Some real heavy hitters coming out this week. I'm a little scared of the new Blue Beetle issue. It's got a new writer and it's an all Spanish issue, making it even more difficult to get into, but I love the book and I'll stick with it for the time being. I think New Avengers is the issue I'm looking most forward to. I know I've been less than enthusiastic over the Skrulls and, in general, a bit negative over it, but this issue supposedly tells us all about how they gained their new powers and infiltrated Earth. Should answer a lot of questions for fans. DCU #0 is out as well and for 50 cents, I expect most will pick it up. I think it's just going to be a promo book advertising the upcoming Final Crisis event and its now numerous tie-ins, so I'm not too upset dropping 50 cents on it. Anyways, let me know what you intend on picking up or what you think of my picks this week. I meant to do a review of Manhunter's first couple trades on the weekend, as the series was recommended to me by some readers, but ran into some difficulties. I'll post that tomorrow when I have some free time. Tip: It's awesome and you should try to check it out if you can.
AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #12Written by Dan Slott & Chris Gage
Art by Steve Uy
"CHANGING OF THE GUARD"
Daddy's home. IRON MAN comes to Camp Hammond, and he's NOT happy.
The first year of the Initiative comes to a dramatic close as members are laid to rest, drummed out, declared AWOL, or...awarded their full Hero's License. See who graduates and find out what super-teams they'll be assigned to as the NEXT era of the Initiative begins! Plus: as a new 3-D MAN appears, the base is suddenly short one Skrull...but not how you'd think...
Also guest-starring MS. MARVEL!
Kirk Says: Well, the preview art for the fill-in explains why this is coming out so quickly after the last one. It's not exactly up to par with Caselli, to say the least. Slott and Gage are doing an excellent job with the characters, but it seems they've actually killed off some characters based on the same previews, which is annoying.
So far there's only two confirmed deaths, so not a complete cast wipe, but one of the more developed characters bit the dust. I know new recruits are coming in, but it's been like 2 weeks, Marvel-time, and everyone is graduating with their Hero License already? I hope Cloud 9, Komodo, Hardball, MVP, the (old) New Warriors and most of the black ops players, like Constrictor (if he survived KIA), Mutant Zero, etc, all stick around with the newbies.
BLUE BEETLE #26Written by Jai Nitz
Art by Mike Norton and Trevor Scott
A special extra-sized Spanish-language issue, with the English script as bonus material! Blue Beetle takes Traci 13 to his family reunion, and having your girlfriend meet your family can be tough, especially when she's the only guest who doesn't speak Spanish! To make matters worse, two people have uncovered Jaime's secret identity — and one of them is the Parasite!
Kirk Says: Oi, I love Blue Beetle and all, but, even with the new writer, the all-Spanish previews have me scared. I've bought, and enjoyed, Marvel's "silent" issues from a few years back, so I'm used to the concept of just pretty pictures telling a story, but I feel cheated just reading the previews for this and I didn't even pay for it yet. I like the book, so I'll support it regardless, but I hope there's a fan translation of this popping up in the future so I know what was said.
DAREDEVIL: BLOOD OF THE TARANTULA #1Written by Ed Brubaker & Ande Parks
Art by Chris Samnee
“Blood of the Tarantula”
Carlos LaMuerto, a.k.a. Black Tarantula, is finally doing something good with his life. Well, at least it ain’t all bad. Lying low after getting out of prison and wiping out an entire gang, Carlos has become a low-key Robin Hood -- cleaning up the neighborhood he used to run as a gang lord. But he’s about to discover that leaving his past behind isn’t as simple as a change of attitude…as ghosts from his former life haunt him, Carlos turns to his friend/adversary, Matt Murdock. Now Black Tarantula and Daredevil must work together to save the streets of Hell’s Kitchen from a powerful new gang from Carlos’ homeland.
Kirk Says: I like Black Tarantula. He was one of the best things to come out of Spider-Man post-Clone Saga and it was a shame to see him just disappear from the books. While it's a little odd having someone that can tear Spidey apart without breaking a sweat associated with the all too human Daredevil, it's great seeing someone like Brubaker take an interest in him, as only good things can come from it.
His earlier appearances in Daredevil, particularly the last annual, have set him up for this unexpected mini. At least, I must have been asleep at the wheel, as I have no knowledge of this even being solicited, but am damn happy it's coming out. Definitely looking forward to this one.
DC UNIVERSE: ZEROWritten by Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns
Art by George Pérez, Tony Daniel, J.G. Jones, Aaron Lopresti, Ivan Reis, Philip Tan and Carlos Pacheco
This is it! The greatest DC characters! Your favorite writers and artists! Everything leading to Final Crisis and beyond starts here for just 50¢! Take a journey through the past and present of the DCU, and witness the emergence of the greatest evil in the universe — and the stunning return of a force for good! You dare not miss DC Universe: Zero!
Kirk Says: For 50 cents, this might be worth the cost. Yes, Johns and Morrison are writing, but, by all accounts, this is a "preview" book that has no real story and is just a bunch of promos for upcoming stories and Final Crisis tie-ins. I will be surprised if anything noteworthy comes out of this or if it's anything other than the equivilent of Marvel's Secret Invasion 10 page online prologue from a few weeks back.
GREEN LANTERN #30Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert
"Green Lantern: Secret Origin" part 2! The origin of Green Lantern continues as Hal Jordan struggles with life after the Air Force and life at Ferris. But Jordan's world will change completely when he meets Carol Ferris again for the first time and the alien Abin Sur. Plus, who murdered Abin Sur? His fellow Corpsman and friend, Sinestro, wants to know.
Kirk Says: I was extremely disappointed with last issue's one page, plus ads and 21 pages of reprints, of story for $2.99. If that one page in the preview of Abin Sur is all we are going to get in this issue of new material, I will be livid.
IMMORTAL IRON FIST #14Written by Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction
Art by David Aja
This is it, kids--the skull–busting, chest–punching, punch–kicking conclusion to THE SEVEN CAPITAL CITIES OF HEAVEN. Seven practitioners of super kung fu, champing at the bit to bloody each other to a pulp. A rogue Hydra cell, intent on destroying K'un-Lun from Earth, loads its terror train full of explosives and prepares to fire it through a warp in space-time. A schism in the leadership of K'un-Lun threatens to tear the city in two. The original Heroes for Hire, outgunned, outmanned, and out of time somewhere in Tibet. And Davos, the arch-rival of Iron Fist, intent on exploiting all this chaos, wants to assassinate Danny Rand once and for all. When was the last time a comic melted your face off? When was the last time you read THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST?
Kirk Says: The last two questions for this solicit are all that has to be said. Iron Fist is a book that melts your face off with awesomeness every month, barring delays, and it has been probably been since the last issue of IIF that I have last had my face melted off by a comic. There was no indication, but I hope this is a double sized conclusion to this storyline. I can't imagine how they will wrap up the Hydra invasion and the Thunderer's insurrection and the other random subplots left open.
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #41Written by Jim Shooter
Art by Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan
Part 2 of the "Enemy Rising" arc! The threat of the extinction of all life grows! Meanwhile, with newfound, hideous strength, Princess Projectra rampages in downtown Metropolis! Invisible Kid, Brainiac 5 and Saturn Girl attempt to spy on a secret U.P. operation! And the Legion is busted!
Kirk Says: As I've said before, I'm really enjoying this soft reboot of the Legion series by Starlin. The art is great, in a Bagley-esque sort of way, and, as a Legion newbie, the pacing is perfect for introducing me to all these characters. I've always felt overwhelmed by the huge cast size of the Legion books and this one is doing a great job easing me in.
NEW AVENGERS #40Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Jim Cheung
Very special guest artist Jimmy Cheung returns to the pages of New Avengers for this very important tie-in issue. Spinning right off of events in NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI #1, find out exactly how the Skrull empire was able to infiltrate the Marvel Universe and who instigated the invasion and why.
Kirk Says: I love Cheung's artwork. It's a shame he's slow as cold molasses, as I'd love to see him on a monthly. This seems like it should be a must read issue for anyone reading Secret Invasion and I'm surprised it's only a tie-in and not something covered in the actual series. You'd think something as silly as how the Skrulls gained their new powers and infiltrated the Marvel Universe would be something people should be told in the Secret Invasion mini-series. I'm not worried too much, as I was buying this book either way, but when they trot out the "oh, you don't need to buy any of the tie-ins to understand the story" card, it's kind of annoying with stuff like this happening outside the series proper.
THOR: AGES OF THUNDER #1Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Patrick Zircher
As the Mighty Thor reclaims his rightful spot in the Marvel Pantheon, we join Matt Fraction and Patrick Zircher for a special examining the triumphs and tragedies that have befallen the God of Thunder across the eons. As the things he holds dearest are threatened by unimaginable forces of evil, Thor must rise up, again and again, to hold the line against terror and chaos as only the God of Thunder can!
Kirk Says: Not sure what to think of this. Zircher is an artist I've enjoyed watching progress through the years and my first experience was back in Thunderbolts after Bagley left. All previews have his art looking incredible, so that's one reason for me picking this up.
The other is Matt Fraction, who has been Marvel's go-to guy of late and seems to be writing every other book these days. JMS has done an excellent job with Thor's relaunch, but I'm curious to see how other writers handle the newly returned god.
However, the solicit has me thinking this might just be a Thor highlight reel showcasing all of his most memoriable moments from years past. Hopefully there's something of substance here, but I doubt I'll be disappointed even if it's a simple recap issue.
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8 comments:
Constrictor appears in preview for issue 13 and has replacement hands with similar powers.
I believe that the BB issue has a translation in the back.
DCU #0 is stetting up stories and seems have some important stuff, I believe some more Lantern Corps show up from a video I saw with pages shown.
As a new GL reader I am enjoying Hal's origin.
IIF is definitely one of my top five and its sad that Bru and Fraction are leaving.
I don't they really have enough room in SI to show all the back story so it makes sense to put it in the two Avengers books.
Thor:AoT is a series of one-shots about Thor before the age of super heroes in the Marvel Universe, or thats what I have been able to gather.
I read somewhere that the Blue Beetle comic has the translation of the issue in a special section at the end, so everyone can understand it. I don't usually buy this comic but being mexican I'm really interested in a full spanish issue.
Been reading this blog for awhile now, and just wanted to drop a line before it got crowded and say Thank You!
"As I've said before, I'm really enjoying this soft reboot of the Legion series by Starlin."
I assume you mean Shooter, though a Starlin-written Legion could be interesting.
"A special extra-sized Spanish-language issue, with the English script as bonus material!"
Apparently you can't read English, either. :p
@eric - Hmm, I haven't read any of the interivews with Fraction, but it sounds more interesting based onw hat you've said.
@chin - Glad you enjoy the blog. Don't worry if there's been a lot of comments, I read and try to respond to all of them when appropriate.
@rawnzilla - Ahahah. I actually rarely read the solicits. I typically just copy and paste them in, format the title/writer/artist and write my comment. I feel kind of stupid now, ahaha.
@scott - Ya, I meant Shooter. Damn cosmic writers and their similar names and my inability to look at the damn solicit's writer listing.
I'm going to say a heartfelt farewell to The Order.
Great blog.
I’ve seen several online reviewers praise NEW AVENGERS #40, and comment that the issue explains how the Skrull impersonators can remain undetectable, but the story actually does nothing of the sort.
Bendis has characters talk for pages and pages about DNA and genetics without using terms specific to genetics. The apparent justification is that scientists are talking to laymen, which would work to a degree, but when Bendis tries to use even general scientific terms, the narrative falls apart. Take, for instance, one Skrull’s use of “reverse biological engineering,” whereas Pym used “biological reverse engineering” in MIGHTY AVENGERS #6. Unfortunately, both phrases are meaningless; Bendis should have used “genetic engineering.” He also manages to use the word “genealogy” incorrectly.
Probably the worst bit of dialogue in the issue is the nonsensical string that includes “strip out the humans’ neural coded brain wave patterns” and means less than nothing.
In talking about the Illuminati, the Skrulls fail to recognize the differences between somatic mutants (e.g., the Hulk, the FF) and genetic mutants (the X-mutants).
In trying to justify the Skrulls’ supposedly undetectable impersonations, Bendis claims that sleeper Skrulls are so similar to the human originals that nothing can detect them, but he avoids metaphysics (magic), brain function differences, and, of course, their vulnerability to any tests involving tissue samples.
Perhaps the worst flaw in the storyline is the handling of Galactus. Given the timing of events, it was practically impossible for the Skrulls *not* to know about Galactus, (even as early as AVENGERS #133) so the prophecies and religious angle are irrelevant. The Skrulls are supposed to be aliens, but Bendis relies on a mix of Greek mythology and Biblical-style talk about a promised land.
Generally, it appears that reviewers aren’t reading the dialogue closely enough to recognize Bendis’s mistakes with word usage, or don’t have vocabularies sophisticated enough to recognize them. They might also have the commonly seen attitude that plots in superhero comics are basically junk.
Attractive as Cheung’s layouts might be, his inability to draw more than one basic face becomes annoying when one sees the similarities page after page after page.
SRS
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