-Nightcrawler. It's better, but still ass is what I'm trying to say...why do I even care? And then the rest.

Ghost Rider # 24- More of the same it would seem. I'm fairly sure I know where this new arc is going, but I don't know if I care anymore. It would seem that the book has gone into a a perpetual loop of murderous apostles, judgment stare repeat.

X-Factor #23 - Finally, things are happening again in this book. There's a new status quo, there's no stand up comedy and no Arcade with the Arcade mask over the robot mask which coneals the fact that it's actually Arcade. (It seems sillier when you write it out.) Anyway, I'm just glad that the book has gotten out of it's stagnant post MC arc and can continue to be the book that we all remember fondly. (Although the She-Hulk/SI crossover makes me wonder.)

Incredible Hercules #118 - Keeps the high quality of the book. And oddly enough it's the skrull reveal in this book that I actually find to be the most troubling out of any of the prior ones. I'm bein one hundred percent serious. I just like this character more than Hank "Five Across the Eyes" Pym. But that aside you should be reading Hercules.

Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #2 - I'm a huge sucker for summer crossovers. Even though this one is less compelling than Civil War, but not as inconsequential as WWH I still found myself purchasing this tie in. Personally I know that if I didn't work in a comic book store and take the majority of my pay in comics I would not be picking this up, but I could do worse. Pretty much this book is likable enough piffle. It stays true to the characters, keeps a decent pace and the art's alright. You could do lot worse with your mega event tie ins is all I'm saying. (I'm looking directly at you The Conversation.)

Wolverine #66 - It's probably going to be a pretty good arc. Millar brand fun through and through. I don't know I think everything has been previously covered.

Amazing Spider Man #563 - The best part of this issue is the cover. I think that should sum it all up. Oh, and Spoiler Alert there is no bumper car chase. Bacchalo's on the next arc, I think, so I'll stick with it.

The future - Uncanny X-Men - Is an improvement. Captain America - Is just as good as ever. X-Men Legacy - Keeps the quality, but I fear that the Fonz is revving his motorcycle at the end of the issue. It makes sense (for comics) though, but I don't know how to feel about it. But I'd imagine it's going to stick for as long as Xavier getting skull caped or Darkseid getting space punched or whatever. And the new arc in FF seems to be more entertaining than the last one. Even if it seems to be one of them cross dimensional things that Mark Millar is so fond of. Take it easy internet.

That's why they're called "Business Socks"

I was not looking forward to this week, but it actually turned out okay in the end. I'm not NEARLY as pessimistic as Matt. Which is weird because I tend to be hard on my books. So, what'd I read?



We'll start with Trinity #2 which is just a great book. Allow me to justify that a bit, though. The story itself, along with the writing, plotting, and art, are okay. Mark Bagley's storytelling and page layouts are more safe and less interesting than his work on Ultimate Spider-Man and Kurt Busiek is kind of on auto-pilot. What makes it great is the way the series is expanding. See, with 52, DC published a weekly comic and had no idea what to do with it so they purposely set up every DC book to not cross over with it by making them all fast forward a year (terrible idea). When 52 turned out to be really good, DC scrambled to kind of tie into it but the titles didn't hit until the last few weeks.

So then Countdown came along and DC went out of its way to tie that into EVERYTHING, from "Green Arrow"'s "wedding" (which, I mean, REALLY?) to the death of Impulse (spoiler?). And it failed because it became more a summary of what was happening in other books than a book on its own (weak) merits. Even to the end, you had four spin-off series running with Countdown. So that didn't work.

So what does Trinity do? You can't have it tie in to nothing because then there may be alleyways you want to explore but can't. You can't have it tie into everything because then people feel ripped off that they have to buy a dozen books just to decode what is going on. So Kurt Busiek TIES IT INTO ITSELF! Rather than say "Go buy [book X] to understand why Green Lantern is fighting a grazed Grape Ape", the book gives half the book to the "Trinity" and the other half to filling in the blanks that you just missed. It doesn't interupt the flow of the main narrative by flashing around among dangling plots, it acts as an appendiw, it's own tie-in mini-series. Which is great, which is why I say it's great.

Not so great: Superman has a solar system appear in Metropolis, Wonder Woman fights giant robots, and Batman deals with mass hallucination in Gotham (?!?). And Superman actually says something like "Clearly all of these events are related to that dream we all had." How did he come to that conclusion exactly? It's such a Superfriends line ("An earthquake? In California? Clearly Lex Luthor is involved!") I lose a little respect for Kurt Busiek. Still, really good.


Booster Gold #10 was all kinds of good. Again, I like time travel, so I'm biased. But this answers unanswered questions from the original series like "Whose flight ring does Booster have?" "How does he have Brainiac 5's tech if Brainiac 5 is from 500 years in the future?" It's just great. And, if you weren't aware that those questions existed, the BEST way to spend 16 dollars is to pick up Showcase Presents Booster Gold, which collects all 25 issues of the original series plus crossovers plus his story from Secret Files. Totally worth every penny.


Amazing Spider-Man #562 has really great art by Mike McKone, who should just rotate with Marcos Martin on every issue of Amazing from now on. He's great, and he's not strickly DC and if ever there were a book that felt like it needed McKone's art, this is it. (Kevin Maguire would also be nice.) I like where its going and I hope that, well, the Spider-double becomes Spider-Man's full-time sidekick, because THAT would be something.

Now, my problem with the issue: at the end of the issue, there is a blurb about two associate editors who are leaving Marvel. Molly Lazer (who I swear has been there since the 80's) gets a very nice "We'll miss you." Then, Aubrey Sitterson (who's been with Marvel since the mid -90s) gets the shaft, being blamed for everything that went wrong with Amazing Spider-Man over the last five years, especially "One More Day". They also make fun of the poor guy because he's working for the WWE (which I can guarantee pays better than Associate Editor for Marvel). It's a very mean-spirited send-off to someone who, I'm sure, worked hard and gave a couple years of his life to Marvel.


Captain Britain and MI-13 #2 is really good for most of the reason's Matt already mentioned. It looks like this may be an ongoing (I swear it was solicited as a 3 issue mini) which has me excited. I will disagree with Matt, though. First, I don't think it's a spoiler to say Captain Britain (or at least Brian Braddock) dies in the last issue. It would be a spoiler, though, to say that the, I think, Pakistani woman is going to be the NEW Captain Britain, which is weird not because she's female or Pakistani, but because the title is called "Captain Britain", but it's not the Cap we've seen for 30 years. Second, it's a fun book that's well-written, well-illustrated, and may actually surpass the event it ties in to. Plus, as mentioned last month, it benefits from having a solid plot rather than a list of ideas cobbled together. And, to top it all off, it has competant, consistent art. Just go buy it. Now.


Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust is another one of those anthology one-shots I enjoy. Beginning to end, this is good stuff. Even the Captain Marvel bit (which is actually the According to Hoyle definition of "superfluous") is engaging and does a better job explaining that bit than the mini did. (though, if I may rant, at this point everyone knows the new Captain Marvel is a Skrull so, really, why bring him back with all the fanfare just to reveal it was all BS?) The other stuff, though -- Agents of Atlas, Agent Brand from Astonishing X-Men -- were just good. Well, except maybe the OTHER Cpatain Marvel bit (the Grant Morrison-ified one), which was decent but drawn well. Definitely worth buying for anyone reading the main series.


The Twelve #6 is WAY better than Avengers/Invaders. That is all.


X-Force: Ain't No Dog is a Wolverine one-shot that didn't make the last batch with a neutered Warpath story tacked on. I know Scalped is good and all, so why did Jason Aaron turn in such a watered down story for the only active Native American superhero? Maybe he's waiting to do a mini-series about the guy from Thunderbolts that put Bullseye in a coma.

Guy Ritchie's Gamekeeper: Volume 2 #4 came out this week and it was prompt. The most exciting thing, literally, is that there is an add for Virgin Fest on the back cover, which takes place in Baltimore.


Local #12 came out, too. If the rest of the series had been as good as this, it would have justified the three years it took to produce. Megan redeems herself while the book keeps its super-depressing tone in place. Despite that, this is still a good series and anyone who hasn't been reading it should definitely get ahold of the recently-solicited trade (pre-orders preferred, I'm sure).


And finally, Doktor Sleepless #7. I really like Doktor Sleepless. I'm not really sure if its an ongoing (as originally proposed) or not because this issue says "To be concluded", but I dig this book. If anyone has read Mister X, this is more or less the same premise: crazed genius returns to a city that he built from the ground up and does crazy future-science stuff. This book, along with Black Summer, are interesting, too, because up until now, Ellis's Avatar stuff has been atrocious (yes, even Black Gas, and especially Black Gas 2 with its zombie-orgy scenes). he now seems to have his own id in check, producing random, bizarre books that are more like what he would produce for Marvel if they made a mistake and let him be himself. So, again, if you are coming late to this, look into the trade that will be out...eventually. It's pretty good stuff.

Matt buys back some time - 6/11 books

I think it's getting to be about time for me to trim my buying list -- I find myself reading an awful lot of these books and thinking, "Hey, that was meh ... just like last issue." Which is both financially irresponsible AND a waste of my time, especially as I have a new baby that's more intriguing to me than mediocre comic books. Also, I don't want to feel like Negative Review Guy, which is what happens when I read a bunch of books that don't thrill me. Here, then is my public declaration of what I'm not reading

۞ Booster Gold #10 is my last issue of this book. It's perfectly adequate, but it's not dazzling me enough. I feel like the ideas are intriguing at their core, and I like the issues when they're described to me ... it's just that actually reading them consistently leaves me cold.

۞ I'm buying Green Lantern Corps as I eagerly await the forthcoming crossover, but issue #25 ends that. I confused Peter Tomasi and Stuart Moore last month, which makes me feel dumb, but they both write perfectly good space opera that fails to engage me. I'll stick with the core book for now. (I maintain that this book would be much awesomer if it were called Green Lantern Crops and were about interstellar farming, but what do I know?)

۞ Somewhat surprisingly, the current run on Batman Confidential remains on my purchase list. I just adore Kevin Maguire's art, and Fabian Nicieza is, er, playing to his artist's strengths here. (ie, Issue #18 features an extended sequence in which the original Batgirl fights Catwoman naked in a hedonist club. If that's not playing to Maguire's strengths, I don't know what is. Also, probably not a comic to read at work, or around children, or in public, or anywhere else where you might be embarrassed.)

۞ Trinity #2 makes me think I'll stick with this as well. I've got a lot of time for Kurt Busiek, who is competent even at his worst, and this nice, slick, mainstream superhero story is far from his worst. Feels more "comic book-y" than the semi-novelistic sweep of 52, and more "good" than the horrifying disaster of Countdown.

۞ I like newuniversal shockfront also -- it builds nicely on the basic NU concept, but is another strong mainstream showing from Warren Ellis. Every so often it seems like he recharges his batteries and starts churning out really solid work again; he's in one of those phases now. I'll keep buying this...

۞ ... and Doktor Sleepless as well, for most of the same reasons. I wish the art in Doktor Sleepless were a little less generic Avatar house style, but it's perfectly readable, and this book makes a great venue for Ellis's obsession with the intersection of science fiction and our contemporary reality. Good stuff.

۞ I really enjoyed Captain Britain and MI13 a LOT -- it's an improvement on the first issue, and one of the best things to come out of Secret Invasion so far. I'll definitely keep picking this up ... BUT it also points out one of the main problems with modern superhero comics, althoug I'll have to bury discussion of it behind whited-out spoilertext. Highlight between the brackets to figure out what I'm on about. [Apparently, we were meant to believe last issue that Captain Britain (or at least his human host) really died. Like, tragically sacrificed himself. This issue is all about starting to play up the ramifications of that, and it does that well ... except that I never, ever, ever, ever even considered that at the end of last issue. I saw the explosion, thought "well, I wonder how he escapes from that," and moved on. It was a bit jarring to find that everyone here is taking it so seriously -- don't you all know you're in a comic book?] Aside from that minor complaint, though, a fun book.

۞ Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust is pretty good for one of these one-shots. I really like Mike Carey's work at Marvel, and Christos Gage is becoming a reliable mainstream writer. And there's some gorgeous Timothy Green III work, which is nice to see. Worth picking up if you're following Secret Invasion, actually. I don't regret buying this at all. (I absolutely abhor the title pages for the SI books, though -- it's like generic Photoshop Backgrounds for Spastic Beginners 101 stuff. Just hideous.)

۞ I love Action Comics #866 -- when Geoff Johns is on, he is ON. And this is the strongest thing to appear in a Superman book in some time. Genuinely creepy, ominous, and fun to read. I'll be buying this, moving forward.

۞ And Locke & Key continues to be the best thing being published this year, by ANY comic book company. Not only will I continue buying this (for the one remaining issue), I'll buy the collected edition, and anything else Joe Hill writes. Fantastic horror comic. Really.

So after that dramatic intro, I cut a whopping two books. Great.

La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo

So, you know what I'll be doing later...or not. And I got deadlines on some contests so I'm going to make this quick for now. Firstly, the old business, every person that I have talked to about Ultimate Origins (Spoiler that appears in the ads) agrees that: the Canadian government creating mutants in a basement in Dept. H as an answer to super soldiers is just silly. You really have to say it out loud though to get the silliness of it all. Or write it out. Now, onto the new business in no particular order this weeks books. Oh, and for those wanting the quick fix things were greatly less crappy this week.

Booster Gold #10 - Decent wrap up. Questions answered logically. Competent artwork. So close to being a haiku review, but anyway that about sums it up. I dig this book and it's awe inspiring adequacy. And I would wholly recommend it to any fan of the DC universe at large, people with fond boyhood memories of Dan Jurgens or anyone who loves the totally un-ironic naming of Skeets.

Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs - Hmmm...How do I put this? This book is really only for hardcore fans of the movie, Cory Feldman and the late 80's. The art is straight ass. The story is fairly ludicrous. And the dialog is...thankfully anachronistic...I mean they don't say radical that often so small favors and all that. But, my inner masochist is curious about the ending so I'm going to finish it up. God knows I've continued worse runs for the sake of completion.

Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust - Thoroughly better than Civil War: Choosing Sides. Seriously, you get gregarious Beast, a mercifully short Capt. Marvel bit (I just think this whole resurrection psych out bit is a travesty), Marvel Boy actually does something (although when the hell is this happening in the time line? Because he takes the cube during Civil War I think, which Bendis obviously didn't read I can't keep this stuff straight anymore) Anyway, typical Marvel issues of space time notwithstanding it was a decent little anthology I thought.

Locke & Key #5 - Go buy this book already. It's that good. This issue was probably my least favorite yet, but that's only because it's setting up that climax. Good stuff.

Goon # 25 - Read above comments. Except that it wasn't my least favorite issue. Pretty much if you're already on the train stay on, and if you're not on get on. It'll improve your cred.

Young Liars #4 - This book is spilling over with vitriol. The characters are repellent. But somewhere in this anarchic hug free zone I'm digging it, cautiously. It's probably because of the uneven quality of some of the books at Vertigo in the past couple of years *cough* American Virgin *cough* that has made me reticent in praising it, or recommending it and the like. I guess it's that I'm beginning to wonder if this book is just going to rely entirely on attitude or if this story is going to amount to anything terribly interesting. So, they've got me on style waiting on substance.

Amazing Spider-Man #562 - Fun. Makes me wonder if it's the BND or the regime change that has made this book enjoyable again. It's probably a little of both. And I also think that it's a bit surprising that it took so much silliness to make Spier-Man fun again.

Trinity #2 - I am bowled over by this books competence. That is all.

Titans #3 - Why am I reading this? Eh, I kind of like the art. I grew up in the J. Scott Campbell years. That's all there is to it. It looses a bit of it's charm when you read the words though.

Captain Britain and MI 13 #2 - So...how is it that this tie in is better than the main book? I mean things happen every issue. Characters sound different from each other. They develop. Um, there's no Daisy Johnson (they should just call her Chick-tor...once I get the copyright of course). My only real problem with Daisy is that she just sounds like if Ultimate Spidey and Deena Pilgrim had some sort of snarky baby together or something. Tangents aside, Capt. Britain may be the best thing coming out of SI.

Salvation Run #7 - This book really should have come out on time. Kind of takes the punch out of it now that it's all been said and done...for like a month or two. Although, in fairness, it's not like the ending wasn't a forgone conclusion. Just like the events in another oft delayed book that reemerged recently. It was fun while it lasted though.

Skaar Son of Hulk # 1 - Decent read. Shame it's done in four minutes. Hence the super short review.

Green Arrow/ Black Canary #9 - The only thing redeeming about this book is the artwork o Cliff Chiang. Without said Chiang, I just lose interest. I don't know that's a tad harsh...but pretty close to accurate. I guess the main problem with this book is the tone. It was fine during the first arc because it was a wacky escape from Paradise Island. But a global search for a brain dead Connor Hawke seems like an odd place for all of the attempts at the Bwa- Ha-Ha.

That's about it really. Still got a couple more books to read so I'll probably be back on at some point to finish things up. Take it easy internet.

One last time

So, to wrap up last week,

Avengers/Invaders #2 was weird. Not in a bad way, but it's really weird that things like Bennett buying the Daily Bugle in Amazing Spider-Man are continuity now in other books. It's jarring to see "The DB in other books." And there's other odd bits of continuity thrown in at random that pull you out of the story a little, which is not that good a story to begin with. I like time travel (you'll see when I get to Cable), but here...it's like The Twelve but lacks any meaning or relevance. If the Invaders traveled to the future in the past, why don't they remember it in the present? Bucky got ALL his memories back in Captain America #13 or 14, so why doesn't HE remember at least? And if there is a mystical (or other) reason for not remembering, then why bother telling a 12 issue story about all of this to begin with? Will it affect the Avengers in the long run? (Doubtful since it is not strictly a Marvel book, but a co-venture with Dynamite, and things like that are rarely relevant). And, why is Alex Ross even involved in this? Hopefully these questions will all be answered by the end, but I doubt it.

Cable #4 is weird for different reasons. I am enjoying the story so far. I like Cable though, and tube guns, and time travel, and a baby in an armored Baby Bjornn being carried by a time-traveling Cable with a tube gun. So this is written specifically for me. Plus it has Cannonball and hints at his long ago dropped continuity of being an immortal, which is nice. Then there's the art: Ariel Olivetti does some things well, and I do like his style, but his interiors are barren. There's a scene where Bishop is holding a guy over a deep fryer. So he's in a kitchen. The deep fryer does not look like a deep fryer (only the dialogue gives it away) and there is NOTHING ELSE in this kitchen. Of a restaurant. Nothing on the counters, no flour or spoons or baskets for the deep fryer. Nothing. Still, I liked it and get a kick out of the crazy time travel stuff. But the art is just a hinderance at this point. They need a Butch Guice on this, someone bleak and shadowy.

Criminal is the best non-superhero book ever. Just read it. This issue, despite one or two rough lines from Ed Brubaker (trying a little too hard), is great. Just great. Go read it. Seriously.

Invincible Iron Man #2 is not as good as issue 1 (despite MODOG, the Mental Organism Designed Only for GENOCIDE), but still holds your attention. Good, super-slick art, good writing, and a good cliffhanger.

Wolverine: Dangerous Games is another Wolverine One-Shot (because he's an under-used and under-appreciated character). This time, he fights fox hunters, I guess. Fox hunters have an odd stigma for me since The Invisibles, so I always expect the worst when I see them. But this is fine. Then, there's another short with Wolverine in Japan, also fine, I guess. Just a bland book, though, with the writing and art barely managing average.

Now, let's talk Young X-Men #3: this book is just a bizarre mess. I feel bad for Marc Guggenheim because I think he has some ideas. But he's saddled with the rejects from New X-Men and he just fumbles around trying to do anything. Then there's the art: Yanick Paquette's style is more open and cartoony here than it was on, say, Codename: Knockout (under-rated) or even Ultimate X-Men. Mostly it looks rushed. There better be a killer twist coming (and not the one in this month's issue, which barely counts) because this is barely hanging on.

Oh, and Amazing Spider-Man 561 was good. Still just solid superhero-y stuff. More people should read it.

Tomorrow: Lots of bad books to review! Woohoo!

I finally made it to the Party

I finally made it to the blog. Yay!
I have so missed getting my geek-on what with being at the store so rarely.
Just did a quick perusal of the past blog activity and felt so satisfied! Yay!
The only book I got to read so far was Skaar Son of Hulk. Cheesy title, enjoyable read. Love that the beginning voice over is from Hulk's Queen's point of view (won't even attempt to type her name because the book is not in front of me). A momentary confusion over the time jump transition. More my fault for reading to quickly and not giving the art proper due. That is all I have time to review today. I will try and review at least one more book this week but no promises.

Oh, and I read the post about Buffy and the pillow fight. When I started reading that post, I had to pause and think was there or was there not a pillow fight? It was so believable in all it's stereotypical wonder given the world of Bi-Buffy we have just entered. I did enjoy the Dracula bit where he tells the main baddie it is not the vampire he needs to fear. And is Xander never allowed a girl. Maybe he should go gay - it would be less of stretch than Buffy given his relationship with Dracula.
-D

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow - Matt gets caught up

Hey, so having a kid is time-consuming! Who saw THAT coming? Not me, obviously. Fortunately, she's a dreadful conversationalist, so I can safely read comics while rocking her and the like. Here are my reviews on last Wednesday's books, followed by a couple of "preview" reviews for books that'll be out tomorrow.

۞ Secret lnvasion #3 is, perhaps predictably, a huge disappointment to me. Issue #1 of this was exciting! It was punchy! Stuff happened and things blew up and there was a big surprise ending and wooooooooo! Since then, it's been a long, wanky fight scene (issue #2), and now this: the Marvel F-list fights bravely in New York! They all talk Bendis-y! Something bad happens to The Vision version 8.3, and I try manfully to remember who he is and where he came from and if I should care! There's one good paranoia scene that's got to be a fakeout (or DOES it?!?!), and then a cliffhanger where a bunch of heroes charge in to save the world and it would be amazingly cool, except that it's, like, the G-list of unrecognizable Marvel dudes.

Actually, it's not even the G-list -- it's a bunch of Bendis's pet characters who we know are awesome because he spent a whole issue of Avengers telling us that Nick Fury (who all the famous characters think is awesome) thinks these no-marks are awesome. THAT, my friends, is character development at its finest.

And Lenil Yu is clearly being rushed, as the cleaner line he was using in issue #1 is back to being the Sienkiewicz-ian scrawl he's perfected since Superman: Birthright. This is starting to feel an awful lot like Bendis's last Might Marvel Miniseries, House of Filler.

۞ A while back, Commenter Sean mentioned that he's been known to develop crushes on writers, and I know exactly where he's coming from. I was totally into Matt Fraction for awhile (Five Fists of Science, Casanova, that Spider-Man annual, Iron Fist), but then we got together and it was totally not all I was hoping it would be (Punisher War Journal). So I avoided him for awhile and he acted all embarrassed around me and it was totally awkward until we got drunk together at this party and made out, and there were no strings attached and that was pretty good except for that one part when Namor showed up (The Order). So now things are kind of okay again and I think I like him but I don't know how he feels about me and I'm afraid to ask because what if it makes things all weird, you know?

Which is a long way to go to say that Invincible Iron Man #2 is just as good as issue #1 was, and that you should be buying it and loving it and treasuring every moment with it, because it's summer and you can never tell what's going to happen to a guy on his summer vacation.

۞ I don't really want to make out with Justice Society of America #16, but I sure am pleased to bump into it. This is apparently the story that Geoff Johns has been setting up with the nigh-incomprehensible last four issues, because this is a sharp little character piece masquerading as a 1980's DC Comic (in the best possible way). Some nice swerves on the typical Galactus story, and a good use of the ridiculously large cast. Maybe I'll reread from issue #9 or whatever and see how it hangs together.

۞ I'm the dissenting voice on Kick-Ass #3, it appears. As I mentioned in my thoughts on Marvel 1985 a week or two back, I find Mark Millar surprisingly good at writing teen drama, so I liked the in-school bits, but the super-hero stuff remains dull to me, no matter how much violence he injects it with. I think this will read better in collection, to be honest.

۞ Trinity #1 is ... okay. It features the Superman-Batman-and-Wonder-Woman-sit-around-a-table scene that is apparently required in all 21st Century DC Comics, but THIS TIME THEY'RE IN THEIR CIVILIAN IDENTIES!!!!! ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!1111!!!! That said, at least Kurt Busiek doesn't feel compelled to cover the page with 75 billion different colored captions (like Brad Meltzer), or to weight the proceedings down with trite pseudo-psychological melodrama (like, oh, say, Brad Meltzer). It's not the Busiek of Astro City, nor even the terrific early Thunderbolts issues, but it's a solid superhero comic and a promising start to a weekly series. (Except for the backup, which I found literally unreadable. That might be a problem down the line.)

۞ Ultimate Origins #1 was always going to be a problem for me. I found Bendis's thin reinventions of the Marvel Universe in Ultimate Team-Up and Ultimate Spider-Man to be much less interesting than Millar's ground-up rethinks in Ult. X-Men and Ultimates. (Ult. Spider-Man overcomes this with some excellent craft and lively character drama, but Team-Up was pretty much an unmitigated disaster.)

So Ultimate Origins, being Bendis's unifying theory of the Ultimate Universe, was bound to accent the side of the Ultimate line that I find less interesting, and as such to disappoint me.

Which it does. (And I thought this was Butch Guice's worst art in a while as well.) At least it met expectations.....

۞ I also read The Boys #19, which was just as good as the rest of the issues have been, and as such not worthy of special praise or scorn. The price you pay for consistent work, I suppose.

۞ Which brings us to this week's preview books. It was a pretty thin bunch, a lot of things that I don't find interesting to begin with (Moon Knight) or didn't find particularly interesting once I had read them (Hulk: Raging Thunder, the apocalyptically grim X-Force: Ain't No Dog). But I do want to call special attention to Skaar, Son of Hulk #1, which overcomes a catastrophically stupid title to be a surprisingly good book.

For everyone who was disappointed that World War Hulk failed to be an adequate follow-up to the themes and ideas of Planet Hulk ... this is your book. Something like a really good Conan comic blended together with Marvel's sci-fi stuff, there's a lot of promise here, and it's worth checking out.

(Also, it contains 100% less Jeph Loeb than Marvel's other Hulk book, which guarantees a quality uptick.)

Kick-Ass Detective

First, Kick-Ass #3 is pretty much the same as Kick-Ass #2: a big, loud, brain-dead, bloody comic with a surfeit of ridiculousness (especially since it takes place in the real world...HA!). This is all to say, a totally awesome book that everyone should be reading. There's got to be a big twist coming (because there are hints to...something), but for now it's just big, goofy fun.

Then there's Detective Comics #845. I've liked the Paul Dini issues of Detective. They are all one or two issue stories that are fun to read. And when Don Kramer or JH Williams III or someone competant was doing the art, I really liked them. This issue is by new regular artist Dustin Nguyen. I'm pretty okay with him. But this issue has one of the most hideous pictures ever. If I can find a scanner, I'll post it but it's toward the end when the murderer is revealed. And it's awful. Still, I enjoyed the story. I like Riddler as Detective and am very glad that Paul Dini seems to have decided against turning him back into a bad guy (which he kept hinting he would do). As for the meet between Batman and Catwoman that is featured on the cover, well, that was two pages that only existed to awkwardly point out that Catwoman's escapades in Salvation Run were in continuity. Other than that, though, good stuff. All of Dini's work on this title has been.

You know what Buffy needs? Pillow fights!

Now that the Lesbian Adventures of Buffy is done, we can all look back on it and reflect with the perspective only time can allow. And, honestly, it's only okay. The highs of Giant Dawn fighting Mecha-Dawn in the streets of Japan, coupled with the adventures of Racist Dracula and Xander (a buddy comic just waiting to happen), are gold. Then, they throw in Lesbian Buffy.

Back in college, my girlfriend had a group of friends with whom she was very close. Lady friends, to boot. And she has told me that, not only did NO lesbiany activities take place, but that they also NEVER HAD PILLOW FIGHTS IN TEDDIES! I was shocked. Because pop culture would lead us to believe that all college-age girls "experiment" and have pillow fights and so forth. It's the "Girls Gone Wild"-ing of America, if you will.

Which leads me to my problem with this arc of Buffy: Lesbian Buffy. Joss Whedon is an excellent writer, so when he wrote Willow's discovery of her lesbian-ness in the show, it was a careful progression rife with subtext involving her discovery of magic, etc. When he revealed that one of the slayers had the hots for Buffy in the comic, then, he had had Buffy (now roughly 27) handle it with maturity. Then came Drew Goddard.

For those who watched the show, Drew Goddard was part of the last two seasons of the show where they traded sub-text for super-text and drove home metaphors with the subtlety of an Abram tank. Or the subtlety of the metaphor (simile?) I just used. Plus, he wrote Cloverfield, a good movie but not known for its compelling character development. And he brought these skills to Buffy Season 8 and ran roughshod over Buffy and her friends and the hard work good writers like Joss Whedon and Brian K. Vaughan had done.

So why is Lesbian Buffy so bad? Goddard, rather than have Buffy act like a mature woman who is leading a batallion of bad-ass super-heroines instead has her act like a fifteen-year-old boys fantasy of what Buffy might do in his dreams: she falls into bed with a hot, asian girl. Then, they go back and forth about how Buffy's SO not into chicks. Then they talk about how awkward it made them feel afterwards. Then Buffy and Satsuo both agree Buffy's not into chicks (in case you forgot). Then they have sex again because they're bored. It's all so casual, like this is what girls do; get two hot women alone with a bottle of wine and of course they are going to explore each other's bodies and experiment. You know, if they're in a Cinemax movie.

Now, again, I am not a woman, but I've asked these questions enough times to know the answer. Do women just randomly fool around with lesbians because they're bored or flattered? "No, not really," says Emily. "Maybe in porn or something." This is by no means definitive. There have been journal articles written that suggest that women today are likely to find women attractive, an interesting side effect to the phenomenon described in "Reviving Ophelia" that first drew the lines between advertising and poor self-image (and suicide, bulimia, anorexia, and other terrible things) in teens and young adults. But there is a pretty big, thick line between finding Angelina Jolie attractive (consistently listed as the woman women would "be bi with") and having hot, sober, sweaty, animal, lesbian action with another woman. Unless a Girls Gone Wild cameraman is offering you a hat. Then all bets are off.

And the new stuff

I only made it through three books for this week:

Trinity #1's lead story is, like, 10 pages of Superman, Batman, and Wonderwoman sitting in a coffee shop talking. And they are in their civilian identities. Now, this strikes me as odd because: why would a reporter from Metropolis, the world's wealthiest bachelor, and a DEO agent all be sitting at a coffee shop in Keystone City? And the paparazzi is there, though not allowed near. Why does no one think that's weird? Plus, the Flash shows up IN COSTUME and talks to them. And no one thinks its weird. But I do like Mark Bagley's effective storytelling and overall, it is good, if vague. Same with the back-up that confounds AND entertains. Still, I liked the whole thing and have high hopes for the series. Of course, I had high hopes for Countdown...

Secret Invasion #3 is a paradox. It's better than issue 2, but it also seems to ignore Bendis's own continuity for the event. REAL SPOILERS!!! BEWARE!!! If Echo is not a Skrull, why do that New Avengers issue that focused on her? Because that seemed to subtly indicate she was a Skrull. Plus, we know Iron Man isn't a skrull (even in the close-up there was no green in his eyes, so he's human) so why throw that red herring in there just to upset people if they've been doing the damage control for months already stressing how un-Skrully Iron Man is. Anyway, I liked it, but this issue seems to show that a lot of the buildup Bendis planned and worked on was merely to shock and sell books and not actually bolster the story itself.

Finally, Ultimate Origins #1 came out and it was underwhelming. Not, like Brian said, because the reveals made no sense, but because the reveals were so cliche. What is revealed in this issue has been done before. In the Marvel Universe. In Earth X (out of continuity), in New X-Men (in continuity?), in Truth (in continuity). But they built this up like it was revolutionary. Which begs the question: why should I care. Aside from that, though, the writing was very good (minimalist Bendis is all too rare these days) and Butch Guise's art is great. I just wish they were doing something better. Like Ultimates 3. Then, that'd be awesome. Or readable anyway.

Must... Finish... 5/29...

So, to wrap up last week's offerings:

Thor #9 came out. It's really wordy. And only kind of makes sense. And barely has Thor. So...

Ultimate Spider-Man #122 was really good. Every now and then, this book slips a couple of notches and makes bone-headed moves (like Venom, or Carnage), but I have liked every issue since Stuart Immonen took over. And this one is a nice little "done in one" story that gives Ultimate Shocker some context and background.

Uncanny X-Men #498 was good. I'm sure there was supposed to be a shocking reveal of who the mutant causing all these problems was, but I got nothing. Still, I've been enjoying this arc, so far better than Brubaker's previous efforts on the title.

X-Force #4 was bad. I can't believe I (or anyone else) actually reads this stuff. It just kind of meanders, resurrecting odd bits of 90's continuity and ignoring others and generally not fitting in. Plus, Clayton Crain's digital art does not fit. I'd much prefer his pre-Ghost Rider "Top Cow" style on this book, especially given the 90's-love the book unloads on us. HOWEVER, the reprint of issues 1-3 is worth buying because of the cover, which is simply the best cover of any gore-filled, over-the-top X-Men comic featuring killlers with mad bloodlust EVER!

X-Men Legacy #212 came out, too. Which makes a lot of X-Men for one week. It was pretty good. Gambit returns, and over 90% of his dialogue lacks ridiculous, over-the-top "cajunification". And, unlike X-Force, Mike Carey is able to fold bits of 90's X-Men into his books effectively and not make you wonder, "Why would they bring Archangel back if there is an Angel miniseries beginning THE SAME WEEK?" Anyway, spoiler. Also, X-Men Legacy continues to be a pretty good (if not thrilling) title.

Young Avengers #5 made no sense. Even in the context of the "mini-series", it made no sense. I understand that each issue is by a different author and artist, but come on. At least pay attention to what the others have written. Again, spoiler (I guess), but if Cassie pretty much hates the other Young Avengers in the first 4 issues of the series, why would she be all BFF with them this issue? I know, because it's a terrible issue. But still, at least some editorial supervision would be nice. Also, why would a bunch of rebel teen superheroes who defied the government and refused to join SHIELD be excited to watch, essentially, an ultra-conservative almost-superhero who DID become a government shill super-agent on 24 is beyond me. But, again, this is just really bad, so the writer probably didn't care enough to think about that.

And that's it for Marvel.

Fables #73 was more Fables goodness. I just like Fables so much. I take it for granted that this book has made it 73 issues and has only one or two missteps.

Northlanders #6 is the best issue yet. I've been on the fence with this book because, c'mon, Emo Conan? But it's been pretty good up til now, but this issue gets bumped up to Very Good. And, it is Brian Wood's best comic right now. It's a readable book, unlike DMZ, and you can appreciate it instantly, not when you think back on it a day later. And, despite the lead being a d---, you actually do care about the characters, in stark contrast to Local whose lead really needs to stop. And those are both books I like.

And finally, Dan Dare #6 came out this week. Now, my previous knowledge of Dan Dare was the three issue Grant Morrison-Rian Hughes mini "Dare" (reprinted in Yesterday's Tomorrows and worth the price of admission alone), so I am coming to this with zero prior knowledge. And it doesn't matter. The whole thing is compelling enough: Garth Ennis writes a war comic in space. That's it. The art is nice, Gary Erskine doing his more-Chris-Weston-than-Chris-Weston imitation. All in all, a solid, readable effort. Though, the way the are putting this book in trade is all messed up: they are putting issues 1-3 (that's $9 worth of comics) in a $15 hardcover, with a second hardcover collecting 4-7 ($13 in singles) for probably $16 or $17. Then, they're putting out a $30 hardcover of all 7 issues ($22 if purchased singly) in October or November. See, messed up. Not even DC would do that.

And that is the week that was.

Yeah...About That

Well, this week I'm apparently wearing my angry hat because of one particular book. That book is Ultimate Origins. I have no problem with the Guice. Hell, I have no problem with them trying to go back to the ultimate mission statement of it being a unique universe that has the same characters. What I do have a problem with is, the reveal on the those last couple of pages. That and the fact that they have apparently ignored just about everything Mark Millar did in the burgeoning days of the Ultimate U by giving a certain , pivotal, character powers that have never been mentioned, hinted at or considered even in the books Bendis himself wrote. Oh, and that isn't even the reveal that I am talking about which is frankly silly be comic book standards, but I'll still finish the series. So go check it out to know what will be breaking the internet by the weekend. And now onto the rest of the books.

Secret Invasion # 3 - Like my opinion matters on this one. For what it's worth it's an improvement on the last issue, but still not as good as the first issue. And yes, they tease the unthinkable again. Actually, my only real problem with it is that it seems from time to time that they tease reveals of certain characters (you know who) that seems like it would drop a huge deuce on a lot of quality work that other creators have been doing in the past couple of years. As it's own book though, it's a decent read. And Yu is doing some of the finest work of his career. So, annoying teases aside it's an improvement over last issue. I know I can't wait until issue #5 for the startling return of Mantis. That's a joke...I hope.

Kick Ass # 3 - It's Millar at his Millariest and at some points it teeters on being Ennisish sensibilities. And I couldn't be more thrilled. Still a fun read and it only looks to be getting better. I think that sums it all up really.

Invincible Iron Man #2 - Damn fine. Fraction is keeping up the good work on this one. It's charming, it's got action and yup...Just go buy it.

Cable #4 - Kind of meh. As time wears on I tend to get bothered by some of the things Olivetti does from time to time. I mean I dig the way he renders characters, but some of the effects, the cars and action look a little off from time to time. I mean this is the man who left the Quake 2 targeting reticule in a background in War Journal. Anyway, as for the other content this book is kind of dragging. It's just another example of the modern trend of stretching out what would have been a two issue arc fifteen years ago into at least 4-6 issues for the sake of trade publishing. It's not really that bad it's just drawn out. Makes me afraid for Iron Fist.

Avengers/Invaders # 2 - I have absolutely no idea how this book is going to run for 12 issues. I mean it's been alright so far, but I really think they could wrap this up in a couple more issues. Unless, inevitably, the Avengers get sent through the time bubble and Luke Cage punches out Hitler or Wolverine and 40's Wolverine team up or something. Actually, the most potentially interesting element involves one of the grunts that ended up in the future with the Invaders. And the potential for 2 Submariners showing up next issue. Oh, points off for the bomb arm thing. That just seems bizarre. And if anyone can find evidence of that being an actual tactic well, I'll just be even more disturbed. Pretty much, this book is right in the middle of the pack.

The Boys # 19 - This book had returned to form in the previous arc, and this arc looks to continue the trend. The big thing that changed it was a return to telling stories about characters and attempting to develop them. So, yup, I'd give it the slight thumbs up.

Trinity # 1 - It can't possibly be worse than Countdown... It's not. I seriously have no idea where this is going though, but I'm a sucker for the weekly because, well, it's weekly. I'm going to wait a couple of issues until I pass judgment because this is pure exposition. But at least it'll have consistent art as opposed to Countdown. Also I never knew that I would actually miss 52 as much as I did during the Countdown period.

Well, that's it for me for now. Still haven't read War Journal and I haven't finished Detective yet. If anything that should be a review in and of itself. So there you go. That's about it. I read most of Young X-men and it's, well, Young X-men. With one of the silliest cameos of the year. Why can't we just bring back New X-Men already? And this arc on Spidey was alright which makes me think the next one will probably be awful. Seems to be the way that book goes.

Something You Should Buy: KILLING JOKE ANNIVERSARY hardcover

I don't love hardcover books. They're clunky and unwieldy and expensive and they're hard to keep open while I'm eating and a whole bunch of other stupid complaints. Hardcover comics are even worse. I know I'm in the minority, but I like the somewhat disposable nature of comics. I like folding 'em back and reading 'em and then tossing them into a box to give to any of my friends' kids who need entertaining when they're at our place. (Not all comics receive this treatment, but a lot do.)

Slapping a hardcover on, say, six issues of Green Lantern and charging thirty bucks for it just feels like ridiculous overkill, like one of those stupid sweaters for a dog. There are a few things make some hardcover comics (mainly Marvel's oversized non-premier hardcovers and DC's Absolute editions) worth the pricetag and inconvenience, though:

• Larger size for improved viewing of the artwork.
• Bonus materials like scripts, design sketches, pitches, etc.
• Corrected coloring and/or art.

It's the last one that makes this edition of the Killing Joke worth the money. Reading this recolored hardcover is like seeing a favorite movie in HD for the first time. It is simply absurd how much this slight-seeming story is improved by being colored thoughtfully, thematically, and carefully by the artist himself, rather than by a separate colorist. (John Higgins, in this case, who has done plenty of quality work in other places and shouldn't be scorned too badly for this tempera nightmare.)

It never occurred to me to ask why the original was colored largely in arbitrary splotches of pink, yellow, and green, and now I don't know how I ignored it for so long. I wish that someone would go back and do this same thing to the other early Vertigo books where whole pages are colored with undifferentiated washes of green, brown, and yellow. (I'm looking at you, early Hellblazer.)

I could go on for pages about this, but it seems like a good picture-worth-a-thousand-words opportunity. Here's a panel from the original edition (my well-worn third printing):

And here's the same panel from the recolored edition:

The flashback sequences are improved as well, dropped out of sepia into cold black-and-white, with flashes of red popping out Schindler's-List-style. Here's the sepia original:

And Bolland's thematically recolored version:

I can't emphasize enough how much this improves the story. It worth the money for an upgrade if you've only got the old version, and makes the book into a must-buy if you don't own it yet. Last I checked (on Saturday), there was a copy on the shelves; if it's gone, ask whoever's behind the counter to order one for you.

Some hardcover collected editions are a waste of time, space, and paper. This isn't one of them.

Still finishing my books...

I think Marvel Comics Presents (Issue 9 out this week) is being cancelled. I have no evidence yet, but all the stories end at issue #12 (let's hope they last that long) and I think the sales have been weak. Which is a shame because, much like the previous incarnation, you are guaranteed some good art and/or writing in each issue and they're all reasonably enjoyable. Again, I am biased toward the anthology format (I stuck with Spider-Man's Tangled Web until the bitter end), but this was a fun book. Sure, this issue is illustrative of the uneven nature of the book, but I still like it. To wit, it took two writers to write an incoherent ramble staring the Hulk (called Gammarag, maybe, or something, but at least Ed McGuinness's art is great (colored over pencils, I think, so none of Dexter Vines' inks). Then, there's Machine Man (here, more thoughtful and dour than the version in NextWave) drawn by Niko Henrichon, which is coherent, and brings in his unique history. Then there's two long-form stories that fluctuate issue to issue, but are generally pretty good. And it's probably all going to end once all those stories wrap. So sad.

More sad news: Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men has ended with a Giant-size special. And it was good. Don't believe the anti-hype. After a run that was less-than-stellar art-wise, John Cassaday nails every single panel in this issue. Plus, Whedon is in top form. Overall, this is a very good end to an excellent series. Now, Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi take over and, well, we'll see. But hopes are low, though.

Oh, and Matt Fraction is finishing up his run on Immortal Iron Fist. Issue #15 is an okay issue. I think the timing is off: the previous flashback issue had come right after a storyline that introduced and showed glimpses of the previous Iron Fists. This issue features a character that hasn't been mentioned for a year and, while decent enough, it fails to connect to the greater narrative effectively. Still, I liked it. Though, does anyone remember that K'un L'un is a land that exists in and out of time because of an extra-dimensional ship that crashed there and affected its synching with time and space and is inhabited by human-alien hybrids? Just curious...

And now, fun stuff:

Daredevil 107 reunites Ed Brubaker with Greg Rucka and they come up with a cliched plot that, in anyone elses hands, could easily veer into "hackneyed". But they pull it off. Good stuff.

Marvel 1985 is a surprisingly good book. I was expecting, well, "event" Mark Millar -- the one who wrote Civil War, Fantastic Four, and Wanted. Instead, this is more in line with, say Superman: Red Son: an attempt at an actual, literary comic from a guy who spent the last several years writing books about kicking people in the face (like next weeks Kick A--). Needless to say, I was surprised. Sure, as Matt said, this could all be a trite Twilight Zone with Marvel characters, but at least Millar is self-aware enough to poke fun at himself and the industry. There is a great scene of the main character buying books at his LCS and discussing crossovers and how they mess up the main storylines. Rather than rely on Wedding Singer-style "Hey, it's 1985, it's so lame but retro" jokes, he mixes genuine love and nostalgia for the books of 1985. So, while pointing out that Secret Wars started the comic speculation boom, he doesn't hate on Secret Wars; instead he talks about it and its corporate brethern with affection. So, yeah, I liked it. A lot.

And that's it for the day. Tomorrow, THOR! X-FORCE! FABLES!