TF Views

Spider-Men #4
This issue is all about 616 Peter seeing what Ultimate Peter's life was like as he talks to Ultimate Gwen Stacy and Aunt May. It's interesting he avoids telling Gwen about his universes version of Gwen, even though the Ultimate version technically died and was cloned as well. Good to see they highlight many similarities as well as differences between the two universes. One complaint I have about this issue though is how young Gwen and Mary Jane look. They don't look like high school students in this issue and look more like Miles age, who is supposed to be younger than them.

Green Lantern #12
Although Black Hand can raise the dead once again, we find out he cannot make them Black Lanterns like himself this time around. Instead they're just puppets under Black Hand's control which gives Hal and Sinestro an advantage but they still need another color from the spectrum to really defeat them. And the Book of Black gives one more prophecy about Hal Jordan being the greatest Lantern, though not of the Corps you'd expect. Meanwhile, the Guardians have found the Indigo Tribe homeworld and explain a bit more about why they are creating the Third Army.

I thought that "Ultimate" Gwen Stacy was a clone to start, and when she was killed by the Carnage monster, she effectively took him over, using the symbiote as a host.


In any case, here is this week's comics haul:

-Ultimates #14:
Technically the name of this book is "Ultimate Ultimates", which sounds "stupidly stupid". "Divided We Fall" continues this issue. The movie Aven*, urk, the Ultimates storm the breakaway republic of Texas and put down the rebellion's leaders. Given that the branding and premise of the "Ultimates" sub-line of books is that they are not like 616 Marvel, it will be interesting to see how the big event plays out.
Grade: C


-New Guardians #12:
Apparently, Ganthet and Sayd have gone bad, which more or less sets up for the upcoming "Guardians are all crazy/evil" arc. Apparently, Ganthet still gave Kyle his ring, which implies that "Emerald Twilight" and by extension ReBirth happened. I am really curious to see how much of pre-"Flash Point" DC has been carried over, and how much those events have been changed. Next month's zero issues will hopefull start accounting for those questions.
Grade: C


-Cobra #16:
As much as I like this comic, I spaced. I spaced really badly. In fact, I was not even sure that I had read the previous issue. This issue mostly deals with the fall-out from Flint's decision to trust Tomax Paoli. If anything, it is suprising how quickly things have gone wrong. But, Costa likely has a plan of some kind. Costa continues to keep "Cobra" at the center of this book, despite brining in so many Joe characters. It is difficult to view Costa's "Cobra" as being in context with Dixon's Joe books. (The most recent issue of Dixon's "GI Joe" is not only heavy on McGuffin's, but also uses retro character models, making it seem more in-line with Hama's retro-Joe series.) The cover is a bit mis-leading, promising more of a confrontation between Firefly and Chameleon that it actually delivered, but that is a minor complaint.
Grade: B


Dom
-looking forward to the zero issues.

Dominic wrote:I thought that "Ultimate" Gwen Stacy was a clone to start, and when she was killed by the Carnage monster, she effectively took him over, using the symbiote as a host.

Nope. Gwen was just a regular person to begin with. She was killed by a Carnage created by Dr. Connors and Ben Reilly that Peter later destroyed. However, Ben Reilly had managed to keep some of the research and with Dr. Octopus, created several genetically altered clones of Peter and as well as a clone of Gwen that sometimes transformed into another Carnage. SHIELD took her into custody and managed to repair her DNA so she wouldn't turn into Carnage.

Avengers vs. X-Men 1-2, 4-8

I got into this late, but my disaffection with DC has motivated me to try some of Marvel's output. And I find that even though I only know who about half the characters in this story are that I"m still able to follow the story fairly well. Like all superhero comics, the characters are quick to throw a punch rather than just sit down and talk, but that's a convention of the genre. The personal nature of the conflict for the X-Men makes sense, and the concerns of the Avengers also make sense, giving both sides some legitimate motivation, even if both sides do some stupid and overly aggressive things in pursuit of their goals. It's a good story, and I"ve enjoyed reading it so far.

Sparky Prime wrote:

Dominic wrote:I thought that "Ultimate" Gwen Stacy was a clone to start, and when she was killed by the Carnage monster, she effectively took him over, using the symbiote as a host.

Nope. Gwen was just a regular person to begin with. She was killed by a Carnage created by Dr. Connors and Ben Reilly that Peter later destroyed. However, Ben Reilly had managed to keep some of the research and with Dr. Octopus, created several genetically altered clones of Peter and as well as a clone of Gwen that sometimes transformed into another Carnage. SHIELD took her into custody and managed to repair her DNA so she wouldn't turn into Carnage.

Comic books are fucking stupid.

Onslaught Six wrote:Comic books are fucking stupid.

You're judging that opinion based on a very incomplete picture. It was actually a pretty good story all things considered. Although I didn't think they should have killed Gwen in the first place...

andersonh1 wrote:It's a good story, and I"ve enjoyed reading it so far.

You are the first person I've seen say that about the Avengers vs. X-Men event.

Sparky Prime wrote:

Onslaught Six wrote:Comic books are fucking stupid.

You're judging that opinion based on a very incomplete picture. It was actually a pretty good story all things considered. Although I didn't think they should have killed Gwen in the first place...

Come on, man! That's my catchphrase! I say it every time the words "Cloning," "Time travel," or "alternate universe" are uttered in a casual comic summary.

Sparky Prime wrote:

andersonh1 wrote:It's a good story, and I"ve enjoyed reading it so far.

You are the first person I've seen say that about the Avengers vs. X-Men event.

Maybe if I was a long-time reader and had some firm opinions about the characters and/or stories this is drawing from, I'd feel differently. I don't know. But as things stand, I've been enjoying the story.

Liefeld left DC and has said some pretty damning stuff in the wake of it. It's Liefeld, so, you know, grains of salt and all that--but I can't help but feel he's got a little bit of truth in there somewhere.

When Rob Liefeld thinks you're running your comics company like shit, maybe it's time to reevaluate things.

Onslaught Six wrote:Liefeld left DC and has said some pretty damning stuff in the wake of it. It's Liefeld, so, you know, grains of salt and all that--but I can't help but feel he's got a little bit of truth in there somewhere.

When Rob Liefeld thinks you're running your comics company like shit, maybe it's time to reevaluate things.

He's not the only one. George Perez has had some damning words for editorial. And I think some others have as well. There's a pattern, not just one or two disgruntled DC employees leaving.