Comics are Awesome II

[Sparky Prime]

Red Lanterns #0
This issue once again covers Atrocitus' origin, which has not changed at all in the New 52. The Manhunters wipe out his whole space sector, he becomes a member of the Empire of Tears and is imprisoned on Ysmault where he eventually creates the Red Lanterns. This issue does expand a bit on his time with the Empire of Tears, explaining that he picked up his ability to see the future through the use of the Blood Prophecy from a relationship he had with Roixaeume, one of the "Four Demons" of Sector 666. Besides that though, an easily skipable issue since we already know Atrocitus' back story well enough by this point.

Green Lantern #13
Simon wakes up and his ring plays a merged message from Hal and Sinestro. Understandably, he doesn't follow what they're trying to tell him and instead goes to find his sister to explain his side of events. She, meanwhile, is facing the fear people who believe her brother is a terrorist have and are transferring to her by association. She tells him to just go into hiding, which is probably why he ends up with a cowl rather than a domino mask, just as the Justice League shows up with some questions for the new Green Lantern. So yeah, not really any story progression here. Pretty much just an issue expanding on the character of the newest Green Lantern. It'll be interesting to see how he handles the ring against the Justice League in the next issue though.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #13
Carol has convinced Atrocitus to help train Kyle to channel Rage, but conjuring up what happened to Alexandra DeWitt doesn't trigger rage in Kyle anymore, Kyle explains he's just sad his love was killed because of him. Atrocitus instead takes Kyle to the middle east and prevents him from from saving someone... and Atrocitus explains his own origins one more time for us. Kyle briefly transforms into a Red Lantern in his anger for not being able to save a life and takes out the attackers. With his job done, Atrocitus leaves and Kyle returns to normal and heals the victims in the area with Hope. Kyle returns to Carol and they go off to find Arkillo to learn Fear.
So, not only can Kyle's GL ring channel the other colors now, but it can actually transform him into a Lantern of another color as well. Although Kyle clearly is a long way from mastering how to control these new abilities of his. But we do see he already seems to have a handle on Hope with how easily he channels that power to heal people.

Green Lantern Corps #13
Guy gets promoted to the new rank of Sentinel Lantern by the Guardians and have an assignment for him to escort some ambassadors. Meanwhile, the Guardians inform John that the remains of Mogo are not merely floating in space (didn't the Green Lanterns throw Mogo's remains into Oa's sun after the "Green Lantern War"?) but are actually moving towards an unknown sector and tell him they believe Mogo is reforming and task John with finding out for sure. Guy then gets a message his family is in danger and his team ditches their mission to go protect them, only to be attacked by the Third Army.
So some interesting developments here. I'm assuming the Guardians telling John that Mogo is reforming is a trap given their recent behavior. And everything with Guy we already know is all a set up the Guardians have to put him on top and then destroy him. Kinda surprised to see the first encounter with the Lanterns and the Third Army already here, since all the other titles just show them building their numbers.

[Dominic]

Stormwatch (volume 1):
"Knight and Squire" did much to blunt my enthusiams for Paul Cornell. That book was whimsical to the point of being obnoxious. "Stormwatch" largely manages to avoid obnoxious whimsy. But, it simply falls flat. It reads like Cornell was trying to write a Grant Morrison book but could not quite make it work. A few members of the team have power-sets that seem to be right out of Morrison's brain. There is somebody who can manipulate the medie, and another who can communicate with the "spirit of cities". The book has potential, but with Cornell being off the book less than a year after its launch, I have no idea how much of that potential is going to be exploited.
Grade: C



Cobra #18:
I really need to specify cover variants on my subscription. (I am pretty sure that I can do that.) I typically prefer the Fuso covers because Fuso does the interior art for the series. But, until yesterday, my preference has not been strong enough to specify preferred covers. That all changed this week when I not only got the non-Fuso cover in my pull-file, I got the last copy. And, to make matters worse, the non-Fuso cover looks like something that Fun Publications would produce.

That said, the comic itself is not bad. Costa throws in some background for Ronin (the "not-Jinx" female faux-ninja). This will probably be relevant later. The new Oktober Guards shows up and....it is not bad. The (now anachronistic) Soviet Era name is reconciled with a line of dialogue about how the guy who organized the team being an old Soviet era believer. The new team includes Diana, Horrorshow and SShturhavik (sp?). There is no sign of Brekov or Red Star. Dragonsky is absent, and his role as the flamer seems to have been been incorporated in to Horrorshow's role as "heavy weapons guy". As with Ronin's origin, this is mostly set-up.
Grade: B/C

In other news, IDW is giving "GI Joe" a relaunch.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page ... e&id=41553

Van Lente is not a bad writer. He just tends to be basic.

I am of two minds about this. Van Lente himself does nothing for me either way. I could take or leave a book by him. But, this is a major change for the status quo of the franchise. Van Lente's understanding of the book as "military superheroes" is objectively a sound angle that the franchise should have openly embraced years ago. But, the "we are current" element with the team dragging a blogger around is iffy. And, the "base in NYC" might be making the series too much like every other capes and tights book on the market. Teh art looks....terrible.


And, I flipped through "Avengers" #32 yesterday.

Spoiler

Janet Van Dyne is back from the dead. Or, maybe she never actually died. I dunno. Who the fuck cares?

Stuff like this is why I just cannot even pretend to care about Marvel. It is ironic that I am being put off of the "Avengers" books by a stupid event that more or less undoes what happened right before I got in to them.

(didn't the Green Lanterns throw Mogo's remains into Oa's sun after the "Green Lantern War"?)

Obviously, that changed after "Flashpoint".

I just hope that it is not a set-up to bring Mogo back.


Dom
-going to pick up "Ultimates" books soonand maybe just drop them.

[Sparky Prime]

Obviously, that changed after "Flashpoint".

I just hope that it is not a set-up to bring Mogo back.

It's not necessarily something that has changed after Flashpoint at all. The Lanterns may have only thrown some of the larger pieces of Mogo into the sun, but the piece the Guardians show John in this issue is tiny, small enough for John to hold in his hand. Or the Guardians could just as easily be completely lying to John, setting him up for some terrible fate.

[Dominic]

And...I am not completely caught up yet. There are still 2 or 3 unread zero issues in my pull-file along with 3 issues of "Ultimates" and a few other things. But, this was a slow week, and I was able to catch up and read more than what came in. Once I sweep out the pull-file, I will concentrate on reading more than I take home and reducing the unread pile.

Multiversity:
Billed to start in late 2013, it has been pushed back yet again. (It was supposed to start at least a year an a half ago, and *that* was allowing for Morrison's poor work ethic.)


Blue Beetle #0:
And....the scarab finally an origin. And, what an origin it is. "Super advanced alien race builds a weapon on conquest....yadda yadda ....backwritten to involve Lady Styxx(?!?)...yadda yadda....army of the stupid things....some stuff happens...." It reads like a comic book. I think that Dan Garret still counts. I am not sure about Ted Kord. (Given that Kord is likely to be showing up in "Multiversity", DC may have completely erased him from the main books.)
Grade: C


Firestorm the Nuclear Men #0:
Firestorm has been meaningfully streamlined. Rusch and Raymond have both been de-aged and significantly re-written. They got the Firestorm powers in high-school, and the "odd-couple" binary is nerd (Rusch) and jock (Raymond). If am reading this right, Stein died without ever having been Firestorm, but there were several other Firestorms. It is a safe bet that Firestorm's role in "Blackest Night" did not happen, as elements of it no longer count. The whole concept has a retro-80s feel to it. I could almost see this playing as one of those really bad live-action Disney or PG Touchstone movies, maybe even with John Hughs as the producer. And, I mean that in a nice way. If I were a kid, or had kids more directly in my life, I would steer them towards this book.
Grade: B


Ultimate X-Men #16 and 17:
And, speaking of 80s. If you are nostalgic for the whiniest elements of Claremonts run on the X-books, check this series out. We got it all here. Mutants in concentration camps (just to make the civil rights analogue more obvious), teen angsting and wangsting (for rebel-cred), and characters making stupid mistakes (like not making sure that captured enemy hardware is actually dis-armed). Out of every extra book I picked up for the cross-over, I regret this one most of all.
Grade: D


Ulitmate Spider-Man #16 and 17:
It dawns on me that I have not read this book for nearly 2 months. And, my reading pile did not much suffer for it. This is not a bad book by any stretch. In fact, it is consistently readable. Bendis manages to deliver at least one particularly well-written scene per issue. And, there are rarely if ever pages that stand out as being terrible. (Archie comics should mandate that their writers and editors read and understand what Bendis does, as that company consistently fails at being readable.) And, I really want to support a capes and tights book that goes through big changes. But....

This book is readable. That does not make it great. Subscribing to a book for being readable and having a big change is well and good. But, it was also easier to justify a year or so ago. At the time, my pull-file consisted of 4 or 5 books. Not, my pull-file runs between 8 and 12 depending on how I count books that I read casually but consistently. Even assuming a base number of 8 (that I am effectively obligated to buy), I am reading enough comics to make the cost in money, time and storage space an issue.

This is a good book, but I might be dropping it by the end of this year.

Grade: B

Current pull-file and reading list:

*Mega Man: Simply not worth reading. The writing is anemic at best. The art is weak. There are pages and panels that are notable for being weakly designed and executed. I gave Flynn and co more than enough of a chance. Dropped.

Earth 2: My favourite capes and tights book. I am fine just going for the ride, at least until this book hits issue 12.

Team 7: Again, I am along for the ride. So long as the suprises keep coming and sticking, I am in.

*World's Finest: I dropped it. This book was not going anywhere.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Not bad. But, I am having a harder time staying interested.

*Age of Apocalypse: I am fine with drawn out set-up. But, 8 issues is just about my limit, especially given how hazy and un-focused the early issues were. Dropped.

Transformers: I am still wrestling with the idea of there being 3 ongoing TF books on the shelves. With my pull-file being so bloated, I am not calling any book sacred, even the franchise that started me on comics. If I drop any of the TF books, it will likely be "More than Meets the Eye". Yes, I get the whole "the characters are aimless and on a quest" angle. But, Roberts has not managed to tell me why their quest is worth reading about. And, he is fast burning off the credibility that he earned with me after "Last Stand of the Wreckers". "Re-Generation 1" is suprisingly good. And, it is delivering on everything that I want from a comic. Best of all, it has a sunset provision, so I know that it will not just continuue running for no reason.

Cobra: Costa is still delivering the goods here. Even with IDW trying to force the Joe-books to sync up, "Cobra" stands well enough on its own.


Dom
-also making progress on the most recent "Horus Heresy" novel.

[Sparky Prime]

It reads like a comic book.

Shocking, that.

It is a safe bet that Firestorm's role in "Blackest Night" did not happen, as elements of it no longer count.

It is a comic book. Nothing is a safe bet here regardless of what events seem to count or not until/unless they actually cover it.

[Dominic]

Thanks to a sale, and the fact that most of this week's haul was sitting in my file long enough to be "old", this week's pile is larger than normal. (I actually ended up adding to it at the last minute to bring it up over the $10 mark, adding another sticker to my discount card.)

New Crusaders (freebie):
The store was running some kind of FCBD promotion for Halloween, and this was one of the books offered. Flynn's writing here is a notch or two above what he shows in "Mega Man". That may be a function of him stepping up his game for this book or a question of Archie's editorial policies mandating bad writing in the name of keeping a book "kid accessible". It could be both or neither. The introduction boxes for each character are a very nice touch, and really should be an industry standard. Over-all, not a bad book, but not something that I am likely to add to an already bloated pull-file.
Grade: B/C

Daredevil End of Days #1:
In recent years, Marvel has taken to publishing "last story of ________" series, showing possible futures of various characters. Typically, these stories are written by characters associated with defining arcs for books, such as Claremont on "X-Men", Simonson on "X-Factor" or Michelinie on "Iron Man". But, apparently, Miller is not appreciably more available than Gruenwald. Bendis takes this one. The high concept is that Daredevil is murdered by Bullseye in broad daylight. The series follows Ben Urich's attempts to write DareDevil's obituary, which is also going to be one of the last articles published in the Daily Bugle. Ironically, part of the "end of an era" theme in this series is the idea that print newspapers are dead/dying. This makes a story that is ostensibly about a dark future seem current, and likely retro in the near future. Grade: A/B


Animal Man #0:
And....retcons ahoy. Animal Man's new origin keeps Morrison's yellow aliens, but their origin and reasons for existing are significantly revised to incorporate Animal Man in to the red/green/rot dynamic.
Grade: B/C


Flash #0:
This issue focuses largely on retreading Barry Allen's (largely intact) origin as established post "Final Crisis". All things considered, this issue does exactly what a zero issue should be doing. I will not be picking up the rest of the series, but I can appreciate competent execution.
Grade: A


Legion of Superheroes #0:
This one definitely seems to be tying in with a larger arc. Some stuff happens on Colu. Braniac 5 is apparently responsible, if only by accident. I
Grade: C

Shocking, that.

I meant "it reads like a comic book" in the O6 sense.


Comic Shop News: Oi, that "Spider Man" strip is bad. It reads like a damned sitcom. Anyway....there is an interesting bit of news in this week's edition. Apparently, the first issue of the upcoming "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" series is projected to be the best selling "all-ages" of the century thus far. Granted, that is a category that includes crap like "Johnny Boo". But, it is impressive all the same. I am likely to flip through the series, but unlikely to actually buy it given how many comics I am committed to reading.


Dom
-really trying to cut the pull file down.

[Sparky Prime]

I meant "it reads like a comic book" in the O6 sense.

Yeah, no... Still not seeing how a comic book reading like a comic book is supposed to be a bad thing here, especially when O6's sense is some false sense that all stories involving certain types of plots are stupid, despite some of the greatest stories involving many of those same plot elements.

[Onslaught Six]

I meant "it reads like a comic book" in the O6 sense.

Yeah, no... Still not seeing how a comic book reading like a comic book is supposed to be a bad thing here, especially when O6's sense is some false sense that all stories involving certain types of plots are stupid, despite some of the greatest stories involving many of those same plot elements.

It is my opinion that any time a story completely unnecessarily involves timetravel or alternate universes, or any character coming back from the dead (or having "not really been dead" because the guy who died was a clone, or a robot, or a Skrull), especially if they've been dead for a long time, is pretty much stupid. There are so many stories that don't need those elements to seem "epic" or that "EVERYTHING IS CHANGING FOREVER ONCE AGAIN THIS WEEK," and they can easily be told. Just look at the Marvel films, which have completely avoided damn near all of those elements. (Thor dies and comes back to life at the end of his movie, but that's about it.)

[Dominic]

And, a character being killed and brought back in the same movie, (if not the same scene), is less a question of hype and more of a story beat. Planned returns from the dead are a whole new question.

The scarab's origin is an "epic origin of the McGuffin".


Dom
-would like clarification on who held the scarab and for how long....

[Sparky Prime]

It is my opinion that any time a story completely unnecessarily involves timetravel or alternate universes, or any character coming back from the dead (or having "not really been dead" because the guy who died was a clone, or a robot, or a Skrull), especially if they've been dead for a long time, is pretty much stupid. There are so many stories that don't need those elements to seem "epic" or that "EVERYTHING IS CHANGING FOREVER ONCE AGAIN THIS WEEK," and they can easily be told. Just look at the Marvel films, which have completely avoided damn near all of those elements. (Thor dies and comes back to life at the end of his movie, but that's about it.)

That still doesn't make every story that involves time travel, alternate universe or clones or what have you a stupid story. Again, there are stories that involves those exact types of plots that are actually held in high regard. And the Marvel films are far from free from them. The X-Men films alone use several of them. Jean "dies" in X2 only to return as Phoenix in the sequel. Where consequently she kills Xavier only for the scene after the credits to reveal he transferred his mind into a new body. Even the next X-Men: First Class film is going to be based on "Days of the Future Past", which itself is a big time travel story that is held as one of the best and a classic among X-Men story lines. And the sequel is going to be called Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Gee, wonder what will happen there with a character that was supposed to be dead...