Comics are Awesome II

[andersonh1]

Action Comics #4
I'm not sure what happened here. The first three issues feel reasonably connected and like part of a progressing storyline, but this issue is pretty chaotic. To be fair, it does pick up a number of plot threads set up in the first three issues, and so it's easy enough to work out what's going on, but the narrative is a regression to Grant Morrison's more "choppy" style of writing, which is not good. Oh, and John Henry Irons/Steel makes his first appearance, years earlier than he did in the old DC universe, where he turned up in the "Reign of the Supermen" storyline after Superman was killed. While he's a great character, it does call into question just how much of that storyline now happened, and I'm reminded how annoying the new mix and match continuity is.

[andersonh1]

even though the Choas saga is epic failure IMHO,For some strange reason I'm getting excited to buy issue #31 tommorow to see what happens.

Honestly, it's a reasonable story, made hard to follow by the art. It draws from Furman's Dead Universe as a starting point, was developed in the All Hail Megatron coda issues and the Heart of Darkness mini-series, and all comes together in the Chaos storyline. As an attempt to be big and epic, it may fall a bit short, but I can't agree that it's an "epic fail".

[Onslaught Six]

Is he actually Steel, or just John Henry Irons? Like, does he have Steel's costume? Is he calling himself Steel?

Dom, why do you buy "filler" books that basically only serve to waste your time and money when you clearly aren't reading a book that you're both buying (in single issues AND trades, no less!) and know you will enjoy?

Anderson: Deathy is just mad Megatron isn't Galvatron and that Rodimus isn't the leader of the Autobots yet.

[Dominic]

Either way, Steel has been significantly re-written, which effecitvley re-writes one of the bigger events that was (in theory) going to stick. Steel might end up becoming the kind of problem that snot-plasm Supergirl ended up being before she was completely ignored.

O6, that is a fair question that you ask of me. Part of it is habit. I have always read a few filler books, usually of the capes and tights variety. And, sometimes those books wow me enough to keep me in the hobby. I plan to cull my pull list a bit next year though. No guarantees that "Moon Knight" will make the cut. I can all but guarantee that "New Avengers" will not.


Dom
-pretty sure that the Captain Atom special is actually our of context now....

[andersonh1]

Is he actually Steel, or just John Henry Irons? Like, does he have Steel's costume? Is he calling himself Steel?

He's in the armor, though it's different than before of course, and the cover proclaims "The Debut of Steel". I can't recall if he actually calls himself that or not though. Metallo debuts as well, with both his and Steel's armor built by Irons.

Anderson: Deathy is just mad Megatron isn't Galvatron and that Rodimus isn't the leader of the Autobots yet.

Ah, then nothing I can say is going to change his mind.

[138 Scourge]

It's really weird, as much as I like Morrison, and as much as I like it when Morrison's writing Superman, I haven't been able to build up any kind of enthusiasm for Action Comics these last few months. I dunno if it's just that I've had it with "Year One" things for familiar characters, or maybe it's that this whole thing seems like a knockoff of Ultimate Comics (Hey! All the old characters, but done a little different!) or if I'm just pissed off about Krypto being gone. Whatever it is, the only thing that really got me to buy the third issue is that it was a slow week for comics. But I didn't care about issue three, and this week was fair-sized, so seeya later, Action! Maybe catch this as a compilation, but probably not.

But like I said, plenty of good comics that I like showed up today, so I'm not feeling the loss.

OMAC#4 I'd be thrilled to wash my hands of the whole Nu 52 and call it a day, but I can't drop this book. In this issue, Kevin Kho gets a brief respite from the rouge A1 that's hijacked his life by going into a subway station, where he can't receive Brother Eye's signal. But that's when the alligators with what look to be heavily-pixelated glowing hologram heads show up. Yeah, call it a thin hook to hang a plot on if you will, but every issue gives me a crazy-ass superhero-tech idea or image, and a bunch of slam-bang action, and Keith Giffen's fantastic artwork. I'm not even pissed that the next issue leads into a crossover, because it might help the sales of this book a little bit, and I want the only DC book I give half a fuck about to stick around.

Avenging Spider-Man #2: While Spidey and Red Hulk explore underground to learn just what the hell is going on with the Moloid's attack on New York, J. Jonah Jameson is mistaken for the leader of the surface world and talks a ton of smack to the Mole Man. And to the gigantic despotic Moloid monster that's taken over the Mole Man's underground kingdom. Great character work with Spidey, Red Hulk, and especially with J. Jonah Jameson, and beautiful artwork with lots of barbarian things and a giant monster. I'm happy enough to stick around for another issue.

Punisher #6: Good fun with the Punisher infiltrating an organized supercrime meetup. At the same time, the sole survivor of the first issue's wedding massacre is doing the same thing. And since she's a highly-trained Marine, she does pretty well with that. I really liked Fraction and Remender's takes on the Punisher in the main Marvel Universe. Rucka's is still in the MU and all, but it's more subdued with it. You still get the occasional super-powered thug, and the gangs here are working with HYDRA and the like instead of the Mafia or whatever, but it's still basically a crime story. A damn good one, though, so I'm all about that.

Venom #10: At the same time as Flash Thompson's blackmailed into going on a mission for the Crime-Master, Captain America shows up to shut down Operation: Rebirth (the project Agent Venom works out of) and confiscate the symbiote. Well, hell, it's not like Flash has any choice at all, right? Just two issues ago, Cap and Venom were teaming up against the Queen during Spider-Island, but the fact that they're fighting here doesn't feel forced. Especially since it's pretty clear that Flash is a big Cap fan. As always from this book, great stuff.

Defenders #1: I don't care, I like the Defenders. I have no idea why, but for some reason whenever a Defenders comic comes out, I feel like I've got to check it out. I like the original lineup of the group a lot: Dr. Strange, superpowerful sorceror. The Hulk, strongest one who is and guy what smashes. Namor, King of Atlantis and pretty much an unstoppable powerhouse even out of water. And the Silver Friggin' Surfer, who's pretty close to omnipotent. That's a team of dudes that should not work well together, and every single one of 'em is powerful enough to be a threat to the whole damn world. There's something really appealing about that weird lineup. So you throw that concept out to start, put Matt Fraction as the writer, and have him say in a podcast that this is basically the book where he'll be using dudes that can't have their own book right now? Yup, I'm in. There's a lot to like about this issue. Beautiful artwork by Terry Dodson, great bits with each of the four original Defenders, and the addition of Red She-Hulk as Hulk's replacement, and Iron Fist because he has a plane and he's awesome. Unlike other team books out these days that I could mention, this one gives you everybody that's on the cover in the first issue, and gets the damn show on the road immediately. It's a fun read, I'm in for the next issue for sure.

[Dominic]

I might pick up the compilations of "OMAC", "Stormwatch" "Blackhawk" and "Action Comics". Maybe. "OMAC" and "Stormwatch" would be especially easy because they are both finite. "OMAC" is soon to be cancelled, and Cornell will be leaving "Stormwatch" if what Scourge tells me is accurate.



Dom
-also heard some ugly rumours about Bendis.

[Onslaught Six]

I need to catch up on all my books...intended to do so last night, slept instead.

[BWprowl]

Got Mega Man #7, don't know if you've read this yet, Six. Plot kinda backtracks a little, but then moves forward more satisfyingly than #6 did. My big beef that I want to talk about is the way Original Character Detective Lady pops into this issue, does some awesome stuff to make us think she's awesome, then proceeds to elbow her way into the story aggressively trying to stand on the same level as the title character himself. When one normal human with a gun is fighting two Robot Masters that gave Rock trouble to a standstill, my worries about the use of these OCs in the story start creeping right back up to where they were when they first showed up in #5. This is the sort of thing I didn't want you to do, Flynn! Oh, and I just got the detectives' names in this issue: Rosie Krantz and Gil Stern. Har.

At least the Plot Twist at the end of this issue was somewhat unexpected and could lead to some interesting stuff in this arc's finale next ish. We'll see.

[Onslaught Six]

Got Mega Man #7, don't know if you've read this yet, Six. Plot kinda backtracks a little, but then moves forward more satisfyingly than #6 did. My big beef that I want to talk about is the way Original Character Detective Lady pops into this issue, does some awesome stuff to make us think she's awesome, then proceeds to elbow her way into the story aggressively trying to stand on the same level as the title character himself. When one normal human with a gun is fighting two Robot Masters that gave Rock trouble to a standstill, my worries about the use of these OCs in the story start creeping right back up to where they were when they first showed up in #5. This is the sort of thing I didn't want you to do, Flynn! Oh, and I just got the detectives' names in this issue: Rosie Krantz and Gil Stern. Har.

At least the Plot Twist at the end of this issue was somewhat unexpected and could lead to some interesting stuff in this arc's finale next ish. We'll see.

I haven't read it, but we'll see what I think tonight. So far the detectives are the weakest characters in the book. (I wish they'd kept this plotline for later and made one of them a robot. Is one of them a robot? Disguise Man?)