Hey, Mom! The Explanation.

Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.

Also,

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Weekly Comics for 1404.16


Weekly Comics for 1404.16

Once again, here I am writing about comics and falling farther and farther behind with these weekly posts all the time. The daily deadline of the T-shirt blog propelled me to finish these more quickly. This one is now over two months old, and I am still laboring over it. Will I ever catch up? Stay tuned. UPDATE: When I first wrote the previous sentences this post was over a month old. I just had to revise it. :-)

Being as behind as I am is very frustrating, as you may imagine, if you have been reading my work over the last year-plus. I have gone from writing and publishing every day -- and even if I fell behind, I caught up within a few days, except for the final two months of my T-shirt blog, which features six unfinished entries -- to a new slow-growth model, in which my last post (as of writing these words) was over a month ago, and each week, I write "skip" on my to-do list for writing more days than I cross it out as a an accomplished goal. For instance (since I am pathological about keeping track), I only crossed off writing as an accomplished goal three times last week (being the week of 1405.26-1406.01, though, now, last week I did no writing), which was actually a high for the month of May given that I only wrote twice the week before and only once the two weeks prior to that. All of which is to say that I have not been writing as much as I would like in the last two months, which is more about taking a class, looking for work, and an increased need for work outdoors than it is about anything else.

So, on to comic books in a minute, but first...

ON BLOGGING, WRITING, AND WORK

For readers of my T-shirt blog, my grand plans have been a bit derailed by life, but I am working hard to circle the wagons. I do intend to return to the T-shirt blog soon. First, I will finish the seven unfinished entries, which you could find if you go look. Second, I will begin producing new entries at a moderately steady pace, given the way things have been going, I will be happy if I post weekly, but I think a schedule of two-three times a month may be more realistic. And then I am also trying to squeeze in fiction writing, which you will hear more about here if I can get enough in the can.

On the subject of fiction writing, I was reading Uber #12 recently, in which Kieron Gillen always has a postscript essay of remarks about his story, Uber, World War II history, and sometimes just whatever he fancies writing about that day. In issue #12, he wrote that he does not "believe in writer's block." He explained that anyone can write when inspired, but that writing is work, and the true measure of success is to write when one has to force one's self to write. These words struck home because they are the same things I have said my entire life about writing and have struggled to put into practice.

One of my original goals with last year's T-shirt blog was to force myself to produce some writing every day. Though life, work, family, and chaos forced me to skip some days, post incomplete skeletons of works in progress, or not devote as much time to the writing as I could on other days, I did manage to post a blog entry EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR A YEAR, which means that I did something. Even if I did not give myself that daily one hour minimum in the chair writing, I did some writing, I crafted an entry or some part of an entry, and then I posted SOMETHING. Often, this was not an easy task. It was work, and, more than one time, at the end of the day, I scurried to post something while negotiating with my family to allot me at least a few minutes to do so.

Originally, I thought the T-shirt blog would be a daily warm up. The posts would always be short and sweet. I would write some pithy remarks about my T-shirt, add a picture or three, and then post the results to my blog before moving on to devote myself to continuing work on one of my novel projects. I saw myself carving out at least an hour a day, and sometimes more, for this work. Gradually, the blog grew and grew in time spent and length of entries. I remember a two day period of July fourth and fifth during which I literally spent all day creating the blog entries for those days. (For the interested, this work can be seen with entries T-shirt #105 and T-shirt #106.) Though the text itself for both of these does not carry on at the kind of length one would think I could produce in an entire day of writing, much of the work on these entries involved research, finding web sites, culling through comic book art, and in the case of #105 creating my first ever You Tube video.

The T-shirt blog did not work as a warm up. It became the main writing occupation of my life for 365 days. And now that I have ceased daily transmission, as of March 21st, I have not maintained the daily writing regimen that I thought I had locked into place in my life and my schedule. Thus, the point of my explanation here is to re-commit myself to daily writing. I will finish the outstanding entries of weekly comics for this blog, finish the unfinished ones for the T-shirts blog, start working on new entries, and begin the slow process of filling cans with fiction episodes that I plan to release here to the kind and loving audience I discovered during my year of T-shirt bloggery (and yes, "bloggery" is a word I have made up).

Thank you for reading and stay tuned.

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RE: SPOILERS: I don't have to explain that you read at your own risk, right?
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WEEKLY COMICS LIST

The week of April Sixteenth was a great week for comic books. Just look at that list (see farther below). Excellent stuff. Difficult choices in rankings. And as I write this on 1405.07 and then finishing on 1407.01, all the issues Sinestro #1 and below still sit in my back log. I just had my bi-monthly free day for rest, relaxation, and reading of comic books, and I managed to get through just ONE comic book and none in the back log. So, the back log is still a bit on the large size. UPDATE: I managed two solid afternoons of comic book reading in June. I cleared the back log of things like Batman Eternal but I still have not read that issue of Sinestro.

What follows are some comic book reviews and general comments on comics for 1404.16.

UPDATE AS OF 1405.22: As you may note, I am still not done with this entry over a month after the release of these comic books, which calls into question my entire approach with writing, scheduling, and time. ANOTHER UPDATE AS OF 1407.01: Still not done but planning to finish this today one way or another.

I wrote about Superior Spider-Man #030 in the entry for Weekly Comics for 1403.26, and I claimed that Marvel botched the return of Peter Parker with a rush job. However, in that entry, I claimed to do a more extensive review later. Okay, here it is...


 Superior Spider-Man #030 and #031

My biggest problem with Superior Spider-Man #030 was in the quick resolution of the ongoing story line.

After 30 issues of stories, and over a year of our time (since January of 2013) within a few short pages Doctor Octopus ("Doc Ock")decides that Peter Parker is truly the better hero and the only one capable of saving his love, Anna Maria, from the clutches of the Green Goblin. But this epiphany was neither set up nor executed well.

Since Doc Ock transferred his consciousness to Peter Park/Spider-Man's body, leaving Parker's consciousness in his own failing and dying body, Otto Octavius has been in full command of the Spider-Man identity, believing himself to be the "Superior Spider-Man." Somehow, Peter's consciousness survived the death of Doc Ock's original body and returned to his own body, sharing mindscape space, described as a "memory fragment." At one point during the story line, finding Parker's memories (and identity) too intrusive, Doc Ock eradicated the consciousness of the body's rightful host, and it seemed as if the real Peter Parker was gone for good. But like so many things in the Marvel Universe, though "dead," he is never gone, especially with a trademark to keep in force and a new major motion picture due to be released. Thus, eventually, as a teaser to all good Marvel fans who knew that at same point Peter Parker's consciousness would return to full control of his body allowing him to resume his role as Spider-Man, though lost and feeling his identity slipping away, the Parker consciousness resurfaced in the mindscape but hid its existence from the controlling consciousness, Doc Ock, lest it be eradicated once and for all (again and maybe for good).

Meanwhile, the Green Goblin began terrorizing New York. Having compromised Ock's spider bot legions, and infecting Peter's last girlfriend Carly with Goblin venom, Osborn (the Goblin) has learned Carlie's secret: Doc Ock's consciousness is alive and has been in control of Spider-Man's body for some time. During all of this, somehow, in the midst of all these battles, Peter Parker reclaimed all his memories and his identity within the mindscape, which was handled well enough with a beautiful two page splash featuring art from the 52 year history of Spider-Man comics (see above).

But that's as far as the quality story telling progresses (and I am leaving out the threads of several sub-plots). The rejuvenated Parker consciousness gives Doc Ock a scolding (see right): "You screwed up, Otto. When there's time, you weigh options. When there's not, you act. And you always do the right thing. Even if it means giving up the advantage...like I just did. You know I'm here now, and I know that means: round two." By this statement, Peter declares that he is ready to go consciousness-to-consciousness with Otto for control of his body.

Here's where the story could have become VERY interesting. An epic struggle should have ensued, as it should have been no easy task for Peter Parker to wrest control of his body away from the tenacious and ingenious Doc Ock. What if Peter had been able to transfer his consciousness elsewhere? Or what if he could establish himself such that Ock cannot eradicate him, making him a permanent, part-time resident in his former body and able to regain control of his body for limited periods of time? Or what if Parker could pretend to be eradicated and slowly insinuate himself into Otto's consciousness until he takes over completely, like the slow freeze of water when subjected to sub-freezing temps? Or the creative team should have done something I have not thought of because there was a lot of potential here.

But no. Nothing like that happened. Rebuked by Peter's lecture, Ock webs his way to Parker Industries, the company he founded in Peter's name after earning his PhD from Empire University, and willingly, without a fight, dons his consciousness controlling gizmo, and "erases" his own consciousness. In three pages, with neither struggle nor adequate story development, without making sense of Ock's maniacal control, his schemes, his arrogance, his plans, his core personality, within a few panels, he claims that PETER is the Superior Spider-Man, and the only one who can save Anna Maria, Ock's lover. And he disappears, leaving Peter to put on the traditional Spider-Man suit--discarding Ock's upgraded version--to resume his role as the Amazing Spider-Man.

I really enjoyed the run of Superior Spider-Man. Though the comics sometimes fell lower in my weekly stack than one would think given this touting, they held their ground in the top third; after Spider-Man punched Black Cat in the face, they often took position in the top five. And yet this so-called resolution of the story was weak and not at all on par with the story telling of the previous 30 issues. It was as if the movie studio phoned and  insisted that Peter Parker be put back in control of his body and return to being Spider-Man before the movie's May release, which forced Slott and crew to abandon a more protracted and longer resolution of the story and resort to this quick fix.

I must confess that the creative team, led by writer Dan Slott, has done an excellent job on the Superior Spider-Man series. But this resolution was very, very disappointing.

This brings me to one of the comics from this week, The Superior Spider-Man finale issue #31. See the link following for some art previews and pages.

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN SERIES FINALE

After the rushed switch from Doc Ock's control to Peter Parker's control, the follow up issue in which Peter stops the Goblin Nation menace and returns to his life redeemed the story sequence somewhat from the let-down of the previous issue.

The story opens as the Goblin taunts Anna Maria Marconi with his dominance of New York and her imminent death, Peter reveals to Carlie (as seen in the page to the left) that he is back in control of Spider-Man, his own body, and tries to figure out a way to defeat the Green Goblin. Carlie has been "cured" (a work in progress as the after effects linger) of the Goblin formula and has a touching moment with Peter once he reveals it's him in the suit.

In a move characteristic of the REAL Peter Parker, he calls his Aunt May to check that she is all right before heading off to engage the Goblin Army. Battles ensue, and in the end, Spider-Man saves both Anna Maria--using a maneuver he could not make when he failed to save Gwen Stacy years ago--and the Green Goblin, who was also plummeting to his death. Ultimately, the Goblin escapes, and Spidey makes good with the Spider-Man from the future and his supposed girlfriend Anna Maria. As a final MacGuffin, little Normie (Norman Osborn's grand son) is shown looking maniacal, setting up a future story line.

Follow up features in the double-size comic show Peter reconnecting with loved ones, including some much needed resolution with Mary Jane, who says she cannot be part of Peter's crazy life. Mary Jane also connects with Carlie Cooper, who is still feeling the after effects of the Goblin formula. Carlie is headed out of town, but she confirms for Mary Jane that Peter was telling the truth about Doc Ock being in control of his body for so long. Lastly, there's some much needed resolution for Jonah Jameson's Mayorial stint that ties up some more of the loose threads left over from recent Spider stories. All in all, this comic is a better and more fitting end to the long Superior Spider-Man saga than the previous issue, but this capstone does not make up for the weak conclusion to the Peter-Doc Ock battle for control of the body of Spider-Man.

MORE ABOUT THE WEEKLY COMICS LIST

So much for sound bites and blurbs, eh?

Here's some delightful and tantalizing links for some of the comics in this week's batch.

WINTER SOLDIER - THE BITTER MARCH #3 - PREVIEW

JUSTICE LEAGUE #29

WHY IS YEAR ZERO CALLED YEAR ZERO? BATMAN 30

GOTHAM SPOILERS

BATMAN #30 = GOTHAM SPOILERS



I was very much looking forward to the Winter Soldier - The Bitter March series based on the cover art and advertisements alone. I had meant to offer a full review of the first issue in one of my T-shirt blog posts from February (which is still unfinished). Now, I am more inclined to render a review of the story's completed arc (in a future post here). It's a good comic, though, and a fitting companion to the other work in the Winter Soldier canon so far. It's no surprise (to me at least) that this issue takes the top spot in my stack for this week.

More to come in a future extended review, especially since as I write this, the fourth issue of The Bitter March has debuted on 1405.28. Stay Tuned. I write "stay tuned" a lot, don't I?

I wrote about Justice League #28 in the T-shirt blog with T-shirt #337-Underdog, this next installment with Justice League #29 is a worthy follow up, even though issue #28 topped my stack for 1402.19 whereas this one takes third for this week. I still do not like Gold's hair. And though it was great to see the Metal Men work with Cyborg in this issue, and though it was interesting to see the Metal Men take the forms of the Justice League on the cover, this (the Justice League imitation) is not something that happens in the comic book and thus proves to be a disappointment. I have more to say about the Metal Men and several Metal Men T-shirts to share, so stay tuned. (Obviously, "stay tuned" is my favourite phrase.)


Okay, sure. It's a great idea to have the Metal Men meet Cyborg. Sort of a robot-to-part robot thing. The metal like hair works for Platinum, always has, but Gold just looks stupid. I know that the hair thing works for the premise of the robots and their personalities. They try to be actual people, close to human. Gold would probably give himself hair. I just do not like the look of it at all.

This issue is just all right. My love for the Metal Men surely carries me through it. But the Metal Men are under utilized. There's a great deal of back story connecting to Forever Evil and more investigating and standing around than there should be, with the Metal Men almost as decorations rather than active participants.

Eventually, there's a battle sequencer in which the Metal Men get to do something, but it's not very much as the real conflict shifts inside Cyborg's computer brain. This culminates in the image below. Cyborg will save the Justice League. Ho hum. I wanted more Metal Men action.




Batman: Zero Hour: Final Act #30



I love the amount of Bat related bloggery that can be found on the Internet. See the links above, especially the Gotham Spoilers site. Very cool.

Batman - the Zero Year stories have proven to be consistently one of DC best comics for some time. Though I would rate Green Arrow slightly ahead of it in story quality and innovation to the form, and I am partial to Aquaman, Batman is arguably DC's best comic. Though this claim is a bit spurious as there are several DC comics that I do not read, such as Swamp Thing, Animal Man, and Batwoman, all of which are touted highly by someone at some time or other.

Re-telling the Joker's origin and the establishment of a Red Hood Gang provided fans with some of the best Batman stories in years, but the follow up with the Riddler has been even better. In the current Zero Year story arc, the Riddler has taken over Gotham City as its ruler with the help of Poison Ivy. (Please note that the story takes place in the past, removed from the current DC "present.") One of the strengths of the Zero Year Batman stories is the exploration of Bruce Wayne's past, both the early days of Batman and even farther back, such as in the opening sequence of this issue (see a panel from the sequence above). The issue opens with Bruce dreaming through a memory of scaling the girls' dorm in boarding school to entice Julie Madison to come exploring with him, sharing a map of Gotham, which turns up as the title page. It's always very cool to look at maps of Gotham City (more on this in a minute). But the flashback turns grisly when Julie Madison ends up with a bullet hole oozing blood in her head. I did not take this to be a memory of his dead parents, though I should have. Any bullet wound is a recurring image of his parents and their murder for Bruce and Batman.


Bruce Wayne/Batman wakes up in the apartment of a kid named Duke, whom Bruce saved in the first issue of this Zero Year sequence, and when Bruce looks out the window, he is faced with the vista shown in the two-page splash right and at the top of the blog entry.

The story's greatest flaw is the timing, but otherwise this comic is an excellent exploration of Batman's early years and Bruce Wayne's childhood (which continues in issue #31, which I read last night as I am writing these words on 1406.04 and still not finished near the end of June I have read issue #32 also. Stay tuned for more reviews).

Batman learns that the Riddler employed "Dr. Isley's stolen research" (AKA, Poison Ivy) to accelerate the dilapidation of overgrown Gotham. Scott Snyder's narrative remains vague about the actual timing (which in the next issue is revealed to be 27 days), but I felt that the condition of Gotham was too extreme given the time period involved. But the idea is very cool. The Riddler has taken over Gotham. Police Captain Gordon is on the street, heading up a very small band of resistance fighters. Batman is missing, and the citizens of Gotham are cowed and beaten into submission by a mad dictator (the Riddler) who kills any who oppose him in his Riddle game, reminiscent of the old Roman Coliseum. Here's the recap pages below.
Batman gets back to work right away with limited resources, cut off from Wayne Manor and the Bat Cave. In the end, he rescues the resistance fighters and Gordon from a Riddler trap of toppling buildings, falling one over the other like dominoes. Batman stays hidden until the big reveal at the end of the issue as Gordon introduces him as "the $%$^! psycho in a bat suit!" Ready for action in the next issue (which I will write about later).

MAPS OF GOTHAM: I am a huge fan of maps. I still like using paper maps or even better the laminated folding maps that became popular for their ease and durability prior to the Smart Phone, virtual map era. I still prefer the paper/laminated versions because I can take in larger vistas of the mapped area than I can see on the phone screen. Much like, looking through a paper book offers different searching methods and results than searching a digital version. So imagine my excitement, when Batman #30 contained an updated map of Gotham City.

I always imagined that Metropolis was the DC fictional version of New York, which would make Gotham City either Boston or Baltimore; at least, in my mind, it worked well that way. But others have established different interpretations. Frank Miller called Gotham City: "New York at night," which makes Metropolis the day time version. William Safire saw Gotham City as a mirror or Lower Manhattan. In past DC history, Metropolis and Gotham were shown as twin cities, separated by a Bridge over "the Narrows."

In any case, I was thrilled to see an updated Gotham map for the New 52, one that remained more or less faithful to the 1999 version by Eliot R. Brown.

In a recent issue of the Justice League, it was mentioned that Gotham City and Metropolis are sister cities, like night and day in a sense. Apparently, in a really tall building, like Lexcorps Tower, Gotham can be seen from Metropolis.


Hulk: Who Shot Bruce Banner? #001

I have to confess that I had not been enjoying the recent Hulk comics by Mark Waid and Leinil Yu (and other artists). I have great respect for Waid's writing. His recent work on Daredevil has been top-notch, and so I was excited to see him take on the Hulk. But a comic is a blend of writing and art, and no matter how good a writer is, if the art is not good, the comic will not be very good either.

Over my many years of reading comics, I have found that my favourite writers cannot overcome bad art. If the art is not working to tell the story in a way that I find sensible and appealing, then I am not going to like the book no matter how good the writing may be. Such was the case with Waid's Indestructible Hulk, and the chief reason, I have not reviewed it. I tend to steer clear of wasting precious blog space on negative reviews. But with another reboot, I was excited to see Mark Bagley take over, teaming with Waid, on a new Hulk comic.

The story here is also very intriguing. "Who Shot Bruce Banner?" as the cover depicts would have drawn me to the book even without the promise of Mark Bagley, whom I might count in a top ten of favorite currently working artists (though this would be a difficult list to make).

The comic opens in the middle of the story. Bruce Banner has already been shot, and surgeon is being brought in by a security team to "fix" him. The issue's first big reveal is the moment the surgeon sees that his patient is Bruce Banner, aka the Incredible Hulk.

To my knowledge, this is the first time a story has explored what would happen if Bruce Banner underwent some surgery, especially brain surgery. Given Banner's propensity to "Hulk out," an operation is a risky venture.

If this story premise is not intriguing enough, it is soon quite obvious that something is sketchy with the security detail, who want the surgeon to add an implant to Banner's brain as a means to control him and thus the Hulk. As an added layer, the surgeon actually met Bruce Banner back in their high school days,

Given the look of the sun-glassed agents, it seems that either S.H.I.E.L.D. or some other government agency is up to something nefarious, but not so fast! This is not the government. As the agents reveal that they are not with S.H.I.E.L.D. The surgeon has a tough choice. With one slip of the scalpel, he could rid the world of the Hulk or, now, with the new wrinkle, rid the world of a Hulk controlled by some nefarious secret agency (Hydra? A.I.M.? It's not made clear).

But the Hulk has his fan base. Before the implant can be placed in Banner's brain, a nurse pulls the plug on the anesthetic because the Hulk saved her family: "he is not a monster!"

Right on schedule--as no Hulk story is complete without some Hulking out about midway through the tale--Banner goes green and Hulky, though he still sports a big hole in the back of his head, though this area is somewhat protected by the "healing" effect of the Hulk transformation. Hulk gets away, but the surgery has affected his brain, and he soon passes out. Jump ahead two weeks, now we see that S.H.I.E.L.D. is involved. But there's a terrible problem. Bruce Banner has suffered "irreversible" brain damage: "he will never be smart again."

I have not enjoyed an issue of a HULK comic this much in a very long time. Looking forward to more great work from Waid and Bagley.





Uncanny X-Men #020

I really like Chris Bachalo's art. His work does not make for an easy read, so often I will drop the comic in my stack and rank it lower. This lower rank should not be mistaken for lack of interest. It's a matter of the speed with which I can absorb the comic. Bachalo takes time.

I like that Bachalo colors his own finished art. In this issue, he penciled the art, and then used a slew of inkers (six in all) to finish his work, and then he did colors. Bachalo is a master of tints, shadowy S.H.I.E.L.D. agents tinted in purple with heavy inks are set next to characters in more realistic colors when they step into the light. Even with all these inkers on his work, Bachalo's style is very uniform. There's a cartoony quality to it, but there's also great attention to detail. The finished work also mixes media, such as an actual copied and reduced Howard the Duck comic book cover from the 1970s on the wall of one of the character's apartments and later an actual still image from a video feed on a monitor in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. I am an avid fan of Bachalo, who would be another candidate for the top ten currently working artists list. Also, how cool is the new Cyclops visor-free costume?

Ms. Marvel #003

When I first saw the ads for the new Ms. Marvel book, I was excited. I loved the idea of a Muslim-American comic character. I wrote about this news in my T-shirt blog in T-shirt #235 (reprinted here). I LOVED the first cover image. But I was not impressed with the first issue. I was slightly more impressed with issue #2. And now, with issue #3, I am definitely a fan.

I enjoyed Adrian Alphona's work on Runaways, one of my very favourite comics of recent years. Alphona spices his art with flavors of old style newspaper strips, a loose, sketchy style that gives the comic an endearing yet smart quality.

The story telling by G. Willow Wilson is beautiful. Kamala, the main character, is a very real girl, trying to understand her new powers and how to both do good work with them and how to be a good daughter and a good Muslim. The story takes us inside a New Jersey Mosque. We also see Kamala in school as her powers flare up unexpectedly.The dialogue is a crisp and realistic, especially the scenes with her family that are peppered with ethnic-specific terms of endearment.

Since I am behind schedule in writing, I just read issue five, and this comic just keeps getting better and better. I hope it survives an early cut and is not canceled any time soon.

REPRINTED CONTENT FROM T-shirt #235 


MARVEL ANNOUNCES NEW MS. MARVEL SERIES

First up is the new "Ms. Marvel." The Marvel Comics Company must renew trademarks, and with the previous Ms. Marvel (who has been known by many names) taking the mantle of Captain Marvel (a smart move given her history), it's time for a new Ms. Marvel. Nerd magnet Stephen Colbert satirized a reaction in a link farther below, shared by Charles Skaggs.

FROM WORD OF THE NERD ONLINE (see link):
Ms. Marvel will center on 16-year-old Kamala Khan, a Muslim-American teenager living in Jersey City, New Jersey.  Like any teenager, all of her opportunities are in front her and she is full of potential, but her parents’ high expectations come with tons of pressure and has led Kamala to carve out a future that she has little interest in.
 “At her core, Kamala is just a 16-year-old girl, exploring the many facets of her identity when she is suddenly bestowed with super-human powers that send her on the adventure of a lifetime,” says Marvel Comics Editor In Chief Axel Alonso.



 The series, and its central character, are brought to life by an all-star creative team, led by acclaimed novelist and multi-Eisner nominee, G. Willow Wilson (Air, MysticAlif The Unseen). Her writings about modern religion have appeared in such outlets as New York Times’ Magazine and The Atlantic.  Critically-acclaimed artist Adrian Alphona (RunawaysUncanny X-Force) brings his vivid artistry to the project capturing the vibrantly rich and kinetic world in which Kamala lives.
Thor: God of Thunder #021

Since Jason Aaron took over this comic, Thor has been revitalized. Starting with the God Butcher story and now moving on to the Last Days of Midgard story, featuring a show down with Galactus and Thor's great-great grand daughters, this comic has consistently produced excellence, even though I never rank it in my top five. Much like with Bachalo's work, these Thor issues are top five worthy, but they are dense enough that I will save them and place them lower in the stack. At some point, I may write more about my rating system, but clearly the speed with which I can read the comic factors into its placement in the stack. Esad Ribic's art is phenomenal.

Aaron has done many smart things with this comic. The God Butcher saga featured Thor from three time periods, our present, several hundred years in the past, and many millenia in the future. Likewise, this story features far, far future King Thor battling Galactus on an earth devoid of human life, a wasteland. Current Thor battles with a CEO of Roxxon, who is eventually revealed to be an actual mythic Minotaur. However, the Roxxon CEO defeats Thor with laws of the land, lawyers and litigation, which is something that Thor cannot easily throw his hammer at.

This comic is another example of why Marvel is arguably outperforming DC in the quality department.

Stray Bullets: Killers  #2

Last, but not the least of these, in my comic reviews for this blog entry, I share some words about Stray Bullets. Though it originally seemed a derivative of Tarantino's film Pulp Fiction, Stray Bullets established itself from 1995-2005 as one of the premier "independent" comics. Now, under the Image banner, David Lapham's Stray Bullets returns with excellent story telling, characterization, and B&W aesthetic. Relaunched in 2014, Lapham finished his unfinished Stray Bullets story, left off in 2005 with issue 40, and then launched a new story, "Killers," which is fantastic.





COMICS FOR 1404.16

Winter Soldier: The Bitter March #003
Superior Spider-Man (Series Finale) #031
Justice League #29
Hulk: Who Shot Bruce Banner? #001
Batman: Zero Hour: Final Act #30
Uncanny X-Men #020
Ms. Marvel #003
Thor: God of Thunder #021
Amazing X-Men #006
Nova #016
Stray Bullets: Killers  #2
Batman and Wonder Woman #30
Sinestro #1
X-Men #013
Ultimate FF #001
Birds of Prey #30
Wonder Woman #30
Solar: Man of the Atom #1

BACK LOG

Batman Eternal #2 - at the time this was back log, but I have since read it.
God is Dead #11

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1407.01 - 10:05

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Weekly Comics for 1404.09


yes, we're blurry...
it's appropriate
Weekly Comics for 1404.09

Apparently, I am unable to finish my weekly comics lists posts during the week after I buy the comics. Here it is a week later,
..... uh, how about nearly three weeks later now as I write this text. If I do not get this written today, it WILL BE three weeks later. Yikes....
and I am just now finishing the comics for the ninth of April and have already bought and began the post for the comics from April 16th.... um, and the 23rd, and tomorrow is the 30th. Yikes...

I just posted last week's comic list yesterday on Thursday 1404.10.

I am endeavoring to be more on time since I am feeling better and taxes are done, which are the things that delayed me before. BUT that was not to be the case. I did not get caught up as the previous text indicates. I was in a tough programming course, plus work for my job, plus family stuff, plus.... there's so much. It's difficult to summarize. But I am back on track (I hope) with thoughts on the comics for the week of April 9th.


An exciting set of comics debuted this week with some tough choices. For fans of my T-shirt blog, I am big fan of Marvel's Iron Fist character who ranked 8th on my favorite Marvel non-Franchise superhero list as seen originally in T-shirt #119 but reprinted here in T-shirt #322: Curious George. My Iron Fist T-shirt won a spot early in my blog year at T-shirt #27.

After learning of the new comic and the upcoming Netflix TV show, I have been mulling the idea of re-visiting and expanding my original Iron Fist entry on the T-shirt blog, though this would require going back in time, adding news not released yet to a former entry, which seems kind of wrong. Also, I have additional Iron Fist ideas, which I would like to include.

Whether I will write new Iron Fist material here or in the T-shirts blog I have yet to decide.

Given how much I love the Iron Fist, the new Iron Fist - The Living Weapon would have been in the number one spot this week except the interior art is not quite as good as Romita Jr. or Greg Land and both of those comics have a strong stories and cliff hangers.

The cover is SUPER IMPRESSIVE as seen here. But it took third place because of the excellence of both Kick Ass and Mighty Avengers.

Those interested may wish to explore the following links. I apologize in advance for the intrusive ads. But there's some thoughtful consideration of the planned TV shows with Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, all of which culminate in a Defenders mini-series.

MARVEL, NETFLIX TO DEVELOP DEFENDERS MINISERIES EVENT

IRON FIST AND NETFLIX DEAL

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SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS 
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS 
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS 
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
RE: SPOILERS: I don't have to explain that you read at your own risk, right?

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WEEKLY COMICS LIST

I started my weekly reading with Kick Ass because Kick Ass  volume three has kicked ass. It may be the best of the lot so far. I hesitate to make this claim about the righteousness of Kick Ass 3 categorically without re-reading the first two volumes of Kick Ass and watching both movies (one again and the second for the first time as I have not seen it), but I do not have time for that devotion right now. So, suffice it to say that I feel quite strongly that, without cogent arguments to the contrary, this Kick Ass is the best Kick Ass.

It's funny. I have a distinct memory of reviewing Kick Ass over on the T-shirt blog. And I did give it a mini-review in T-shirt #229 back on November 5th. But the memory comes from PLANS I had to review the previous issue, Kick Ass 3 #6, in an as yet unfinished blog entry from February 14th, a blog entry, coincidentally, that I have first on my list to complete if I were to ever catch up on the work here.

The exploration of the main characters, which are Kick Ass himself, Dave Lizewski, and Hit Girl, who is Mindy McCready, is one of the things that keep me coming back for more and prompted me to rank this issue so highly.

Two moments, both with lines from Hit Girl, were the best things about the comic. The first moment is the set of panels above, in which Hit Girl calls Kick Ass a pussy. Hilarious and awesome. And then there's the great bit below in which, foul-mouthed Hit Girl (Mindy), tells Kick Ass (Dave): "Let's not pat each other's dicks just yet..." AWESOME. Kind of brings everything into perspective, eh? If only we all had a Hit Girl to nail down a moment and makes us aware of out goofy tendency to make our own lives melodramatic. Then again, when you're busting a super assassin child out of prison and gearing up to slaughter the remaining mob bosses and soldiers, your life IS a bit melodramatic, I mean really.

I assumed every fun-loving comic geek has been enjoying the thrill ride that is Kick Ass since its inception several years ago (pre-movies), the John Romita Jr. art alone is reason enough dig deep and drink heartily if this beautiful comic book. And yet, a certain fellow at my local comic shop tells me that he does not read it and is not a big Mark Millar fan, citing some hearsay from the Internet comic gossip mill about some alleged shenanigans of Mark Millar in stealing the true and honest work of Grant Morrison. I have no idea whether this factoid is true or not, but it does not matter. I have been enjoying Kick Ass while ignorant of this gossip tidbit, and I will continue to enjoy Kick Ass, whether I choose to believe that Mark Millar is a thieving son of a bitch or not (I am not sure I believe it).

Nevertheless, whether the work of a credit stealing douche bag or not, the finer points of Kick Assthat I have cited are still valid and worth the time and attention of anyone interested in comic books, especially those offering some alternative to the standard superhero fare.


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Mighty Avengers #009

Did I see coming the revelation of the identity of Ronin in the Mighty Avengers? Of course not. Early theories (as this story has been in development since 2005) proved false, and then new twists were introduced. Originally, Ronin was Maya Lopez and later Clint Barton (Hawkeye). I had a theory at some point that Ronin was secretly Daredevil. Adding a new spin, upon the release of the Mighty Avengers last year, one of these new "Mighty" Avengers was a character named "Spider Hero," who was clearly NOT Spider-Man or any of the associated spider people (clones) or characters. Farther along in the series, this Spider Hero donned the old Ronin togs left behind by Clint Barton. In this issue, his identity is revealed as BLADE, which is a nice twist, and a character that deserves to become on of the legion of ten thousand characters (or so it seems) who have been at one time or other "an avenger."

Apparently, not everyone is a Greg Land fan. I was about to begin my usual raving about the gorgeous art of Greg Land, and why The Mighty Avengers, at least in terms of art, is my favorite Avengers book, but again, my source at the geek land that it is the local comic shop, Fanfare, tells me that some people think Land's art looks traced. HARDLY. Greg Land's art is GORGEGOUS, and much better than New Avengers artists like Simon Bianchi as I discussed in my T-shirt blog post on ROBIN from February LINKED HERE.

As I stated then, I much prefer The Mighty Avengers and only read New Avengers over Mighty that week because Doctor Strange happened to be on the cover. Otherwise, The Mighty Avengers is outperforming most of the other Avengers books, especially in terms of art.

Mighty Avengers #009 opens with Ronin dispatching some "Ninja Were-Snakes" (and as I would point out so does the narration: "yes, Ninja Were-Snakes."). Unfortunately, in the process of battling the Were-Snakes, Ronin's apartment is blown to bits. Meanwhile, the story of the Blue Marvel's son from another dimension continues. Like the the Sentry, THE BLUE MARVEL is another retconned character just recently created (2008) and yet back-filled through the history of Marvel Comics as if he really had existed in hero form since the 1950s. I like this kind of retcon. After all, not everything that can be done and should be done with Marvel history was conceived by Jack Kirby and crew back in the day. I like these additions. They add complexity to an already complex universe.

More back story is supplied for The Blue Marvel's family and his two sons and how one of the sons (Kevin) ended up in another dimension. Great stuff and good story telling by Al Ewing, Greg Land, and the entire art/production team. The main story resolves (with the help of She-Hulk) but the conflict between the Blue Marvel and his son Max will continue. The story has me hooked.

Meanwhile, though the cover shows Ronin revealing his identity to the rest of the Mighty Avengers, in the actual story he reveals himself to the readers but the Avengers are not there. I do not like these kinds of lures. Covers should match contents. So, demerits for cover fraud, but overall a great issue, though worthy of the second spot this week after the excellent Kick Ass issue.
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Iron Fist - The Living Weapon #001

As I mentioned earlier in this blog entry, I am a huge Iron Fist fan. I am careful about how often I say that I am a "huge fan." Ranking Iron Fist eighth on a list of Marvel's non-Franchise heroes constitutes enough "hugeness" for me to apply the term "huge" to my fandom.

As I wrote about in my post for T-shirt #27 over on my T-shirt blog, I very much loved the series called The Immortal Iron Fist, created by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Travis Foreman, and David Aja in 2006-2009. And since I am a fan of previous incarnations of the Iron Fist, primarily the Chris Claremont and John Byrne stuff of the late 1970s, I received news of a new Iron Fist book with a mix of trepidation, dread, and excitement. Surely, Marvel is setting up its properties for the debut of the Netflix shows, which may start with either the Iron Fist or Daredevil programs.

I was not completely disappointed. I have my criticisms of the book, but in general, I liked it. I will not claim that I am in awe of the art on this book. It's not my favourite, but it is very good. But the overall effect of the book is quite excellent, and I am eager for the next issue, which may be released soon as I am three weeks late with this posting.

The cover is impressive. The story starts with a well-worn trope of Daniel Rand (aka The Iron Fist) being interviewed by an unseen interviewer, in this case a journalist, and he retells his origin story as a choice between "life and death." The art here transitions to the multi-dot look of the old four color process of the comics of the 1970s (and before) in which Iron Fist first debuted. The origin moves through the sacrifice of Rand's father in the avalanche in the Himalayas. The story then reverts to the present and we see the young journalist who has fallen for our hero during the interview, and later he takes her home and beds her. Meanwhile, the narration delivers Rand's inner thoughts: he "can't feel the heat" and he's "one cold, dead thing imitating another."

Unable to sleep, Rand returns to his memories and thinks through the rest of his origin for the reader's benefit.

As you can see here, the Kaare Kyle Andrews art is not my preference if my preferences are Greg Land and John Romita Jr. as noted above. The work is more expressionistic than suits my tastes, bordering on the territory of the previously disparaged Simon Bianchi or Leinil Francis Yu, neither of whom are my taste. As a writer/artist, Kaare Kyle Andrews would not make the top of my list with such excellent candidates as Frank Miller, Matt Wagner, Walt Simonson, and George Pérez, but this first issue of the new Iron Fist is serviceable and enjoyable. Best known for his work on Astonishing X-Men  for Marvel with writer Warren Ellis, Andrews has many short term credits and not a lot of extensive experience. Many of the art effects he created work well enough, such as a silhouette sequence on page 11 (not pictured). But the overall effect of skewed figured not anatomically accurate and heavily inked, heavily colored pastiche grows a bit tiresome after a while.

Rand battles ninja, which is hardly surprising for a first issue. But then things spiral out of control too quickly.
Rand Tower is destroyed, and then some undead ninja comes for the girl, presumably the journalist he slept with, and his Iron Fist power doe snot manifest when he needs it. Though he manages to defeat the "zombie robot that almost cut [the girl] into sushi," but then there's a small man delivering Rand a message to "get back to K'un Lun," the secret city in the Himalyas: "HOME."

As I wrote, not blown away, But I am invested enough to read the next issue.


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The Walking Dead #125

Since I started this entry, the "All Out War" saga has played out as The Walking Dead issue #126 has already been published. Since the start of "All Out War," The Walking Dead has dropped from the top of my stack each week when it came out to fourth this week and fifth in the post for two weeks from this date.

The Negan story has building for some time. I am not going to go research for how long, but it's been a while. Somehow, Kirkman and crew kicked it into gear and for a couple of months have been releasing two issues a month as they unspool this "All Out War" story arc.

If you were a reader of my T-shirt blog, you may recall that I reviewed issue 115 in the post for T-shirt #206. I had two posts specifically about The Walking Dead on my T-shirt blog: T-shirt #325 and T-shirt #10.

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT! Especially if you watch the TV show, you may want to stop reading now.

I really like what Kirkman is doing with The Walking Dead and his long term plans for what a world looks like five years after and ten years after a zombie apocalypse. The recent story has focused on how the living humans are the much more frightening enemy than the shambling,  gore-eating zombies. Negan is a mad dictator who keeps sex slaves and rules his roost with violence and fear. Though Rick is hardly as noble as a Superman, he is the noble alternative to the way absolute power corrupts as represented by Negan. Early in the conflict, Negan asserted his dominance by beating to death the character of Glen, a fan favorite, with his barbed wire bat that ha named Lucille (a B.B. King reference). Since then, Rick and his band of merry survivors have been working to undermine Negan's army and eventually went to war, as represented by the title of the story arc.

Issue 125 is the penultimate issue of the war story and the final conflict that will ensue. Issue 126 has already been released since I started this entry, and I will review it in a subsequent comic book post.

In this issue, the Rick camp is recovering from an attack Negan made on their group with infected weapons, arrows and other piercing weapons tainted with zombie blood, so that even the wounded would eventually be casualties when the infected blood kills them and transforms them into zombies. There was some question as to whether Rick was infected, but since he was shot by an arrow fired by Dwight, their inside man in Negan's camp, this is the proof we needed that he (Dwight) will really ultimately betray Negan.

The climax of the issue has Rick make a final plea to Negan that they can end the war by all working together as they should have done from the start, rather than one camp trying to exploit and dictate to the other. Rick makes an impassioned and inspiring speech over many pages about how they can rebuild civilization. He actually seems to convince Negan that he's right. And just when it seems that Negan will lay down his bat and cease hostilities, Rick cuts his throat!

This is just the kind of surprise Kirkman is known for and the pay off that makes the whole long saga worthwhile. Even so, despite the excellent cliff hanger, as you will see in comics for 1404.23, there were too many good comics and the next issue (126) ranked fifth that week.

Still, The Walking Dead is definitely one of the top ten of comics being currently published.

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As for the rest of the comics not covered in the previous mini-reviews, I have not actually read them all yet, even though these comics were released three weeks ago. I made it through Secret Avengers before adding to the stack with the next week's comics. I did go back an unearth Batman Eternal #1 since the ninth, and I did clear some of the back log, so Astro City #11 and Great Pacific #14 both got read.

I am starting to tire of the All New X-Men and ready for the kids to go back to their own time, though I doubt this is planned for any time soon. I was pleased with the Nightcrawler issue and Iron Man remains consistently one of Marvel's best books, even if I am not prioritizing it each week. I am also enjoying Superman/Wonder Woman  mainly due to the romance aspect. I have always liked the idea of Superman and Wonder Woman being romantically involved, and I am pleased to see the New 52 taking this direction and moving Superman away from the expected Lois Lane story line.


COMICS FOR 1404.09

Kick Ass 3 - #7
Mighty Avengers #009
Iron Fist - The Living Weapon #001
The Walking Dead #125
All-New X-Men #025
Nightcrawler #001
Iron Man #024
Superman/Wonder Woman #7
Secret Avengers  #002
Captain Marvel #002
All New Ultimates #001
Avengers Undercover #002
Batgirl #30
Batman Eternal #1
Avengers AI #011
Flash Gordon #1
Magnus Robot Fighter #1
Magnus Robot Fighter #2
Thunderbolts #24
Daredevil #1.50

BACK LOG

World's Finest - Huntress and Power Girl #22
Astro City #11
Great Pacific #14

SPECIAL PURCHASES

East of West - Volume Two

Locus #639, Vol. 72, issue 04



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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1405.01 - 18:29

COVER AND ART GALLERY