Comics are awesome.

[andersonh1]

Daredevil #2: Last issue, Captain America came to arrest Daredevil for the events in that Shadowland thing. This issue, they fight a bit, and then Daredevil says "Look, Cap, I was possessed. You know I'm one of the good guys, will you trust me on this one?". And the fight breaks up. Well, hell, why wouldn't it? Then it's on to DD investigating why no other lawyers would take his most recent client's case. Which leads to Klaw doing some crazy shit. Not as amazing as the first issue, but solid, solid stuff, and after the way Marvel's heroes have been at each other's throats the last few years, the resolution to this issue's fight with Cap is refreshing. Good stuff. Two issues off DD next month? I'm in.

Picked up Daredevil #1 and 2 today myself. Again, I don't usually read Marvel, but I like Mark Waid from his run on the Flash back in the early 90s, and from Kingdom Come. And I remember enjoying a few issues of the book when John Romita Jr. was drawing it, again from the early 90s. So it was worth a try. I'll post some thoughts when I've had a chance to read both issues.

[Dominic]

New Avenbers #15:
"Fear Itself" tie-in. Bendis frames this issue as being in the past-tense with Squirrel Girl talking about the POV character. (The idea here looks to be that Squirrel Girl is sitting for a "history of the team" interview, similar to what was shown in the back-up pages of early issue of the series.) In any case, a bunch of stuff happens, largely involving Nazis in mech suits. Like the previous issue, the implied "to be continued" is just assumed ot have some how worked itself out.

Of course, we know this is likely to be Squirrel Girl's only big even. (C'mon, ya know she is gonna die as soon as Bendis is off the book.)

Grade: C/D Skippable filler.


Fellowship of Fear:
This is the obligatory themed sourcebook for the "Fear Itself" event. It is a bit more readable than other sourcebooks, in large part due to having a few more actual story pages. But, the entries do seem to be written a bit more tightly as well. A few of the entries seem to have been added to fill out pages, or to push back-issue sales.
Grade: C/D Worth picking up if you are following the main event or otherwise have a specific interest.

There you go, Dom! Do that. Or just borrow his.

I can wait for the compilation. If nothing else, I want to shrink my pull list a bit more.


Dom
-got these last week, and nothing this week.

[andersonh1]

Retroactive 90s Batman #1
What a great slice of nostalgia from Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle. The book includes a new story, in which Scarface and the Ventriloquist are released from prison and get up to their old tricks. There's also a supernatural element in the form of a zombie who used to be one of Scarface's goons. The reason he appears is never explained apart from "random conditions", but Batman fought supernatural foes fairly often when Grant was writing, so it's something I took at face value. Norm Breyfogle is one of my favorite Batman artists, so naturally I enjoyed seeing his art again. DC needs to put him back on some Batman book somewhere. I'd buy it in a second.

The backup story is one I remember from when I was collecting Batman and Detective Comics. It's a slice of life in Gotham type story, in which Batman takes on nothing more sinister than one trash collection company trying to force another one out of business via violent and criminal means. One of the things I enjoy so much about Batman is how he can fit into both superhero type storylines and crime storylines equally as well. Both stories in this book are self-contained, with little or no reference to continuity as long as you know who the characters are.

Daredevil #1 and 2
My brother used to collect Daredevil's previous series back in the early 90s. He collected Marvel while I bought mainly DC, but I did enjoy reading about the character. Mark Waid, an author I've enjoyed in the past, combined with some good art and good memories of the character convinced me to buy the first two issues and see what I think. The fact that Matt is blind and can't always tell what he's dealing with (such as when he wonders about the robots at the end of issue 2) are nicely done. I like all the line drawings used to represent his 'radar-sense' as they put us in Daredevil's shoes quite effectively. The art is quite good throughout the book, and I hope the artist sticks around for awhile.

I have no idea what all the past plot references entail, only that Daredevil has recently been through something bad and is trying to rebuild his life and career, while dealing with it all via a enthusiastic attitude about life. He comes across as very positive, and I really enjoyed that. I enjoy a grim hero as much as anyone (Batman being one of my favorites), but I equally enjoy seeing a super-hero enjoy his life. Daredevil is also like Batman in that he's just human, meaning he too can deal with crime stories or superheroics equally well. The first issue demonstrates this by having him crash a Mafia wedding to fight a teleporting super-villain.

I like what I've read so far quite a bit. I'm in. I haven't bought a Marvel comic since I quit collecting the Hulk back when Peter David was the writer, and the green and grey Hulks shared the book for awhile, but I enjoyed these two issues enough to keep reading.

[138 Scourge]

Aw yeah. Welcome to the dark side, anderson!

I have no idea what all the past plot references entail, only that Daredevil has recently been through something bad and is trying to rebuild his life and career, while dealing with it all via a enthusiastic attitude about life. He comes across as very positive, and I really enjoyed that. I enjoy a grim hero as much as anyone (Batman being one of my favorites), but I equally enjoy seeing a super-hero enjoy his life.

Those "bad things" that DD's gone through? That's pretty much his whole life since Frank Miller took over his book back in the 80's. With the exception of a short run by Karl Kesel in the mid-90's, Daredevil's been the hard-luck hero. I mean, Spidey's got it bad, but DD's got it worse. The last thing involved Matt being possessed by a demon and taking over leadership of the Hand, the ninja clan that he's regularly fighting against. I don't know everything that went down during that story, but I'm pretty sure that Daredevil killed Bullseye whilst possessed. Honestly, I can't imagine any jury in the world would convict him. Bullseye's killed two of Daredevil's love interests (and one of 'em stayed dead), and he killed DD's mom. Who wouldn't wax this jerk?

I'm with you on enjoying DD's attitude. I especially like how he's got that upbeat, positive attitude and his life is still really hard. It's a great contrast.

Daredevil is also like Batman in that he's just human, meaning he too can deal with crime stories or superheroics equally well. The first issue demonstrates this by having him crash a Mafia wedding to fight a teleporting super-villain.

Well, just human except for the ninja training and the hyper-senses, but yeah. Not super-strong or super-tough, but I'd say that 360 degree radar sense and being able to identify people by the sound of their heartbeat is something special. But yeah, it's a neat thing about the character that DD works in noir stories as well as bright-colored superheroics.

Bad news on the artist, though. We get a new one as of next issue, it seems. Good news is, this guy's really good, too. Yeah, this guy'll do nicely, I think. I've really enjoyed the art on this first two issues as well, dude manages to evoke a Silver age feeling of fun and coolness, but like I say, new guy'll be just fine.

Oh, yeah, and quasi-spoiler if you're interested. Won't affect the story at all, just a bit of background info:

Spoiler

Those robots? Those are actually parts of longtime Marvel villain Klaw, who is actually made of solidified sound. So you can imagine why soundwaves that are vibrating at the right frequency to be solid would play all kinds of hell with DD's senses.

I like what I've read so far quite a bit. I'm in. I haven't bought a Marvel comic since I quit collecting the Hulk back when Peter David was the writer, and the green and grey Hulks shared the book for awhile, but I enjoyed these two issues enough to keep reading.

GLad you dig it, man. If you like some Hulk, may I recommend you hit up your library and scope out some of Greg Pak's work on the Hulk? I held off forever, and have just been reading the most recent arc (Pak's last, sadly), but man, it is good-time stuff. It reminds me of when David was in his prime on Hulk. Not that it's derivative, but in that it's a lot of fun, and it's in the upper echelon of what Marvel's putting out these days. I think Pak's run started with "Planet Hulk", which, c'mon, Hulk as an alien barbarian king? That's a damn good idea right there.

[andersonh1]

Aw yeah. Welcome to the dark side, anderson!

MWAH-HAHAHAHA!

Those "bad things" that DD's gone through? That's pretty much his whole life since Frank Miller took over his book back in the 80's. With the exception of a short run by Karl Kesel in the mid-90's, Daredevil's been the hard-luck hero.

I think when my brother was collecting the book and I was reading it, Miller was writing and John Romita Jr. was drawing. Kingpin was working Matt over, to the point he left New York and went on a road trip. That's all I remember from the time, (and my memory may be cheating about the timeframe) but I loved the art.

I'm with you on enjoying DD's attitude. I especially like how he's got that upbeat, positive attitude and his life is still really hard. It's a great contrast.

That to me is the biggest appeal of the book right now. I like the character and his attitude.

Well, just human except for the ninja training and the hyper-senses, but yeah. Not super-strong or super-tough, but I'd say that 360 degree radar sense and being able to identify people by the sound of their heartbeat is something special. But yeah, it's a neat thing about the character that DD works in noir stories as well as bright-colored superheroics.

They should do a Daredevil/Dr. Mid-Nite crossover. The two blind guys team up and whoop up on some bad guys. Hey, I'd buy it!

[138 Scourge]

I think when my brother was collecting the book and I was reading it, Miller was writing and John Romita Jr. was drawing. Kingpin was working Matt over, to the point he left New York and went on a road trip. That's all I remember from the time, (and my memory may be cheating about the timeframe) but I loved the art.

I dunno, I think Miller drew his run on DD. I know that Ann Noceti had a really solid run in the late eighties-early 90's with fantastic JRJR art. That run included two issues of Daredevil fighting a possessed vacuum cleaner, and one issue in which Daredevil fought the damn-near indestructible robot Ultron. That stuff was really solid. I never followed it regularly for some reason, every time I picked up an issue at random it was really good stuff.

Of course, if Romita started in the late 80's, that doesn't put him too far away from Miller's run, so he could have been drawing some of that.

Semi-related note: I love John Romita Jr.'s artwork. That guy is so damn good.

[Sparky Prime]

Semi-related note: I love John Romita Jr.'s artwork. That guy is so damn good.

I love his earlier work but I don't care for his modern work personally. Around 2000, he started drawing characters more.... blocky looking. Especially with characters faces.

[Onslaught Six]

Romita worked with Miller doing a DD origin story called Man Without Fear; that's where you're getting it from. It could be easy to assume that Romita was also the regular DD art guy around that time but evidence points to him not working on the main book until 1988. Miller had already stopped doing DD by that point.

[andersonh1]

I think when my brother was collecting the book and I was reading it, Miller was writing and John Romita Jr. was drawing. Kingpin was working Matt over, to the point he left New York and went on a road trip. That's all I remember from the time, (and my memory may be cheating about the timeframe) but I loved the art.

I dunno, I think Miller drew his run on DD. I know that Ann Noceti had a really solid run in the late eighties-early 90's with fantastic JRJR art.

Now that you say it, I think you're right. I think it was Nocenti. Just goes to show I was paying more attention to the art than the author!

[Sparky Prime]

Some sad news.... The comic book store I go to, Atomic Comics, closed its doors today. All four locations they have are going out of business after 25 years.