TF Views

Onslaught Six wrote:But I have seen just as many that insulted my intelligence.

For example? I've never felt insulted, but then again, I'm the guy who's glad Beavis and Butthead are back so...

And Scourge, I will concede that the theme is annoying, especially if repeated. I mean, I like it at first, but 100 times later I wanna go deaf.

Shockwave wrote:
And Scourge, I will concede that the theme is annoying, especially if repeated. I mean, I like it at first, but 100 times later I wanna go deaf.

No, I don't mean the theme. I don't even remember that. I mean the show itself.

EDIT: But hey, if you dig it, then more power to you, I'm not gonna hate. I mean I'll hate on the show, sure, but shit, I like Friday the 13th movies, so clearly I can't claim my tastes are better than anyone's.

The thing is, there even exist other shows that do the exact same thing but way better. Check out The IT Crowd for one.

Thor God Size #1: This is a one shot detailing the Enchantress' attempts to bring Skurge back from the dead. Of course, the attempt endangers the 9 realms, so Thor, Balder and Loki have to stop her. It is a pretty basic story, neither fish nor fowl. Reprinted in the back pages is the Simonson era issue of "The Mighty Thor" where Skurge died in the first place. Not a bad, more or less self-contained, one shot. But, nothing to go crazy looking for.
Grade: C


Jersey Gods #1: This reads like a half-assed Kirby riff....largely because it is a half-assed Kirby riff. The dialogue is bad and the high concept has been done better elsewhere. Think Kirby or Stalin mixed with Giffen, then water the whole mess down.
Grade: C/D

So, slow week for my comics this go-round.

Marvel Point One: I feel kind of dumb for buying this thing, especially for six bucks, but hell, Brubaker wrote part of it, and it had a really nice Art Adams (I think) looking cover. Anyway, this thing is set up sort of like an anthology book, we got a framing device and we get a few stories within. Or parts of stories. Each story is a preview of upcoming things in various Marvel books: There's a neat Defenders preview, an Avengers story where presumably last few Avengers try to avoid Ultron units, since Ultron's apparently conquered the planet, a couple really poorly named characters debut (and in a story by Van Lente, which is dissapointing, because these guys do not look too good), and some nonsense with the X-book stuff that makes me think I'll probably go ahead and stay away for awhile. Still, the framing sequence is pretty neat: A couple high-tech information thieves raid the Watcher's domain on the moon, and learn about what he's been seeing in the regular Marvel universe, or maybe in alternate futures or something. I'd write the whole thing off as kind of a neat way to do a preview thing, but dang, six bucks?

Avenging Spider-Man #1: If you think "Marvel Team-Up" is back, you won't be far wrong. Apparently each arc'll have Spider-Man teaming up with one of the Avengers, which..I don't mind that, but why limit it? Eh, whatever. Zeb Wells is a pretty decent writer, and Joe Mad...never dug his stuff back in the day, really, but holy crap, I can see why people liked him. He turns in some amazing things here, like a double-page spread wherein the Mole Man's Moloid people boil up out of a hole in the street and swarm a marathon full of runners. And man, as much as you could say that spread's a waste of space, it is a fantastic thing to look at. I do kind of wish these were single-issue stories like the old Marvel Team-Up books were, but I suppose that's a pretty rare thing these days. Anyhow, I'll buy the next issue, most likely, so this one's a winner.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #13: Yeah, a DC book. But man, if DC did more books like this, I'd likely have a lot more patience for 'em these days. This is the tie-in to the super-cool Brave and the Bold show that's either cancelled now or soon to be. So it's like "DC Team-Up", but usually with cooler versions of the characters than are showing up in the regular books. This issue...kind of breaks that mold. Batman's been fatally wounded and is in stasis, and the Phantom Stranger has to figure out who can save him? Batman can always rely on Robin, of course, but in this case one Robin might not be enough. So he recruits Dick Grayson as Nightwing, Jason Todd, Carrie Kelly, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Damian Wayne. No shit. It's as funny as it sounds. And the art is pretty amazing, in it's way. It's totally based off the TV show, of course, but the artist was able to make sure you could tell every Robin apart, and considering that Jason, Damien, and Tim are all young dudes in similar Robin suits, that's quite a feat. One of my favorite bits: Damien making Jason chill out by telling him he'll listen to Dick "Because I know your future, 'Boy Wonder', and if you say one more word it'll happen sooner". Damien's awesome, I've really gotten to like that dude. The plot kind of takes a back seat to the characters, but it's worth it in this case because the book's so damn much fun.

At some point in the last year, $4 became standard for comic. So, $6 for a double sized issue is not completely out of bounds. Of course, $6 for a preview book.

Any indication how much the Ultron plot in "Moon Knight" might have to do with "Avengers"? Of course, that plot might be all in the main character's head. I need to reread the earlier issues to be sure.


Dom
-breaking in to the Watcher's house? Damn.

I grabbed Animal Man #2 (I'm about a month behind), Mega Man #7 and TMNT #3 the other day. Haven't read them yet but I'll let you guys know when I do.

Marvel Point One: Yeah, they spelled out "Point One". Way to keep the naming and numbering conventions for an ongoing promotion consistent Marvel. Good work. As Scourge pointed out, this book consists of preview stories from severaLof Marvel's in-house genres framed with a story about stealing from a very unattentive Watcher. The framing story reads appropriately like set-up, though I doubt much of consequence will come of it. The various stories range in tone and quality. There are a couple that have potential, but nothing that I am willing to add to a pull-list that is likely to be 8 books next year. The worst was the Nova story, which featured Nova saying "I epic fail" when he dropped the ball and let a planet die. Yeah, the hero responds tike a lolcat when he lets a planet die. This particular bit of tard-fodder was written by.....Jeph Loeb. My god, that man makes me wish for Kirkman or Furman.
Grade:C A worthwhile preview. Even the above mentioned Loeb writing is worthwhile, if only to warn people away from the actual event book.


Ultimate Spiderman #3:
Silver Age Marvel's policy of having the characters act more "like the readers than their parents" annoyed me as a I got older. Elements of it carried over in to the 80s and early 90s, and it struck me as a teenager that I was as, if not more, mature than some of the main characters. Bendis of course is known for writing characters that generally sound like adults. And, here Bendis is, writing a character who is a kid....and sounds like a kid while acting like one. After a couple of back-written cross-overs to "Death of Spiderman", Morales puts on the costume and screws up.
Grade: A Worth reading, even beyond the hype.


Fear Itself 7.3:
Fraction addresses two problems with comics about as well as could be expected. One of the more cataclysmic consequences of "Fear Itself" was undone in context as an act of (a) god, which explains why one big change did not stick. And, Iron Man's reasoning for not liquidating the Grey Gargoyle is not flawless, but more credible than similar decisions normally are in this sort of story. The story is hurt by Fraction's polemics, putting the bombing of Dresden on a level with the pogroms in Cambodia or Serbia.
Grade: C/D The polemics bring this down considerably.

Dom
-really Fraction? Really?

I need to catch up on last week and this week's comics. Got Batgirl #3, Green Lantern #3, Justice League #3, Batman #3 and Nightwing #3. Spot the numbering trend? Captain America #4 was out today, but I'll get that next week. I'll have to post some reviews in the next few days.

I bought a fair amount of books this week, but I'm too lazy to review 'em up right now. But I grabbed Avengers Academy #22, Punisher #5, Amazing Spider-Man #74, Venom #9, Captain America #4, Mudman #1, and Atomic Robo: The Ghost of Station X #3. I think Avengers Academy was the weak point due to a couple of really bad bits of dialogue, but other than that, this was a damn good week for comics.