You guys know Dom ain't buyin' that compilation on Amazon. C'mon now.
So I got a bunch of neat comics yesterday.
Secret Avengers #16: I wanted to like this book when it came out (I think Brubaker was writing it, right?) but just didn't keep up with it. This issue, though, is the tits. Warren Ellis writing, Jamie McKelvie drawing with this beautiful clean artwork. So nice. Also: Single-issue story. No kidding. So this issue has Cap (still in his head of S.H.E.I.L.D. suit), Beast, Moon Knight, and Black Widow infiltrating an old Secret Empire base and discovering a weaponized Von Doom time machine. Ellis writes, I swear, the best god damn Beast of anyone since Morrison, for one thing. For another, god damn is this book pretty. And clever. Like, the Secret Avengers here are using guns, which shouldn't be good, but it's guns that shoot non-lethal shells that "would put a healthy young bull in a chemical coma for six hours" and shoot tiny projectiles shaped like each character's symbol. Cap's shoots tiny versions of his triangular WWII shield, Moon Knight's shoots tiny crescent moons). It's a combination of crazy cartoon imagery and somewhat reasonable fake science behind it. And the description of the base, and what's being built there, are simple but brilliant. Ending's a bit of a downer, but it, again, makes sense for the situation, and I feel like it was handled well enough, if briefly. But seriously, full story in one issue? Even if it's part of an arc, this thing is a complete story in 22 pages. Worth it just for the novelty value alone.
Herc #6.1: Zeus finds out that someone (Hercules) has raided the god's stash of weapons and treasure, and sends Hermes out to find the thief. And holy crap, lookit here. Another single issue story (which, I guess the .1s are jumping-on or intro things?) It helps if you know the background of this series, but everything's laid out well enough that I think one could follow what's up fairly quickly: Hercules isn't a god anymore, he lives in Brooklyn now, he recently restored all of the Olympian gods to life when he had full-on head of pantheon powers, and he really enjoys his liquor. This book's really been up at the level of the previous Herc book lately, meaning it's one of my favorite books right now. Of course it's cancelled.
Amazing Spider-Man #668: Holy crap, this issue's amazing. Dan Slott's really thought this whole "Spider-Island" premise through, because he does great things with the concept this issue. And I'll be reading Amazing Spider-Man for the foreseeable future based on this issue. This is one of my favorite Spider-books in years, it's just so damn much fun, and has pretty fantastic Humberto Ramos art besides.
Vision Machine: This is kind of great. Nice-sized completely free comic written by Greg Pak. Like, small TPB size. It's a really neat sci-fi story that takes current social media tech and extrapolates to fifty years from now. Nice big well-written comic with really nice art for completely free at your local comic shop
or for free download.. I mean, no reason not to check it out, right?