Comics are awesome.

[Sparky Prime]

What I am saying is that it does not make sense for HS kids to know a professor.

Ronnie originally met Professor Stein when he was still in high school due to a chance meeting while both were trying to stop some terrorists from blowing up a nuclear facility...

[andersonh1]

DC keeps talking about diversity, but despite attempts to broaden the exposure of their women and minority characters, they're contracting and showing a distinct bias in one important area: age. How many characters are they making younger, while sidelining or ignoring the old guys? The real world isn't entirely made up of only people age 35 and under. Why should the DC universe be any different? Why is their idea of diversity so narrow?

I miss the days when characters like Hal Jordan or Oliver Queen were allowed to move into middle-age, and the JSA was composed entirely of old geezers.

[138 Scourge]

I miss the days when characters like Hal Jordan or Oliver Queen were allowed to move into middle-age, and the JSA was composed entirely of old geezers.

This. One of the things that turned me off so badly about the GL Rebirth thing was that even Jordan's white hair was part of the Space Bug incident. Like, dang, dude's supposed to have been around the block a couple times, yet he's not allowed to look older?

Eh, whatever.

On the JSA front, I do gotta say, judging by the WWII veterans I work with, the JSA would be a pretty funny lookin' bunch by now if they were allowed to age naturally. I know that's not what you were wishing for there, but that's the image that popped into my head.

[Dominic]

Ultimate Fallout #3:
More pieces get moved around. I find myself caring less and less every issue. Bendis' asynchronious storytelling obfuscates what progress is being made. And, I can definitely see why this is a weekly series, as waiting several weeks to a month between issues would make this series more difficult, (or at least less appealing), to follow. Bendis is probably building to something. But, this series is reading like filler.
Grade: C


Dom
-and Supermaniac Prime is back? Wow.

[BWprowl]

Y'know, I liked the Avengers Academy book okay before, but I think I'm sold on it now:

Prowl! Look at who is on this team now!

Sooo....guess the Pack did grow up in the regular Marvel universe.

Well hell. I'd actually been hearing good things about Avengers Academy, but didn't have a lot of enthusiasm for jumping into a tie-in to a rebooted mainline book that I never really cared about before. I swear I just saw that cover the other day too, maybe I'll go back and snag it. I could at least look at the trades for this series, I supposed.

I'd actually been aware that Marvel's been keeping Julie around, at least, for some time now. She was in Runaways for a while! I guess she's gay now?

FF just started, I guess. Maybe I'll look into it, though it just seems like *way* too gimmicky a series for me to get into.

[138 Scourge]

Y'know, I liked the Avengers Academy book okay before, but I think I'm sold on it now:

Prowl! Look at who is on this team now!

Sooo....guess the Pack did grow up in the regular Marvel universe.

Well hell. I'd actually been hearing good things about Avengers Academy, but didn't have a lot of enthusiasm for jumping into a tie-in to a rebooted mainline book that I never really cared about before. I swear I just saw that cover the other day too, maybe I'll go back and snag it. I could at least look at the trades for this series, I supposed.

I'd actually been aware that Marvel's been keeping Julie around, at least, for some time now. She was in Runaways for a while! I guess she's gay now?

FF just started, I guess. Maybe I'll look into it, though it just seems like *way* too gimmicky a series for me to get into.

Well, like I've said before, I like "FF", but Alex doesn't seem to get too terribly much to do. I will say, though...if you do decide to check it out, it's probably safe to skip issues six and seven, as the entire things are spent setting up Black Bolt of the Inhumans as some sort of crazy prophecy of doom for the Kree Empire, and explaining where the hell he's been and why he's not dead no more. It's an interesting read on one level, but not one of the most accessible. The rest of the book, though, has been pretty solid, if slow-paced.

Also, Black Bolt apparently has five wives now, and one of 'em is Kymellian. These appear to be more in the way of political marriages to build an empire more than because he wants to ride that pony. Still, hey, good to see Kymellians around, anyway.

Also, spotted Jack and Katie in a book called Fantastic Four: The Last Stand or the like. They didn't appear to be that much older, especially not compared to Alex, who's clearly said to be nineteen. Or compared to Julie, who looks...considerably more grown up. I'm having a hard time processing the image of "Hot Julie Power" in my head. Honestly, her being drawn like that is a way bigger shock than her being gay.

[BWprowl]

I'm having a hard time processing the image of "Hot Julie Power" in my head. Honestly, her being drawn like that is a way bigger shock than her being gay.

Didn't shock me.



Clearly she was already experimenting in her youth.

[andersonh1]

Noticed something the other day for you Marvel readers. Barnes and Noble had a decent selection of Marvel titles on the magazine rack, right inside the front door. I don't know how well they're selling, or how long they've been there (not long, I think), but it's nice to see comics outside the specialty shops.

[Dominic]

B&N is inconsistent on that front. They will not necessarily have consecutive issues. And, some branches do not get comics at all. (There is one in Boston that barely even gets compilations.)

Dom
-not making this up.

[138 Scourge]

A Barnes & Noble I was at the other day had a pretty amazing comics section for a bookstore. You know their magazine racks they've got? Like, a quarter of one of those. Both shelves. Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and IDW. Considering that a couple months ago they just had Bongo Comics and Ultimate Spiderman, that's a helluva leap forward.

So I bought a bunch of comics the other day, and I was so excited that the new "Criminal" was out that I totally forgot that the new "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" was out, too. Dang. Well, I had a pretty impressive haul anyway.

Amazing Spider-Man #666 The prelude to the "Spider-Island" event book Marvel's gonna be doing. There's a nasty infestation of bedbugs in Manhattan, and their bite gives people spider-powers. And they've apparently bitten...everyone. I like this premise. And seriously, if that was happening, who wouldn't move right the hell out to Manhattan post-haste? In a ballsy move, Dan Slott's included the Jackal and Kaine, players from the Clone saga debacle. Slott's good enough, though, that I could see him pulling it off. A textbook case of what I was saying about Marvel writers doing gimmicky-ass stories, but having the talent to make it work. And since some books I'll be buying anyway are crossing over with this, may as well check out the main story, I guess.

Incredible Hulks #633: I've been just now picking up this book, and I find out it's current writer Greg Pak's last arc. Sure, dude's been on the book for years making the best Hulk comics since Peter David's run, and I only just now come onboard. Derp. Anyway, fantastic big awesome Hulk stuff. Plus, Monica Rappacini's in this story, and I'm a sucker for M.O.D.O.K.'s 11 alumni. The basis of this story is Red She-Hulk's new boyfriend Tyrannus, lord of an underground kingdom, has a fountain of youth. But Dr. Rappacini hijacks it and creates a wishing well out of it's water. Get into the water, make a wish, and it's granted...but corrupted, of course. And a lot of people have gotten this stuff on 'em. Things go comically awry. Really liking this, it reminds me of David's run..not that it's derivative or anything, but just in the sense that it reminds me of when Hulk was my favorite book. This stuff's great, I'll be sorry to see Pak go, but it'll be impetus for me to go back and get a bunch of his stuff in trade.

Venom #5: Five issues in and I'm still reading and enjoying a Venom book. What the hell, Marvel? And especially what the hell, Rick Remender? Before this series, Venom was right up there with Gambit and Deadpool and Cable in the ranks of Marvel characters that I'm not having any part of, but I was interested in seeing Flash Thompson under the symbiote. This issue's all about Thompson aside from a short fight with the Human Fly (which, for a guy with spider-powers, yeah, it's not gonna last long). You know those bits in a Spider-Man comic wherein Peter's gotta break a date or something to go do Spider-stuff to the detriment of his own life? It's kind of like that, only the supersoldiering isnt' involved. Flash has to find his dad, who's fallen off the wagon and boozing it up somewhere. So a good chunk of this is Flash wheeling around with Peter Parker beside him, thinking back on his childhood with ol' drunken dad and how it shaped him. And it is out-friggin'-standing. I love that Flash Thompson and Peter Parker are close friends now, and nobody's decided to retcon that.

Captain America and Bucky #620: Man, lookit the big numbers on these Marvel books that have been constantly outselling DC for awhile. They sure seem to be an impediment to sales. Anyway, I bit because I love Brubaker's writing, and I was curious what was happening here what with Bucky being dead now (again) and all. And what we get is kind of a "Bucky: Year One" story. Which, usually I think retellings of origins can suck it, but it can be done well. Anyone remember Waid's "Born to Run" year one for Wally West? Yeah, this is up there. Man, I've started reading TWO Cap books now, and haven't even seen the movie yet.

FF #7: There's been a really cool story going on here involving a group of alternate-universe Reeds and their machinations to get back to their own universes, even if it destroys the regular Marvel Earth. And the FF had gathered a thinktank of their worst enemies to brainstorm how to stop a Reed Richards. And it's just ground to a halt so we can get some stuff on Black Bolt. I'm disappointed in these last couple of issues, but not fatally.

Criminal: Last of the Innocents #2: Criminal's become my favorite comic out right now. This issue does not change that. Last of the Innocents is about a guy who's been living in the big city with his beautiful rich wife who comes back to his small hometown for his dad's last days. He does what you do: visits his father for the last time, attends to funeral, sees the friends he hasn't seen forever, realizes that he has to kill his wife. To be fair, she does belittle him every chance she gets, and is screwing around on him with a guy he hated even before he saw the two of 'em going at it. And the prenup means if she divorces him, he gets nothing. And he likes being rich, is the thing. This would be great Noir stuff as it is, but the flashbacks to his earlier days cast everyone in the story as expys of the Archie characters: Our protagonist is a dark-haired Archie, his buddy Freakout is stoner Jughead, the girl he was seeing in the small town is redhead Betty, and beautiful rich wife is Veronica. Well, not exactly, but they're close. It's enough that you can picture this dude's life in the small town like you'd seen it forever, instead of just for two issues. It's great stuff, Brubaker and Sean Phillips regularly knock it outta the park, and it looks like they're at it again. Love it.