Comic Book Moments of the Week for 05/14/08

It seems in my haste to post the Final Crisis Comic Book Reviews yesterday that I forgot to post the Colossus Origin and The Walking Dead reviews. I'll try to get those up later today. But, for now, you'll have to settle for the Comic Book Moments of the Week, which I'm sure most will enjoy.

This is an extra sized special and I'm sure I missed some great scenes from many of the books I didn't pick up this week. I know I saw some great Batgirl and Catwoman scenes for the Batman Confidential issue this week, but forgot to save them. Also, based on some moments I've posted, it looks like I'll have to go pick up the Captain Britain and the MI13 Secret Invasion tie-in. I'll let the moments explain to you as to why that is the case.

Hit the jump for all the momenty goodness!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #559

"The Parkour Luck"

I don't believe for a second that Screwball doesn't have powers, so, unlike some other negative nancies, I found this scene to be quite funny and really enjoyed the "parkour luck" line. If it turns out she actually doesn't have powers and is only using parkour and baseline human agility to get away from Spidey, I might change my tune.

"I'll do it!"

This was one of the scenes where Martin puts the composition and panels to good work that I spoke about in my review of this title. I just loved the way it blended together to show Spider-Man walking up and down the building before coming to a conclusion. Worked really well. He did a similar type of panelling during one of the papparazzi scenes where Peter is trying to take a photo of a celebrity.

BATMAN #676

"New Batmobile. Same as the old one."

Seriously, they wasted about 6 or 7 pages on this new Batmobile chase sequence. It added nothing to the story and wasting a two page splashpage on it, regardless of how good a job Daniels did on it, is just a waste of space and boggles the mind. Considering most of the issue was fluff and filler for the first part of a major event, there's no excusing it. This isn't even new. It's got red lights and windows and looks like every other Batmobile that didn't come from the 90's.

"I'm here for the Authority villains audition. Is this the right room?"

Here we have the Black Glove, the evil baddies that apparently control the world from the shadows and know who Batman is and plan to kill him. They look like a bunch of Authority knockoff villains, in my opinion, and don't really look like they belong in a Batman book, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and see where this goes.

"another pretty flower"

Finally, we have the new, crazier and far more disturbing looking Joker, as set up long ago in the Morrison-penned prose issue of Batman. The only thing I'm a little confused about is how they will win this new version over with the fans. He can't honestly kill anyone else from Batman's personal life. He's killed Robin, murdered Gordan's wife and crippled Batgirl. I guess he'll "kill" Batman this time around? Otherwise, most of his potential in this story is just going to be wasted. Regardless, loved this sequence with him and it was the best part of the book.

BOOSTER GOLD #9

"By H'ronmeer, Maxwell Lord, you die today."

Looking kind of badass there Martian Manhunter. If only he was written like this more often, I might actually start to like him and stop thinking of him as the oreo eating monitor duty guy of the JLA, or JLI in this case.

"I have exercised the demon. And half his torso."

I would have preferred this version of Maxwell Lord's death over Wonder Woman's neck snapping ,and then conveniently forgotten, plotline. Gave me a newfound appreciation for the female Dr Light.

SECRET INVASION: CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI:13 #1

"Marvel Zombies - British Edition"

So, yeah, Spitfire gets my WTF Award for this Marvel Zombie's performance in the MI13 special. I don't know what to say, to be honest, except that I'll probably have to go pick this up on the weekend to find out what the hell happened in this issue to make her start eating Skrulls, the other green meat.

"That's no way to get a head in life."

This was another crazy scan I came across from the MI13 issue. I don't, honestly, have any idea what Captain Britain's powers are, as I've only heard he can harness the power from friction between alternate universes or some nonsense, but how the hell did he, and the rest of the British team, take down two Super Skrulls, of which it took Iron Man harnessing the power of a nuclear power plant and a contained explosion to kill two of them? I guess the Skrulls are suffering from the Ninja Rule, whereby, the more they have, the weaker they get. Still, decapitations always make the Moments of the Week. Good times.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #24

"Ya, this isn't a ring planet. Those are just monuments to Mongul's body count."

It was actually kind of hard to get a decent shot that showed this ring of bodies orbitting the planet, as the other pages just deal with closeups on the Green Lanterns being sickened by wading through the bodies, which, I guess, prompts the question as to why the faster than light travelling GL's didn't just go around the ring and down to the planet, but I digress.

Anyways, considering Mongul is almost universally treated as the ultimate jobber to just about any hero that deigns to face him, even Green Arrow, it's kind of crazy how many awesome things he's done, like destroying Coast City (well, I think that was his father, actually), punching his sister's head off or this new Sinestro Corps kick he's on. Can't wait until he renames it the Mongul Corps.

"I think having a giant plant sticking its roots and tentacle things down my throat would be one of my top 10 fear related dreams I'd be having in one of these situations."

I guess I'll start with Ion's fears. The biggest one would have to be the rainbow of rings ripping through him. How is he dreaming of something he doesn't know anything about yet? Is it actually portains of the future? Maybe something we'll see in Blackest Night? The first sequence looks like the Alan Moore-penned depiction of him stabbed with lead pipes by the White Lobe.

For Arisia, the biggest one is the Parallax reveal. Again, is this something to look forward to in the future or just random fears manifesting?

"Goddamn it Sinestro, you know how hard it is to get blood off the sciecell windows!"

This was interesting, to say the least. I'm guessing it's just a show of unity on the part of Sinestro and the other Sinestro Corps captives and not some weird phenomenon.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1

"Personally, I would have chosen Ass-Kickers of the Fantastic over Guardians any day."

Most of these GotG moments revolve around Rocket Raccoon and are just random bits of banter. This was one of the many discussions on the name the new team should pick. Oh, that Drax. Such a kidder.

"Where do you think I got my collector's edition of Beaches?"

I don't know what's funnier, Rocket using and knowing what eBay is or his admitting to owning Beaches.

"Grrr....Comrade Raccoon."

I sense some hostility between Comrade Raccoon and Mister Cosmo. If I was Rocket Raccoon, I think I would back down from the telepathic, telekinetic, talking dog. However, he does have a big gun and Groot always has his back, so it'd probably be an even fight.

"Next time on Guardians of the Galaxy - Booty Call"

Man, I need a girlfriend like Gamora. Talking? What is this talking you speak of? I thought this was a post-battle sex romp. Awww, to be a bucket headed Nova Corps member at a time like this.

GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #8

"What did the five fingers say to the face?"

Batman absolutely destroys Vigilante in this issue. I mean, there must have been 8 or 9 splashpages of him smashing Vigilante's face into the ground or kicking his teeth in or other such forms of punishment before dusting himself off at the end of the issue while sitting on the unconscious body. I chose just a couple of them for the above image, but it was a pretty bad beatdown he put on the poor guy.

SECRET INVASION: FANTASTIC FOUR #1

"They're always doing some crazy experiments and such in that building."

That guy in the bottom panel? The guy talking and standing next to Matches Malone. I swear he's reading my mind, as that's exactly how I feel when I saw this destruction in Secret Invasion #1 and how I still feel after reading this issue. It's a big, "who cares, they do this shit all the time" feeling.

"West Side Story - the Skrull's greatest weakness."

The Skrulls need better intel and agents if they intend to conquer Earth with people like Lyja leading the charge. How the hell can you fool anyone if you can't answer the simplest of questions about the person you are impersonating? I swear, Reed's big breakthrow before Pym blasted him was probably to ask them to name their birthday or some crap. You know it's bad when Johnny Storm manages to blow your cover with his first question.

THUNDERBOLTS #120

"Note to self - give naked dictation more often."

President Osborn has my vote whenever he chooses to run. To be honest, Norman vs Tony Stark for presidency of the Marvel Universe would be a pretty fun read if Ellis was at the helm.

On the art side of things, that's the best rendition of the Green Goblin costume I've ever seen.

"A pig coughed and you fell out!"

There's no way Gage or whoever is going to take over this book can possibly measure up to the twisted drug enduced dreams that Ellis commits to paper. This battle and last month's Venom vs Swordsman fight are just two such examples of insanity I couldn't see anyone matching on this book any time soon.

"Swordsman died for our sins."

I love how Songbird is giving the metahuman doctor medical advice in this situation. I'll chaulk it up to the evil telepaths in the basement for this brain cramp.

"You heard him! I don't want to get cancer!"

I do believe this is the first competent faceless, nameless grunt I've ever seen in a comic book. Are we sure that isn't Batman or someone disguised under that mask?

"I hired some really, really dumb security guards."

Speaking of competency, I loved the discussion on Halloween and building a concentration camp for his kid when he dresses up as Iron Man. Ellis is insane and his doctors should let him off his meds more often.

TITANS #2

"Show me your O-face."

I have no idea what this issue was about nor why this sharkman is eating that person, but the reactions from the people with their O-faces in that last panel are just too funny not to post.

THE WALKING DEAD #49

"No one is safe."

Forgot to review this book this week, but it's mostly epilogue stuff as Rick and his son wander around looking for food and shelter. However, we can see Rick's bullet wound and condition gradually worsening as the issue goes on before ending with this overdose or possible death from blood loss final page. I doubt he's dead, though, as Kirkman probably would have hit us with a zombie Rick cliffhanger instead, but I don't see him surviving in his current condition.

WOLVERINE #65

"Foreplay."

Just a neat little bit of Brady Family style panelling for everyone from Mr. Garney. Did a great job of showcasing how bloody and brutal this final fight was.

"Climax."

Here we have the final blow from both Mystique and Logan. We've seen Wolverine survive much worse, so no one expects him to be dead and, to be fair, Mystique has survived far worse in this issue alone, so I was surprised at how much this seemed to affect her. Great splashpage though.

"Aftermath."

Ugh, if this is what winning is like for Wolverine, I'd hate to lose. Nothing like a face full of bile and puke to wake up to after your brain puts itself back together.

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