Here's a look at the titles I've read which came out on June 24th and July 1st:
Secret Warriors #5
For a book that’s so different from “Agents of Atlas,” this one actually has quite a bit in common with it. Both books were launched in the wake of the less-than-stellar conclusion of Bendis’ “Secret Invasion.” Both are team books, featuring characters that, while new to the reader, are actually well-woven into the fabric of Marvel Universe continuity. And both are built around or feature large corporate entities in the MU.But While the Agents of Atlas are high-profile characters masquerading as bad guys, Nick Fury’s Secret Warriors (AKA the new Howling Commandos, a much better team name in my opinion) stick to the shadows. This is a young, powerful, wholly inexperienced team of “caterpillars” spurred on by a grumpy old bastard with an eye-patch, attempting to take on one of (if not THE) biggest criminal syndicates in Marveldom. And where Jimmy Woo’s agents are essentially old pros running an elaborate con for the greater good, Fury’s Secret Warriors are a military unit, fighting battles that will never make it into the pages of the Daily Bugle. This is definitely an appealing aspect to this title. While the characters are interesting and compelling, they’re also much more expendable than, say, the Avengers or the Mighty Avengers. Like Kyle and Yost’s New X-Men or Wein and later Claremont’s X-Men of the 70s and 80s, any one of the characters within “Secret Warriors” could get their ticket punched at any minute. That element of suspense just isn’t possible to a certain extent with the big-name books. Wolverine’s always gonna be the best he is at blah blah blah. Spider-Man’s always gonna just barely manage to get out of a tricky situation. The powers that be won’t kill off a major character without a serious golden parachute (a la Cap or Hawkeye). But these guys, these new kids in the Marvel U, are all fair game.
And it doesn’t hurt that this book is co-written by Bendis and Hickman, two of the better comic book writers at any company.
Avengers: The Initiative # 25
Not a lot of good stuff to say about this issue, but not a lot of bad stuff either. This issue continues the ongoing theme that “Initiative” has found itself immersed in lately; that of mediocrity.Not that there weren’t some fun bits. The revelation that Tigra’s apparently got a bun in the oven thanks to an over-enthusiastic Skrull agent impersonating Hank Pym a few months back was fun. And the dozen or so former members of the Initiative who put the “Original” New Warriors band back together decided to change their name to the Avengers Resistance in response to Norman Osborn and H.A.M.M.E.R.’s hostile takeover of the Initiative program. Oh, and Taskmaster’s back to being a supervillian again, which is awesome.
But I really don’t care about fucking MVP and the Spider-Clones. Or Gauntlet. Let’s just sweep all that shit under the rug and move on.
Detective Comics #854
This one looks like the sleeper hit in this week’s pile o’ comics. I bought this title rather reluctantly, not expecting anything good to come of it. “Detective” is, after all, no longer featuring stories about Batman. Instead the title’s been handed over to the “new” Batwoman, a character I’ve been less than enthused about since her reconned return in “52” a few years ago. I was expecting bad things from this title.Sometimes it’s nice to be wrong. “Detective” #854 is definitely one of those times. The art in this issue is AMAZING. I would wholeheartedly recommend this issue to anyone just on the basis of the art. J.H. Williams has outdone himself. Every page layout, every picture was uniquely tailored to fit the tone writer Greg Rucka wanted to set. The story’s solid as well, doing as much as introductory issues can. Rucka gives us a first real look at Batwoman’s alter ego Kate Kane, as well as her supporting cast.
It’s also worth mentioning that the new Batwoman is a lesbian. This is a big step for DC, and Batwoman is their first big character I can think of (beyond her ex, Renne Montoya, the new Question) to come out of the closet. They’re a little bit late on this, but I applaud the gesture.
Ironically, I just read a bit ago that the character of Katherine Kane was originally created in the 1950s to act as Batman’s love interest, after the comic book witch-hunt called Seduction of the Innocent claimed that Batman was a gay pedophile. They brought Kathy Kane in so that there’d be no doubt that Batman was all man. Go figure.
Green Lantern #42
This was an interesting, albeit abrupt, ending to “Agent Orange.” Hal kind of accidentally figures out how to use the Blue Lantern (hope) ring he’d been saddled with for the past few issues, and the Guardians manage to strike up another uneasy truce with Larfleeze, the comical wielder of the Orange Lantern (avarice).Everything’s pretty well wrapped up here, with a sudden conclusion that didn’t really seem to fit the overall pace and build-up of the “Agent Orange” storyline. But on the other hand, this issue showed just how devious and shady the Guardians can actually be, as evidenced by their secret negotiations with Larfleeze and subsequent betrayal of one of their own.
Next month, no more excuses. No more build-up. “Darkest Night” will finally be here. For better or worse.
New Avengers #54
Well, it’s official. There’s a new Sorcerer Supreme in town. I’ve got mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I’m really sorry to see Stephen Strange step out of the spotlight. He’s a great character, one of the most undervalued ones in Marvel’s lineup. Stripping him of the Sorcerer Supreme title seems a little like the end of a really cool era. It’s like saying Gambit doesn’t get to wear a trench coat and throw cards around any more.On the other hand, the show must go on. I’m a big fan of generational continuity, which is something Marvel’s only lately taken a real stab at. To paraphrase Bill Watterson, if nothing ever ended, how would we ever know if anything was good? I’m really enthused about Bendis’ choice for the new Sorcerer Supreme (I won’t say who yet, just in case there’s anyone who hasn’t read the past couple of issues), hopefully this character will find a permanent position on the team. Also, this issue finally dealt with the Hood’s Spawn-like problem of eventually burning out as he got too powerful. He’s got a new power source now, complete with interesting new strings attached. Nicely done.
Thor #602
The Asgardians get comfortable in their new homeland (Doom’s Latveria), Thor uses what’s left of the Odin Force to rebuild his hammer, and Sif is finally found in the nick of time. Meanwhile Baulder struggles with the idea of being guests of a despot, and the mortal William and goddess Kelda push back against those who think Bill’s not a worth suitor.Oh, and Loki’s a guy again. This kind of took me by surprise, but it makes sense now that I think about it. With Sif successfully called back into the Midgard world, Loki got booted out of her shell. One thing I don’t really get though is that the rest of the Asgardians don’t even blink an eye when they see the male Loki again. He’s been visible to them only as a woman since Thor accidentally called him back. Why aren’t the Asgardians weirded out by his sudden remasculization? And now that Sif’s back, how much does she know about Loki’s machinations? God I love this title.
So imagine my dismay to learn that writer J. Michael Straczynski will be leaving the title he’s successfully literally lifted out of the ashes of Ragnarok as of September. This really, really sucks. JMS’s run on Thor has been consistently the best Thor run I’ve ever read. Hopefully it’ll be a great ending. I don’t envy the writer who’ll be taking over on the title after JMS leaves, either. He’s gonna have some big leather war boots to fill.
Incredible Hercules #130
Kind of a slow issue here. Amadeus Cho breaks off from the underworld trial of Zeus to go look for his dead parents, but finds one of the only Marvel characters that died and actually stayed dead instead (knock on wood). Herc tries to explain that his dad’s really not so bad in the grand scheme of things, but kind of only makes things worse. And Zeus tries to pull a Nixon in his defense. Seriously, he literally says “Because you won’t have God to kick around any more!” Which makes sense. Zeus is written as a douche here, acting much like I assume Tricky Dick would have, had he only been the omnipotent ruler of Olympus. Oh, and apparently Herc has an undead doppelganger in Hades (or something). A fun issue overall, but not quite as much fun as this title normally is.Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1
The X-Men are a lot like the mafia; just when you think you’re done reading them, they pull you back in. I dropped almost all of my X-related titles (the exception being “Wolverine”) when Kristen and I moved to Bellingham. My favorite part about the X-Men books was discussing and reminiscing about them with my friend and former coworker Sam; after moving halfway across the country, I didn’t really have the heart to keep picking up X-titles that weren’t really doing anything for me. In all fairness, Mike Carey’s “X-Men: Legacy” was a decent book, but there’s only so much I can read about Professor Xavier without going bald myself.I picked up “Utopia” more out of a reluctant sense of duty than for any other reason. After all, this was a Dark Avengers crossover, so if I wanted the next two issues of “Dark Avengers” to make any sense, I kind of have to pick up the rest of the “Utopia” storyline. Also, I confess I’m interested to see what kind of team the so-called “Dark X-Men” will look like. And Silvestri did the art for this opening issue, so I figured what the hell, I’ll pick it up.
In hindsight, that may have been a mistake. Anti-mutant fundamentalists. An accidental mutant/human riot. Beast getting the shit kicked out of him. White Queen trying on a new outfit. Xavier apparently kidnapped and forced to do something he doesn’t want to. This is just a sampling of the overused clichés and predictable twists this issue is literally stuffed with. So basically, the opening issue of “Utopia” sucked. I’ll probably still pick up the rest of the series, just to see how this trainwreck ends. And I’m still morbidly curious to see what the Dark X-Men team will look like (Namor’s technically a mutant…). But damn. This issue sucked.
X-Factor #45
AAIGHHH!! What the hell, man!?!? Ugh! I don’t care about the gay stuff, but I grew up reading these guys!! Are you TRYING to put me into counseling here, Peter David?!? Enough. Time for a shower, Crying Game style. Gah! Moving on!Dark Avengers #6
It always bugs me when an image on a comic book’s cover has absolutely nothing to do with what’s going on inside the pages. I’m talking about the cover of this issue, specifically, which depicts a showdown of sorts between Venom and a fleeing Marvel Boy. Marvel Boy didn’t even show up once in this issue. Venom had only the briefest of cameos. Fail.Aside from what didn’t happen, though, a lot did go on in this issue. Atlantean terror cells, Cabal meetings, missing alien teammates, you name it. But the underlying focus on this issue seemed to be how Norman Osborn’s only barely managing to keep his shit together. He’s the Director of National Security within the U.S. He’s in charge of H.A.M.M.E.R., his own personal international Gestapo. He’s the chairman of an international cabal of notorious shady characters. He’s the Iron Patriot, the leader of the (Dark) Avengers.
But he’s also a heavily-medicated, mentally unbalanced guy trying to suppress a whole big chunk of green, pumpkin-bomb-throwing, glider-riding, Spider-Man-hating, craziness. And he’s stretched WAY too thin to do it effectively. Good stuff.
Greek Street #1
Well, at least it was only a buck. And, as Neil the comic book shop guy pointed out, there are boobs on the first page, so that makes it automatically worth a dollar.This issue was literally all over the place. Everyone has a name vaguely similar to a figure from ancient Greek myth. Some of the myth motifs are showing up. The concept of this issue, a modern-day retelling of Greek myths and whatnot, is interesting. But writer Peter Milligan seems hell-bent on telling them all at the exact same time. I have absolutely no idea of what I read, everything was just shmooshed together haphazardly. I’ll probably stick with this title a little while just in case it manages to untangle itself, but thus far, “Greek Street” has been a disappointment. Too bad, I had high hopes for this book.
Green Lantern Corps #38
Hopefully somebody kept the receipt for the giant green lantern shell thingy, it must have set the Guardians back some serious dough. Well, the riots are over. And the Guardians, in another act that makes me question their moral compass (see the latest “Green Lantern” for the prior shady act), take a pretty extreme step in ensuring that more riots won’t happen. Meanwhile, the Daxamites utilize their newfound badassery to expel the invading Yellow Lanterns from Daxam. I gotta say, the idea was cool but the action didn’t actually ever happen. In the prior issue, the remaining Green Lantern was talking about going underground to train a resistance. Suddenly, in this issue, the Yellow Lanterns are routed. What the hell?The Sword #18
The last of the three element-controlling bastard children of (a) God has confronted Darah, but in a way I really didn’t see coming. Instead of trying to beat Darah and her sword with the power of wind (she controls the Air element), she’s decided to use public opinion. It’s a great idea; Darah could probably take her out no problem, but now she’s fighting not only the last of the Godlings, but the entire planet (which now thinks she’s some kind of unstoppable, invading evil). This issue also finally wrapped up the several-issue-long throw-down between Darah and the guy who could control the ground. I’m really eager to see how this series wraps up.Batman and Robin #2
Damien is a little bastard, and I love it. It’s fun to see the tough, hard-ass, no mercy character portrayed as a ten-year-old boy. Also, Alfred’s approach to Dick being Batman now was really interesting. I like the concept of Dick looking at the Batman persona as a role, instead of as a hidden part of himself the way Bruce did it. Once again, Frank Quitely’s art was gorgeous. That’s nothing new, though. It plays well with the slight absurdity of the series; this is, it seems, a Gotham more closely related to the Adam West TV show than to the Frank Miller dystopian “Dark Knight Returns.” And that’s great, I think. This is the kind of setting where Dick will thrive as Batman.Bat Quad! Sweet!
Captain America: Reborn #1
Sooo… Cap’s maybe not dead, but stuck in time somewhere? Because he was shot by a… time pistol? And even though that’s really him that died from being shot several times, he’s actually floating around in history like a certain Kurt Vonnegut character?Jesus. This almost makes me want to see Mephisto pop in and play another round of “Let’s Make a Deal.” The premise is painfully bad here, especially if it’s just to bring Steve Rogers back so damn soon. I get the feeling that maybe Brubaker’s gonna try and pull a fast one on us, along the same lines as the bone-claw/adamantium Wolverine switcheroo from several years ago. At least I hope that’s what he’s doing.
Agents of Atlas #7
Last issue, shit got weird when cousins Namor and Namora made out. The situation was made only slightly less weird when it was revealed that they weren’t actually blood relatives, and could therefore procreate to their heart’s content without worrying about having a baby that was born with a third eye or a fifth ankle wing. Although I’m not sure the two knew about the non-relatives thing before they started sucking face. This issue, the wedding gets postponed indefinitely when it’s learned that the feelings Namor and Namora share may have possibly been engineered by Atlantean geneticists hoping to cash in on another god-like human-Atlantean mutant hybrid. Yeah, that’ll put a kink in the pipes. Oh, and there’s a side-story involving dragons fighting genies. Seriously. If you’re not reading this title, you’re really missing out.Best comic of the past two weeks: Tied between Agents of Atlas #7 and Batman and Robin #2.
Worst comic of the past two weeks: X-Factor #45, because it just destroyed all the pleasant childhood memories I had from reading X-Force. What the HELL, man?!
What did you guys think? Any gems I’m missing out on? I heard “Irredeemable” is really good, anyone else reading it?
That's what she said.
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