Comics are awesome.

[Sparky Prime]

Well, if the recursive nature of superhero books bothers you, I'd recommend Marvel's Ultimate or All-Ages lines.

I used to read the Ultimate line. I have to say I lost interest in it after the "Ultimatum" event. And I wouldn't say it's exactly free of some recursive stories.

Does Eddie Brock have the costume again? Did they Goddamn reset that, too? I mean, I was pissy that Scorpion was apparently the new Venom when I started skimming comics again around 2004, but when I really got into comics in 2008 he was *still* Venom as far as I knew. They were remarkably good with that! They did something and were sticking to it! So did they screw that up?

Eddie Brock has 'a' costume, but it isn't the Venom symbiote. Instead, an encounter with a villain called Mr. Negative bonded his white blood cells with remnants of the symbiote, creating a new suit for him known as Anti-Venom.

The Venom symbiote is now with.... Flash Thompson. He's using the symbiote as part of a black-ops military thing.

[Dominic]

"Ultimatum" struck me as a big ol' house-cleaning and shock value event. A pile of characters died in a huge cataclysm. But, you would not know that a disaster happened by looking at the post "Ultimatum" comics. The setting is too intact.

And, speaking of things going back to how they were.....

New Avengers #11:
If I am reading this one correctly, Bendis might be getting ready to toss Hand out the window on the basis that nobody would logically trust her to begin with and the current arc giving them even less reason to do so. If this plays out the way I think it is going to, she will be gone by the end of the year. The parallels in the "then/now" plot are starting to become a bit more clear. There is no great "wow" moment. But, as has been the case with this title, it is good filler. The text back-up in this issue is more character than even focused. I am wondering if this is going to be a permanent thing. Maybe Bendis is assuming that further event summaries would be crossing into comics that readers would have already read?
Grade: C


But, on the other hand....

GI Joe (Cobra) #1 (Hundred Penny Press):
IDW's "Hundred Penny" editions are generally used to push one title/franchise or another. IDW is using this one to push their "Cobra Civil War" arc. All things considered, "Cobra" has consistently been IDW's strongest "GI Joe" title. Costa, with a few assists from Gage and Lapham, has produced a solid run of comics over the last 2 years, ending with a literal bang. Costa is not shy about telling linear stories and making real changes. This is the issue that it all starts in. Worth picking up as a preview of things to come. But, it would probably be a better idea to start buying compilations.
Grade: B


Dom
-this week totally makes up for last week.

[andersonh1]

The Flash #10

Dom, you've talked about Batman Inc being late. The Flash has been late more often than not, as far as I can tell. Which is ironic, considering the main character's superpower. The story takes some time to get anywhere, but the art is great, and was mainly what drew me to the book.

Anyway, Flashpoint is the next big crossover event, apparently, and the issue confirms that it's a series of time disruptions. The book is largely Barry Allen against himself, as Hot Pursuit is Barry Allen from one of the other 52 earths. Interestingly, The Flash/Barry Allen is confirmed to be the source of the speed force that powers all the other super-fast characters. He's the keystone. That may have been covered before, but I don't remember reading it.

This book is entertaining, but frustratingly slow, both in terms of story and publication schedule. Still, I'm sticking with it.

[Dominic]

Late books are a peeve of mine.


Cobra Civil War #0: 3 short stories setting up for IDW's Joe-event. The two Dixon stories are painfully predictable, even by "issue zero" standards. Costa outlines the premise for people who may not have heard about it elsewhere. Worth picking up if you are interested in "GI Joe". The Costa written "Cobra" series is likely to be well worth reading. The Dixon stuff, not so much.
Grade: C

[Sparky Prime]

"Ultimatum" struck me as a big ol' house-cleaning and shock value event. A pile of characters died in a huge cataclysm. But, you would not know that a disaster happened by looking at the post "Ultimatum" comics. The setting is too intact.

I really wouldn't call it a "house-cleaning" since it really didn't simplify anything. It just pointlessly killed off a bunch of characters. A pure shock value event.

Anyway, Marvel revealed post "Death of [Ultimate] Spider-Man", their latest shock value event, today. Well, the new costume at least. Reminds me of the Alex Ross movie Spider-Man design.

[Dominic]

Well, this is a week with Bendis and Abnett/Lanning. And, here I am not having been to the comic shop....

[Sparky Prime]

I picked up Green Lantern #65 and GL Corps #59 (as well as last weeks Transformers issue) this week. The covers kinda give it away, but it's interesting to see the idea Hal and the other human Lanterns use in order to fight back against the Parallax controlled Green Lanterns.

[Dominic]

Avengers #12:
The Infinity Gauntlet focused story-line ends. Bendis sets up a new Illuminati, with some post-hoc justification for Iron Man. I take this to mean that Bendis will be sticking around for at least a few more years. The text back-up goes back to focusing on battles the Avengers have fought. Bendis' weakness in handling cosmic scale plots is still evident though.
Grade: C/D


edited: 4/24

[andersonh1]

I picked up Green Lantern #65 and GL Corps #59 (as well as last weeks Transformers issue) this week. The covers kinda give it away, but it's interesting to see the idea Hal and the other human Lanterns use in order to fight back against the Parallax controlled Green Lanterns.

I figured that's where they were going with the story, since Hal ended up with the other power rings and none of them can use the Green Lantern rings. They have to have weapons, right? But it's taking forever for this story to get anywhere. The first chapter was really good, but the second and third chapters were reiterations of the same theme. The spacecraft flight to Oa was far too easy, and we're still watching our five main characters floundering as they try to fight back, after five chapters of story.

That's not to say that there's nothing to enjoy. There are some good moments here and there as Ganthet and Kilowog fight back, and as Hal enjoys piloting his spaceship like a wild man (without seatbelts, of course ).

I guess to sum it up, the chess pieces are being moved around in an unsatisfactory manner, and I'm not entirely buying how easy it's essentially been for them so far.

[Sparky Prime]

Brightest Day #24
The final issue of the series, this is what the story has been building up to. And honestly I found this issue disappointing. This series had some great build up leading up to this, but it doesn't feel like it followed through on it. Way back in issue 7 we learn the White Lantern is dying and needs a replacement, someone to be the new champion of Earth. Only that isn't what we see here, as the two jobs apparently are two separate things. So sure, there is new champion chosen for Earth but he clearly isn't the replacement for the White Lantern. He isn't a new embodiment of Life. And it looks like the White Lantern just teleports away. What happened to it dying? We finally see what happens to someone if they fail their mission, which apparently is nothing of any consequence considering they got to keep their life with no apparent ill effects. I have to say I'm more curious what would have happened if he had completed his mission considering the White Lantern said someone had to die. On that subject, no surprise on who ended up filling that role. Also, I thought Brightest Day was supposed to explain at some point how Dove was able to channel the White Light during Blackest Night? We still don't know what her connection to the White Light is though because it was never explained.

So yeah, needless to say I felt this ending leaves more to be desired. I don't think it really does what the earlier issues set it up to do and leaves more questions than answers. Of course some questions this issue intentionally leaves, but as the last issue of Brightest Day, I did expect it to wrap things up for the series better than it did. There is still the "Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing" mini-series, but I'm sure if we can expect that to fill in any answers or not...

Emerald Warriors #9
After the last few issues in the War of the Green Lanterns hardly gave us any story progression, it's nice to see the story moving forward again with this issue. We see the return of Krona's Green Lantern Gauntlet, which is the only Willpower weapon not connected to the Central Battery. I'm really wondering why John thinks they should go after Mogo. Since he's under mind control like the rest of the Corps, shouldn't their priority be to stop the mind control? I don't see how John even expects to stop a living planet.