Reviews
Captain America #37 - Kinda of a slower paced issue. Starts off and the Red Skull's oil company is credited with pulling a giant economic rabbit out of its magic ass. Christ, I realize it's a comic book and reality takes a back seat but it takes a massive stretch of the imagination that one crappy Russian oil company could single handedly drop the price of oil and avert a anking and housing crisis. Dude, I got no problem with a guy with a bionic arm or a guy who can fucking juggle a planet, but this shit's a bit absurd. However, there's a bit of a moment between Bucky and Hawkeye. Hawkeye being trained by Cap, I guess he's a bit jealous. So he breaks in and they do a litlte kung fu fighting. Later on the Falcon pays a visit. Alriiiight! Cap and Falcon action! They're gonna start searching for Sharon Carter who is still pregnant and still captive to the Red Skull, Arnim Zola and Faustus. They have no clue that she's broken free of their mind control, though, and that she knows about their experiments with...Steve Rogers? Or is that a clone? Yet to be revealed, but he has no memory of Sharon. Interesting.
Countdown #2 - FUCK! Christ almighty! Jesus puked on his throne! Oh fuck! Just...fuck. What the fuck? Come on, Darkseid is killed? Darkseid is killed? He's the fucking big bad of Final Crisis and he was killed? By Orion? Who was killed in Death of the New Gods #6? The fuck? Jesus fuck! FFFUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!! Fuck.
The Flash #239 - Definitaly a step up from the last issue. Flash gets a job...sorting? Junk? Well, the villain of this story is a dude who can manipulate fears through televised media. He finally gets to Jay Garrick after he comes out on TV to defend the Flash after the vents of the last issue (Flash revealed to the public he was broke and then got pinned for stealing everyone's wallets). Yeah, it's...lame. But watching Jay take a swing at Wally while blaming him spouting some Bill O/Lou Dobbs memes was a pretty cool moment. Also, Red Arrow appears to cool shit down. Kind of a funny moment, that. Issue ends with a cliffhanger featuring the return of Gorilla Grodd. Finally! Monkeys!
Grendel #6 - Oh hell yes! Major bad ass happenings in this issue. I knew it was gonna be good when the first issue is some Korean gangster thug getting a lapdance with some big titties flopping up in his grill. Cool shit. Korean dude has to hide out someplace cause they failed in their attempt in killing Grendel a couple of issues back. So off to Manhattan they go. Grendel just follows behind and proceeds to hand them their asses. And hands. And brains. And stabs Korean lapdance guy through the eyes. And the rest of his head. Bloody shit, man. At the end of the issue, Grendel unleashes the potion he got from that weird Haitian dude in the previous issue to uncover his mysterious stalker. Turns out to be a weird, foul-mouthed troll. Huh. Two issues left, so how this plays out will be interesting. The art in this issue was great. Cool two page spread with Hunter Rose just kinda sitting at his desk. Pondering. No action, he's just pissed off with his fingers at his temple. And the cover is probably the best cover of the series. I would expect that to be the front cover of the inevitable hardcover. I'm really enjoying this series. I'll have to re-read the whole thing before the last issue comes out so I can get the whole thing in one go like originally intended.
Incredible Hercules #116 - Fantastic. So it's Herc, Amadeus and Athena driving over to the site where some Celestial on Earth has awakened. They're going over so Athena can have some sort of weird conference with a bunch of Earth deities regarding the recent Skrull invasion (yeah, beginning of a Secret Invasion tie-in). On the way there, Athena schools Amadeus on certain facts of life. Even though he might be one of the smartest people in the world and can find patterns in anything around him, the fact that he can't analyze himself means it's all for shit. When they get there, they see the Celestial is surrounded by idiot hippies worshipping it as a god. A golden god. Sure, it's obvious, but at least Pak is having fun. So Herc goes off to take a leak ("Drain the Hydra," as he says) and runs into a couple of Eternals who think he's one of them (this also ties in with Gaiman's Eternals miniseries, apparently). Now, obviously not, but while Herc is fighting them and they're discussing his history (only in comics can one beat down and talk history and mythology all at once) they cause Herc to question his own past. They tell him, "Dude, you're past you only know through books and stories! How do you know you aren't one of us?" Of course, this is all a mistake because there was a sort of miscommunication between the Celestial and a third Eternal chatting him up. It was a good issue overall. I love the way they use Herc's own mythology in the story as a way to advance the plot. It doesn't bog things down, but really keeps the story moving along rather briskly. Now the story does have one problem. It's a Secret Invasion tie-in. This is the last thing the series needs. It needs to move along independently of the rest of the mainstream Marvel U. Marvel might think it'll help sales, but considering everything that's been happening with the series and characters thus far it can only damage the flow of the series. So at the end of the issue when Athena is addressing this pantheon she just pulls this severed Skrull head out of nowhere. So instead of using the next issue to delve into this shit the Eternals were on about, Greg Pak is gonna have to run telling an editorial mandated story that has nothing to do with the tale he's trying to tell. I don't know, maybe he can really pull something impressive out of his butt. He's a talented enough guy. Very much looking forward to the next issue to see what he does.
Warbound - The start of the issue started the same way the last several issues have ended, with some background on the personality of one of the characters. Namely, Kate Waynesborough. A SHIELD spy, she apparently had a thing for Bruce Banner before he Hulked out and she ditched him. Oooookay. The issue wraps up the story with the Warbound fighting the Leader who's trapped this town under a gamma ray shield, irradiating the residents and calling it "Gammaworld." Lame, yeah. It starts off with some unmanned weapons attacking our group of misanthropic heroes and it turns out they're somehow involved with Waynesborough. Uh...yeah, I missed something in the last issue. In fact, they were only revealed briefly as such on the last page of the last issue and now we're just expected to...accept this? Yeah, the series ends pretty flat. After a bunch of residents are killed by these robots, Hiroim dies fighting the Leader and Kate Waynesborough somehow becomes imbued with his oldstrong power. Cue beatdown, cue mourning of Hiroim, cue more attacking by residents aaaannndddd.....end! Well, I didn't think it was gonna be a great series, but I didn't think it would end so badly either. It actually did have a pretty good story in the beginning, but at the very end the whole affair is sort of brushed off without considering all the hanging threads. So what the fuck is gonna happen with Gammaworld? Are they stuck in the middle of the desert now or...what? And what about Miek? I expect this to lead into another story sometime down the line, but this was just such a letdown.
X-Factor #30 - Picks up at the end of last issue with Mutant Town being taken over by Arcade who in turn was hired by an ex-Purifier to get rid of the last vestiges of ex-mutant kind. Some fun stuff, Guido getting run over by a boulder, Madrox getting his ass handed to him. The characters are searching for a new dynamic. I know this cause Peter David keeps having Madrox say in his narrative how much the team needs a new dynamic. Friggin book needs a new dynamic. Sometimes this series puts out some great shit. Other times I get frustrated how whiny all the characters come off. No addressing of Theresa's pregnancy, no snappy banter worth enjoying...Arcade gets away while the ex-Purifier reveals the whole area is rigged to blow when his heart stops and mentions on the side that he just poisoned himself. Oh, cliffhanger! I bet the next issue starts by moving ast it and mentioning it in an aside. "Oh, thank God they fucked up the wiring, right?" Man, they really need to get Layla Miller back on the team. This shit is suffering without her. This book is a prime example of a series written for TPB form. This isn't a very collectible series, it calls for being picked up in long form.
Countdown #2 - FUCK! Christ almighty! Jesus puked on his throne! Oh fuck! Just...fuck. What the fuck? Come on, Darkseid is killed? Darkseid is killed? He's the fucking big bad of Final Crisis and he was killed? By Orion? Who was killed in Death of the New Gods #6? The fuck? Jesus fuck! FFFUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!! Fuck.
The Flash #239 - Definitaly a step up from the last issue. Flash gets a job...sorting? Junk? Well, the villain of this story is a dude who can manipulate fears through televised media. He finally gets to Jay Garrick after he comes out on TV to defend the Flash after the vents of the last issue (Flash revealed to the public he was broke and then got pinned for stealing everyone's wallets). Yeah, it's...lame. But watching Jay take a swing at Wally while blaming him spouting some Bill O/Lou Dobbs memes was a pretty cool moment. Also, Red Arrow appears to cool shit down. Kind of a funny moment, that. Issue ends with a cliffhanger featuring the return of Gorilla Grodd. Finally! Monkeys!
Grendel #6 - Oh hell yes! Major bad ass happenings in this issue. I knew it was gonna be good when the first issue is some Korean gangster thug getting a lapdance with some big titties flopping up in his grill. Cool shit. Korean dude has to hide out someplace cause they failed in their attempt in killing Grendel a couple of issues back. So off to Manhattan they go. Grendel just follows behind and proceeds to hand them their asses. And hands. And brains. And stabs Korean lapdance guy through the eyes. And the rest of his head. Bloody shit, man. At the end of the issue, Grendel unleashes the potion he got from that weird Haitian dude in the previous issue to uncover his mysterious stalker. Turns out to be a weird, foul-mouthed troll. Huh. Two issues left, so how this plays out will be interesting. The art in this issue was great. Cool two page spread with Hunter Rose just kinda sitting at his desk. Pondering. No action, he's just pissed off with his fingers at his temple. And the cover is probably the best cover of the series. I would expect that to be the front cover of the inevitable hardcover. I'm really enjoying this series. I'll have to re-read the whole thing before the last issue comes out so I can get the whole thing in one go like originally intended.
Incredible Hercules #116 - Fantastic. So it's Herc, Amadeus and Athena driving over to the site where some Celestial on Earth has awakened. They're going over so Athena can have some sort of weird conference with a bunch of Earth deities regarding the recent Skrull invasion (yeah, beginning of a Secret Invasion tie-in). On the way there, Athena schools Amadeus on certain facts of life. Even though he might be one of the smartest people in the world and can find patterns in anything around him, the fact that he can't analyze himself means it's all for shit. When they get there, they see the Celestial is surrounded by idiot hippies worshipping it as a god. A golden god. Sure, it's obvious, but at least Pak is having fun. So Herc goes off to take a leak ("Drain the Hydra," as he says) and runs into a couple of Eternals who think he's one of them (this also ties in with Gaiman's Eternals miniseries, apparently). Now, obviously not, but while Herc is fighting them and they're discussing his history (only in comics can one beat down and talk history and mythology all at once) they cause Herc to question his own past. They tell him, "Dude, you're past you only know through books and stories! How do you know you aren't one of us?" Of course, this is all a mistake because there was a sort of miscommunication between the Celestial and a third Eternal chatting him up. It was a good issue overall. I love the way they use Herc's own mythology in the story as a way to advance the plot. It doesn't bog things down, but really keeps the story moving along rather briskly. Now the story does have one problem. It's a Secret Invasion tie-in. This is the last thing the series needs. It needs to move along independently of the rest of the mainstream Marvel U. Marvel might think it'll help sales, but considering everything that's been happening with the series and characters thus far it can only damage the flow of the series. So at the end of the issue when Athena is addressing this pantheon she just pulls this severed Skrull head out of nowhere. So instead of using the next issue to delve into this shit the Eternals were on about, Greg Pak is gonna have to run telling an editorial mandated story that has nothing to do with the tale he's trying to tell. I don't know, maybe he can really pull something impressive out of his butt. He's a talented enough guy. Very much looking forward to the next issue to see what he does.
Warbound - The start of the issue started the same way the last several issues have ended, with some background on the personality of one of the characters. Namely, Kate Waynesborough. A SHIELD spy, she apparently had a thing for Bruce Banner before he Hulked out and she ditched him. Oooookay. The issue wraps up the story with the Warbound fighting the Leader who's trapped this town under a gamma ray shield, irradiating the residents and calling it "Gammaworld." Lame, yeah. It starts off with some unmanned weapons attacking our group of misanthropic heroes and it turns out they're somehow involved with Waynesborough. Uh...yeah, I missed something in the last issue. In fact, they were only revealed briefly as such on the last page of the last issue and now we're just expected to...accept this? Yeah, the series ends pretty flat. After a bunch of residents are killed by these robots, Hiroim dies fighting the Leader and Kate Waynesborough somehow becomes imbued with his oldstrong power. Cue beatdown, cue mourning of Hiroim, cue more attacking by residents aaaannndddd.....end! Well, I didn't think it was gonna be a great series, but I didn't think it would end so badly either. It actually did have a pretty good story in the beginning, but at the very end the whole affair is sort of brushed off without considering all the hanging threads. So what the fuck is gonna happen with Gammaworld? Are they stuck in the middle of the desert now or...what? And what about Miek? I expect this to lead into another story sometime down the line, but this was just such a letdown.
X-Factor #30 - Picks up at the end of last issue with Mutant Town being taken over by Arcade who in turn was hired by an ex-Purifier to get rid of the last vestiges of ex-mutant kind. Some fun stuff, Guido getting run over by a boulder, Madrox getting his ass handed to him. The characters are searching for a new dynamic. I know this cause Peter David keeps having Madrox say in his narrative how much the team needs a new dynamic. Friggin book needs a new dynamic. Sometimes this series puts out some great shit. Other times I get frustrated how whiny all the characters come off. No addressing of Theresa's pregnancy, no snappy banter worth enjoying...Arcade gets away while the ex-Purifier reveals the whole area is rigged to blow when his heart stops and mentions on the side that he just poisoned himself. Oh, cliffhanger! I bet the next issue starts by moving ast it and mentioning it in an aside. "Oh, thank God they fucked up the wiring, right?" Man, they really need to get Layla Miller back on the team. This shit is suffering without her. This book is a prime example of a series written for TPB form. This isn't a very collectible series, it calls for being picked up in long form.
posted by Robert at 12:51 AM
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