The Good , the Bad , and the Ugly [7-08-09]

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Its been 2 weeks I imagine and been awhile I suppose , since I posted a new one of these. So this week I have a treat for you Star Wars fans , I review Star Wars : Invasion from Dark Horse. Its one of the 1st Star Wars titles I picked for my pull list. And I also go out and bring back an old series I pulled at one time. Amazing Spider-Man. I had dropped ASM due to the fact it had gotten pretty dumb awhile . But they said Mary-Jane is back and soon will have Blackcat and her ...as a triangle for everyones favorite Wall-Crawler !


LAST WARNING.... SPOILERS AHEAD !


OK SUCKERS.....


THE GOOD :

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Captain America : Reborn #2 of (5): Ok when we last left this big mini-series , Steve Rodgers realized he was stuck in some kinda weird "Quantom Leap" type deal. He was jumping into his past and couldn't stop himself from reliving events. He still can't as we see Steve on the battle field in Germany , leading a raid on the Red Skull's castle then with brave soldiers. He flashes back and we see him with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Then his final jump sends him back to where Dr. Erskine gives him the Super Soldier formula and experamint that made him a SUPER SOLDIER. Erskine tells Steve he can't change the past , because the effect on the future could unravel a lot thats there. And poor Steve watches as the brave Doctor dies yet again....in his arms.

In the present we see that Bucky is fighting with Natasha against the Dark Avengers. The numbers are too great and Bucky loses as they are captured. Norman Osborn however visits Crossbones and Sin and offers them a deal. They can work for him and they believe that if Rodgers comes back to life , they can put the Red Skull's mind inside him ! A Captain America for his Dark Avengers he muses.

But it all hinges on Sharon Carter who as Reed Richards examines ...has something in her DNA. Thats pretty intriquing. In the end we see that Natasha is told to capture Sharon Carter and bring her to Osborn , or she'll be responsible for 2 deaths of Captain America ! Grrrr....that Osborn.

Is it worth it ? The time thing is slowly being worked out and we get a great quote from Thomas Paine on the back of the book. Plus I think everyone wants to see Steve Rodgers return and kick Norman Osborn's ass and do a speech on America and the dream as he puts Osborn down. I know we all do....Worth a read people.


Detective Comics #855: In the 2nd part of Batwoman's star turn of Detective Comics , Kate Kane meets her new rogue Alice. This Alice claims to be from the book , "Alice in Wonderland" actually and is pretty weird as far as Bat rogues go. Anyhow she is leading the 13 Covens now . Kate basically gets too cocky and gets a razorblade kiss from Alice , who posions her by it. Making her lose her mind and see her mom . At this point , her father "The Colonel" gets worried for his daughter and shows up as Kate stumbles thru the woods. Its there her dad finds her , and comes right between Alice and her servants !

The Question backup gets a lot better as well. In this one Montoya basically beats down the gang as she questions where the girl is at she is lookin for. They tell her the information she wants and she goes to the gentleman's hideout. Along the way she however gets a stun gun to herself by suprise ! Uh oh ....

Its pretty good issue and the art by JH Williams is worthy of acclaim on Detective. I have to say ...that the female driven books "Detective" and "Gotham City Sirens" have gotta be the best books of the Batman Reborn launch. Rucka has suprised me with this one.


Amazing Spiderman #600: I started at #600 for this title again. To see if somehow Marvel could sell me Spider-Man . As a fan I loved the character and have for years. Its just that BND had some real hooky stories and heres hoping with what was hyped it would pay off. And it did .

The main story is one featuring Doctor Octopus. Doc Ock is in trouble as years of abuse and fights with superheroes have left his body breaking down. The one thing he worships above all else...his mind will go as we see that he has suffered a lot of head tramua . Doc Ock decides he must do one last great thing before he shuffles off this mortal coil . So he puts his plan in action.

Daredevil is the 1st one to show as a guest star and he seems to hint that some special magic is at work on Peter's secret ID being back in the box. He tells Pete he needs to stop telling people it. Some powerful magic is at work here he claims.

Meanwhile Peter Parker is happy that his aunt is marrying JJJ's dad. JJJ however isn't and starts putting plans in to stop the wedding by slowing down City Hall. This leads JJJ Sr. to tell his boy how things will fucking be ...and he better get used to it.

Ock's plan seems to be about wanting Spider-Man gone and as he turns the juice on , the city goes haywire whenever he's around. The New Avengers show up for a funny spot as Peter has to web off to stop Ock. He gets with the Fantastic Four and Johnny Storm as they discuss him. The comparison to Doctor Doom sits in as Pete dismisses it....he's Doctor Octopus , how much trouble could he be ?

But Doc Ock has a whole new look and a whole new set of problems for Peter . He finally manages to beat him , and Ock swears revenge on the wall crawler as his new found friends help him get away. The wedding goes off without a hitch as JJJ marries his dad as Peter plays best man. May tosses the flowers and there catching them was ...MARY-JANE ! Uh Oh.....

Anyhow the next story is a funny one by Stan Lee that has Peter meeting a therapist and discussing all the wild crazy changes in his life . From growing 6 arms , to the black costume , to being married and un-married. Its a funny parody story as the guy ends up crazy himself at the end ! HA

The next story by Mark Waid is about Ben Parker getting close to a young Peter Parker. And how he wants to raise him for his brother and how Peter is like a son to him. Sweet story....

Marc Guggenhiem likely wrote the best story thus far regarding his Spider-Man work. In it , Aunt May visits the cementery where Ben is at. She talks at his grave and details she is remarrying and how Peter seems to have a lot on his mind. She asks for her blessing and after a small lil sprinkle of rain , a rainbow forms. Nice....

We get a short story by Zeb Wells where Peter and Maddie I believe go for a fluff piece for Ben Urich's FRONTLINE. Its there the 2 see the Spidey-Mobile and people laugh and mock Spidey til the end. As a woman drags her son out pissed....he would diss Spider-Man after he saved his father in a burning building.

The final story is one that sets up The Gauntlet at the end and features the return of Madame Web. Who says that things have changed and teases things for the future. Some new rogues show and take her down as the hunt will soon begin ! Uh oh....


Was it a good anniversy issue ? Ohh yeah I agree it was. I think it ranks below Captain America and Thor's anniversy issues. But is miles ahead of Incredible Hulk #600. That was a horror fest. This was ok and sets the stage for the next year of Spider-Man. Whether the work is good will remain to be seen.


Justice League of America #35: Ok its a fill in arc basically before James Robinson and Mark Bagley hop aboard the Titanic that is this book. Thus far 2 writers have came on and thus far things haven't went as planned. Ohhh boy. But before then...the fill-in arc by legend Len Wein kicks off this issue.

The issue has the Royal Flush Gang return from the mothballs . The hit is a good one as there is a huge poker tournament going on in Vegas. The big grand prize is $25+ million in a case. And the gang hit the casino and take hostages. Even placing a force field over the place.

Meanwhile we see Firestorm and Vixen as Jason is kinda let down he joined the JLA when things went downhill. Vixen makes a joke about the Detriot JLA to help him and says the JLA always bounces back. Always....

Anyhow the call comes in on the RFG taking Vegas over and we see a team assemble outside of Firestorm , Vixen , Red Tornado, female Doctor Light , and..... PLASTIC MAN baby ! Plas is back for this arc. Anyhow he joins as Light isn't at all happy as Plas gives her a piece of his mind... "I was a part of this team for White Martians and gave up 3,000 years of my life for this team !"

The battle is quick and things get wild as the money ends up going all over. In the melee , the RFG escape ...and across the city we see that one of the female hostages was in fact working alongside the gang. She becomes one of the 6 of spades. As we meet the bosses now..... ROULETTE and PROF. AMOS FORTUNE ! The game has just started they tell us.

It should be a good fun arc if this issue is any indication. Shame Wein isn't staying til the spring on JLA. I wish he was. But hey....it should be a good read while he lasts.

Part 2 coming.....hold comments....

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Justice Society of America #29: The team that has brought us Jack of Fables and ....Fables hops aboard this issue. In this one , the JSA get new additions in All-American Kid and King Chimera . Mr. America is pretty suprised that he will have a sidekick now as he never knew an All-American Kid was with the 1st Mr. America. But he reveals his sad fate at being shot and killed in action.

Anyhow something happens to Obisdan and he shrinks to an egg as Mr. Terrific decides to take a look at it. Then a rogue shows up daring Wildcat to a fight. Ted Grant claims he has never ...ever came across that guy and doesn't know why he wants him so bad. Part of the team goes to fight him and take him down with Wildcat.

Of course at the fight we see that this was a ruse and a huge amount of rogues show up and whup the smaller team of JSA's asses. They however won't touch Stargirl at all. They are under orders not to weirdly as they stay away from her. Back at JSA HQ , All-American Kid suddenly had someone take over his mind as he goes to the lab and stabs Mr.Terrific....leaving him in a pool of blood !


Its a good 1st issue by Willingham and Sturges. They are setting the ground work basically for this issue ...and its a suprisingly thing to see Mr.Terrific stabbed at the end. Hopefully we'll see what happens next.


Blackest Night : Tales of the Corps #1 & #2 (of 3): Ok in these issues we get some stories on the main characters of these stories of each Corps. Anyhow this issue basically has the origins of Saint Walker (Blue Lantern Corps) , Mongul (Sinestro Corps) and the mysterious Indigo (Ingigo Tribe of Lanterns) for the 1st one.

We see Saint Walker sacrifice himself and family to climb the mountain for their god. Because hope is all Walker has. He loses everyone along the way but his hope never diminishes. He returns to his city as riots are going on and he preaches about hope....the people slowly settle down and buy in. Then a blue ring finds him ! To spread great hope thru the galaxy.

We see a story of Mongul as a kid and how he made lesser beings build a statue to him and worship him. His daddy shows up and destroys them and tells his son , he will never be more than him. Nice dad....ha.

Indigo is a mysterious one. A dying Green Lantern asks for help and tries to get his ring to translate . Its un-able to as the tribe and her watch him pass. They speak a different language. A dumb Sinestro Corps soldier tries to fight them and the power has no effect at all....and scared shitless he flies off !

In #2 we see that the Star Saphire ring contacts Carol Ferris as she flies. Wanting her to lead the troops of love into battle. Ferris at 1st refuses and we see flashbacks to when Carol as a little girl fell for Hal Jordan as a boy. How his dad died by accident and how Carol's dad wasted away in grief , losing his friend that way. We see them as adults. Then the ring reveals that Carol can't deny she never stopped loving Hal. And she admits it , and the ring shows images that he could die during the war or light ! Carol takes the ring to save her man.

We see the story of Bleez of the Red Lanterns . A being who was beautiful and stunning , she loved her freedom and rejected many a suitor. Soon the flying beauty watches as the evil Sinestro corps massacre her home world , kill her mom , and torture her. At the end a Red Lantern ring lands on her finger...and all she knows is RAGE now....killing her captor.

We meet the God of Hunger.... a being so selfish it would land on worlds and demand food and would threaten to eat worlds unless it was fed. It goes from world to world.....until it makes the mistake of landing on LarFleeze's world and gets absorbed into his Orange Lantern Corps !


Its a pretty fun read and you get a good look into some of these alien lanterns and corps.


Deadpool , Merc with a Mouth #2: The 2nd issue of everyones favorite Merc's spinoff book continues ! When we last left Pool , he had been taken by the cavemen in the Savage Land. He then met the Zombie head....of himself ! Yep.... it seems Zombie-Head Pool , landed from the Marvel Zombies world by accident when a portal opened and he fell in. His body destroyed except his head.

Wade being awesome hatches a plan of escape and it involves his arm being chopped off ! Ouch.....he then uses it to fight and kill everyone. He is ready to pitch Zombie-Head Pool in the fire but the hot Dr. Betty tells him thats what AIM sent him for. Inside Zombie-Head is the virus and they want it.

Between moments of eyeing Dr.Betty and wanting her bad , and singing along to bad tunes with Zombie-Head Pool , we see Wade fight a dinosaur. In the end the gang is all taken prisioner by HYDRA !

Its got a great homage cover as a homage to Romero . And the whole thing is a hoot as usual. Deadpool has 2 funny books a month now. Can ya believe it ?

THE BAD


Star Wars Invasion #1: Ok , this to me is a BAD more on me than Star Wars in general. The book claims this is 25 Years after the battle of Yevin and the Fall of the Empire. Beyond the movies....I have no fuckin clue what that means. I also have no idea what this new enemy is either.

Anyhow the planet Artorias is in these invaders paths and the peace the planet knows comes to an end pretty fast. Caled and his son Finn watch as these invaders "Vongs ?" take the planet and destroy. They then take his mom and his sister Kaye hostage.

The ships have been sabtoged as Caled learns that someone inside the city is a traitor and helped this attack on the city . They need time to be fixed as the old man is ready to give them time and kick ass to do it. Instead as they open the doors Luke Skywalker has WHUPPED THAT ASS. He's done cut all the bad guys down and stands alone. BAD ASS.

Kaye kills one and is taken hostage ...as Caleb leads a team ...knowing its his end. Finn however gets told by Skywalker that he has to come to the Jedi Academy. Because he knows...he's one.

Again for someone who knows Star Wars....good read likely. For someone like me....not so much. I don't know these characters beyond Luke Skywalker. So I'm a bit puzzled....


Amazing Spider-Man #601: Ok I'm not fully hating this issue. In fact its so halfway it could likely end up on the GOOD list at some point. Really...it could. No lie. But there are problems. And the biggest problem is ending #600 with the tease that your gonna have Peter Parker and Mary-Jane meet and talk.

But nope...and heres where it gets wacky. And again it seems like the sacrifice of making Peter Parker young , out wiegh the fact Peter Parker has always been a real responsible man. Someone who doesn't get SMASHED at the reception party to avoid talking to a woman he nearly married and lived with for years. Ya know....not real responsible. Then it continues as Peter in a drunken haze nails Vin's little sister and insults her ....running off to avoid responsibilty there.

In fact he seems not guilty for this at all. Nope... not guilty as he's wondering where Mary-Jane told him to meet. He was drunk and can't remember. No thoughts of how wrong he was or anything. He wants to run away and tries staying at his old house while Aunt May is on her honeymoon , no luck as all the Reilly's are crashing there. No luck at Betty Brant's either....and no luck at Harry's as his place is gone. He fights some bad guys musing about this and saves people in a fire. As MJ has also gotten drunk and passed out for 15 hours sleeping and missed her date meeting him...she is pleased he saved people. The end sees even more running from responsibility as the girl made Peter cookies and chained the fridge weirdly . Does that make any fucking sense ?

Anyhow the backup story saves the book basically. Saves it by leaps and bounds. While the 1st story seems to be forgetting that Peter is a responsible man , and not someone nailin ass and running away to avoid responsibility....the story by Jessica Jones-Cage reveals she is in fact the brunette under Flash in the classic ASM issue. Who really learned a lesson by what Spider-Man did when he saved the school. And she wanted to be a hero after it. The term "Power and Responsibility" gets used. If only they had read this story and realized how bad the 1st one teaches none whatsoever.

The 1st story is just sad and dumb. And the fact Peter would get drunk , and have drunken sex and expect he nailed MJ and instead someone else ....then to run off avoiding responsibility for what he did is dumb. But the current regime seem to sacrifice Peter Parker's responsibility motif for his youth and wanting to do funny things like this. Is it right ? No....was it funny ...sure. But sometimes ya can't sacrifice the character to do funny things.

I'll keep pulling Spider-Man. I just hope Marvel learns why this title was faltering and fix it.

THE UGLY


No books on the UGLY LIST ! YEAHHHH PEOPLE....NONE.....THATS A MOMENT NO ONE EVER EXPECTED . Later....



ha.

[friginator]

I don't see how Captain America is good. The art is horrible looking. As if we needed more evidence that Brian Hitch's art is massively overrated. The story feels a bit forced, but the awful art is unfortunately hard to ignore.

[THEDOC]

Ok I've been confused about Reborn, but I was thinking he was in the Ultimate Universe judging by both "his" and Bucky's WW2 costumes as they look more like The Ultimate version, if this is MU why are things so different, is Cap reconning the past somewhat??

[Michael P]

Ok I've been confused about Reborn, but I was thinking he was in the Ultimate Universe judging by both "his" and Bucky's WW2 costumes as they look more like The Ultimate version, if this is MU why are things so different, is Cap reconning the past somewhat??

No, Hitch just likes drawing Cap that way.

[THEDOC]

Man, I get confused enough. :confused:

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I still love Hitch's art. Cap should be choking Hitler and beating the shit outta him in every issue. :tongue: