A Whole Nother New World

I'm going to reiterate that Marvel really does have the top artists working for them. Avengers one is absolutely beautiful. I've followed Opena through Ghost Rider and X-Force and he really keeps improving. Another cool thing is that it has a layout similar to Hickman's Image books which is kind of interesting that a writer has his own recognizable visual aesthetic. The script is solid, but pales in comparison to Hickman's creator-owned work. If I'm going to recommend you buy a book that he's writing, it would be Manhattan Projects. 

The last few pages seem somewhat rushed to move along the plot. Although in today's decompressed era it's a little nice to actually move the plot ,so it's not all bad. My biggest concern with this book is that with it's frequent schedule (every other week for this one and Hickman's  New Avengers will also run every other week so that Avengers will essentially be weekly) they are going to need to change artist for every story arc. Marvel will have other top artists working, but I wonder if it will hurt the consistency of the overall tone.


I wasn't much looking forward to this until I flipped through it. Steve Dillon is another top notch artist great with facial expressions, especially when said faces have bullets running through them. And although I find the Punisher to be one of the most boring popular characters Marvel has, there have been three runs in the past decade or so that I really loved. two of them were drawn by Steve Dillon (with scripts by Ennis and Aaron. In case you were wondering, the third run was Remender's).

Unfortunately the script was lacking. There was very little substance and I felt the humor fell flat (although that's more subjective). They wasted the entire first issue with a team recruiting story. The story focuses around Ross and the Punisher. The other vignettes where the other characters are recruited seems unnecessary and forced in just to remind readers that these characters are on the team (which the cover conveys perfectly).




This series has slowed down a lot since the first issue. The second issue was spent entirely with Wolverine's team and the original X-Men while this issue focuses on Cyclops's team. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I can enjoy a nice slow build (especially when we've already had three issues in the past four weeks it's not that long of a wait at all). The two plots converge at the end of this issue. Let's hope the payoff is big when we get to the next one.













Maybe not as funny as two, but still has a lot of laughs. This is the first Marvel Now book that's officially made my list.

A Whole Nother New World

I actually liked all four comics this week. As much as I love Brian Posehn, the creative team that I was most excited for in all the relaunched books is Aaron and Ribic.How can this not be badass?

I haven't read a lot of Thor recently but this series seems to be a pretty big departure. It doesn't take place on Midgard at all and there is absolutely no tights and cape stuff here. It solely revolves around the mythical aspects of the gods (I guess kind of sci-fi since there are different worlds).

There are three concurrent stories united by the same antagonist. One story taking place hundreds of years ago, one in the present, and one millennia in the future, in what appears to be Thor's final battle.

My only problem was that three stories is a lot to fit in what is now only 20 pages of comic. It doesn't leave a lot of room. Other than that, this was a really cool start.






This was my least favorite book this week. Not that it's bad. But going back to my 20 page point from earlier this seems like all appetizer and no meat. It vaguely establishes what the book is about, but spends most of the time individually introducing and establishing each character. It's something many writers do on their first issue and it always seems redundant. I know this is a number one, but it's not like there was even a month since the last issue. And there have been 600+ issues, two movies, and a few cartoon shows about the Fantastic Four. Nearly (if not) everyone reading this has at least a vague understanding of these characters. It also seems to be a direct continuation from Jonathan Hickman's run.

All in all, this was a decent (albeit slow-paced) issue with really good Mark Bagley art. Since this is tying pretty closely with FF hopefully that premiere will pick up the pace a bit. Otherwise we won't have a story until three issues into the run.

This was the biggest surprise for me. I was a long-time reader of Bendis's Avengers run since the beginning eight years ago. I loved it for a long time, but he's been spinning his wheels for a while now. I dropped it last year and figured that I was just Bendised out. That coupled with the seemingly dumb premise of bringing the original X-Men to modern times, I thought this was going to be awful.

I guess Bendis just needed a change-up because this is a really fun read. It's been my favorite new Marvel book so far. The time-travel aspect was only touched upon towards the end, but it seems like it can be used in some really fun ways. I know time travel never makes sense but it's a cool concept and some of my favorite stories of all time involve it.

This also seems to really move the X-Men along dealing Cyclops's role post-AVX. There are also new characters being introduced now that the "no more mutants" quo is over. Hopefully we get some cool young characters that stick around and are not just a plot device for this one story.

 I've actually haven't read this series since the name changed to Legacy, but I'm pretty sure this is also a pretty big departure since the previous series. Mostly because this isn't about the X-Men. It's about Prof X's son Legion. However I don't blame Marvel's decision for keeping the title. A book titled Legion would probably only sell about a dozen copies.

This is a good starter issue based mainly around character development. Unlike Fantastic Four this is a way way way more obscure character that many people have probably never even heard of. It sets up Legion pretty well and gives glimpses of some weird mutant prison camp.

Scarlet

OK.  So this site really isn't about comic books anymore.  I now get my books monthly, and tried to continue my "Book of the Week" column, but kind of just fell away from it.  How much can I say about Savage Dragon and Fantastic Four every month, anyway?

Quite a lot, actually.  Seriously, you should really be reading FF by now.  It's one of the craziest books there is right now.  Also, I've been meaning to recommend  SHIELD, also by Jonathon Hickman, which is probably like ten times as wild.  Both have amazing artists.  I can't speak highly enough.

Anyway, I just read Scarlet by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, and it's great.  If you don't know, it's a creator owned book on Marvel's Icon imprint.  I'm not going to talk about the plot, but I will say that it's not a superhero book.

I'm not really sure exactly where this is heading, but it's a really stellar first issue, and I'm really happy to see Bendis do some crime stuff again.  Not that I don't like superheroes, but I get enough of them in like 90% of every comic that's been published in the past half century.  Really cool.  Check it out.

Book of the Week

3-17-10

The penultimate issue of this book is another reason why I hate events. Like many of these things, The Siege book itself has been kind of, "OK. This is happening." I haven't been reading many of the spinoffs, but Dark Avengers has had some really cool stuff going on. It seems like this story really could have happened in Bendis' Avengers books and been a pretty strong story. On a similar note, I probably would have really enjoyed Blackest Night if it was just a four or five issue Green Lantern arc. Now, I understand that Marvel and DC are businesses and that profits do take precedence over storytelling, so I'll stop complaining. Anyway, you should read this book, even if you're not buying The Siege. I think it stands up pretty well on its own.

Book of the Week

3-10-10

I realize that, in recent weeks, my page has turned into posts of funny videos, esoteric pictures, terse sentences, and a lot of swearing at sports teams. I'm totally behind with this column, and will try to catch up in the next week or so.

Anyway, I don't think I've mentioned it on this page, but Micheal Avon Oeming is one of my favorite artists (and a really good writer, too) out there. This issue is a prime example of why.

After the To Be Continued:

"Holy Lord. We took it all the way to the back cover. Why? Because Mike drew this one big."

This comic has 41 pages of art (including the inside back- cover) and no ads. For a story that is usually told through many panels and dense dialogue, this issue is very sparse with huge panels. Oeming created a very cool and unique layout that really captures the essence of Noir in what is essentially an issue long, very exciting car chase.

Book of the Week

2-17-10

I'm really happy that they're finally doing something cool with the Sentry in the Avengers books. For years, he's kind of been this Deus Ex Machina-type character:

"[Powerful villain] is attacking!"
"Get Bob!"
"He's crying in a corner somewhere!"

Flash to end of battle.

"Bob, pull yourself together. We need you."
"OK."

Sentry ends fight.

Since Norman Osborne's formed his Avengers in this title, he's been manipulating the mentally unbalanced Bob Reynolds (Sentry) to further his purpose. Now his chickens are coming home to roost as Reynolds learns that Osborne's intentions may not be as noble as he's made them out to be. Now, Osborne has to deal with a hostile (and still loony) Sentry.

Although I feel that The Siege has been a little drawn out (it seems like the story could have been told in an over-sized one-shot), the character-developing tie-in issues have been very good. I'm looking forward to seeing Osborne's team dismantled.

Fuck You, Brian Michael Bendis

Marvel recently released The Siege #1, and I am not happy with writer Brian Michael Bendis. Not because the book lacked in quality; it was a pretty decent setup of the miniseries.

I'm also not critical (like many others) that the story's catalyst is similar to that of Civil War. I thought CW was unreadable and maybe could have been better if Bendis had written it. Now, maybe I'll find out.

I'm even overlooking the pretentious in-house ads. Seven years from what? Bendis started his Avengers run in mid-2004. Secret Wars started shortly before that.

What really grinds my gears is the way that Bendis kills off beloved characters without even a thought of how the fans feel. I am not talking about Hawkeye. It was cute when Hawkeye got offed in Avengers: Dissasembled. Hell, it was downright hilarious when he killed him again the following year in House of M.

What I am very upset about is that in The Siege #1, is that the entire Chicago Bears team get blown up. Totally not cool. What? Just because they haven't played that well the past couple of seasons, Marvel thinks they can kill a classic football team on one page and that no one cares. The only silver lining is that we don't know who da Bears are playing. I suppose it could be Dallas. I mean, really. No funeral with Cap and Spidey and everyone crying.

And what about one-shots? Why hasn't Marvel released special books that show different heroes reacting to this. I'm not going to be happy until I see a Da Bears: Rebirth series.

In protest, I am not going to advise a boycott. I think its going to be a really good story. Actually, I don't really care if it does suck. I'm so nerdy, I'm just giddy thinking about Cap, Iron Man, and Thor back together.

What I advise people to do is for Bears fans to go to Marvel offices and disrupt work by doing the Superbowl shuffle through the halls (possibly naked). If don't know the dance:



If that seems like too much, send mail to:

brian1138@aol.com

Also, anyone who thinks that that is the siiliest sports song should watch this: