Pretty light week for me coming up. Seems like it's only a handful of books. I took a gander at the following week and I can see why. Looks like I'll be needing a U-Haul to carry the number of books I'll be buying next week.However, this is about this week and there's one thing I comment on that I want to give some more space to here and that is concerning Marvel and their goddamned variant covers. What is this, 1994? Secret Invasion #1 had like six or seven variants. This week's Invincible Iron Man has like six variants, Logan has two or three, Avengers: Invaders has half a dozen, Cable seems to have a perpetual set of two covers, Dark Tower has three or four, SI #2 has four or five and the list goes on and on.
I don't buy variants anymore. I've only really caved a couple of times and bought multiple copies of the same book. One for Thunderbolts #1, where I bought the second printing pink cover and went back for the original, again I bought both T-bolts #2 covers and I think the Dreamwave Transformers #1 I bought the holofoil and the Decepitcon covers because I'm a nostolgia whore, or that's what I'm telling myself. I can't recall any other times I've done it.
So, when I complain about this, it's not due to my having to buy them, but the fact it's retarded and one of the things that nearly killed the industry with the speculator and collector mentalities back in the 90's and Marvel's bringing this crap back in full force now. The random black and white variants or the odd variant for a #1 or 2 issue was alright, but this is just getting ridiculous now and there's nothing I can really do about it besides bitch on the internet about it, so that's why you guys get to read this spiel here.
Anyways, I'm done ranting. Don't buy variants and hit the jump for all this week's previews.
ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #11Written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner
Art by Adam Kubert
The extra-length conclusion to "Last Son" is here! Superman and the new Superman Revenge Squad — Lex Luthor, Bizarro, the Parasite and Metallo — take on General Zod, Ursa and Non in a battle for Metropolis, the future of Krypton and Christopher Kent!
Kirk Says: Conclusion? Conclusion to what? I don't remember any "Last Son" story. Did this happen recently? Oh wait, I remember. This is that story from a year ago that never got finished. Yawn. I guess I'll get it just to finish the story off. I've long since stopped caring about how it ends and don't even really remember where we left off last.
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Salvador Larroca
A bold new ONGOING TITLE for the biggest hero of 2008!
IRON MAN! You know you love him! And as the summer’s most anticipated movie boot-jets its way into theaters, here’s the perfect jumping-on point for new readers and Iron Man fans alike! Tony Stark – Iron Man, billionaire industrialist and director of S.H.I.E.L.D. – faces the most overwhelming challenge of his life. Ezekiel Stane, the son of Tony’s late business rival and archenemy Obadiah, has set his sights, his genius and his considerable fortune on the task of destroying Tony Stark and Iron Man. What’s worse, he’s got Iron Man tech, and he’s every bit Iron Man’s equal and opposite…except younger, faster, smarter…and immeasurably evil. Rising star writer Matt Fraction (IMMORTAL IRON FIST) and superstar artist Salvador Larroca (UNCANNY X-MEN) join forces to repulsor-ray your comic books to a cinder!
Kirk Says: Marvel needs to pull its head out of its ass and put an stop to these ridiculous variant covers. Secret Invasion had like a half a dozen or more and Invincible Iron Man has at least five that I know of.
This series seems to be picking up where The Order left off with the Stane subplot from there. I couldn't get into The Order, despite giving it a healthy chance to impress me, but I'm not going to let that stop me from picking up this issue to see if it can be a worthy addition to the impressive Knauf Iron Man title.
LOGAN #3Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Eduardo Risso
In the gut-wrenching conclusion to Vaughan and Risso's epic story, Wolverine must make the single most difficult decision of his long and bloody career.
Kirk Says: To be honest, I expected more from BKV and Risso. For two big name creators, this mini should have been incredible. It wasn't bad by any means, but it was decidedly average and retread a lot of standard Wolverine cliches. I don't regret buying it and am looking forward to this issue, but I can't help but think of how good this should have been with someone like BKV at the helm.
MIGHTY AVENGERS #13Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Alex Maleev
Where has Nick Fury been and who are the new Howling Commandos? It’s the debut of all-new characters and some surprising revelations about some classic ones as Nick starts to put his plan to stop the Invasion together. But will it be enough?
The Eisner award-winning team of Bendis and Maleev bring this very important Secret Invasion issue to life.
Kirk Says: Man, Mighty just came out like two weeks ago and here we are with another one. Hard to believe we were waiting months between issues just a few months ago.
It looks like that Secret Invasion cover with the Young Avengers alongside Nick Fury didn't mean they were the Howling Commandos. From what I've seen, it looks like he'll be handpicking some conveniently new "no one knows about these super powered individuals but me" to be his new HC's.
I don't have a problem with that, but was kind of looking forward to some more YA love. Last issue could have been told as a two page flashback to Fury finding out about the Skrulls and seemed more like it was set up just for that splashpage at the end to throw out even more Skrull identity misdirection for readers, but I still enjoyed it and look forward to more of the same this time around.
NIGHTWING #144Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Don Kramer, Rags Morales, Christian Alamy and Michael Bair
While still dealing with the fallout from attacking the League of Assassins' secret island stronghold, Nightwing must face a hostage situation under the mean streets of New York City. Meanwhile, the League decides to grow their undead army using their newest captive: The Great Ten's Mother of Champions.
Kirk Says: Nightwing has been nothing short of amazing since Tomasi took over and I'm really enjoying this return to form for the character. It hasn't been this good since the title launched way back when with Dixon.
NOVA #13Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Wellinton Alves
Beginning a three-part adventure – starring Galactus and the Silver Surfer! Nova has received an emergency call from a planet in peril – but how do you save a world being devoured by a force of nature? Is there any way to stop the big G from eating, or do you instead try to save as many refugees as possible? And do you reach out to your former ally – who is once again a feared Herald? Whatever Nova decides, nothing will prepare him – or you – for the horror known as Harrow! With all these awesome ingredients (Galactus! Silver Surfer! Nova! A new villain! A killer creative team!), this is your chance to jump onboard the book that Wizard calls “one of Marvel’s most consistently entertaining monthly books!”
Kirk Says: Come off it. Just look at that cover and tell me you don't want to buy this issue! That cover just gets my blood pumping thinking about this issue. This'll be the best issue this week in my opinion.
SECRET INVASION #2Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Leinil Francis Yu
The Invasion is here!! The Marvel Universe is in shambles. The Skrull Empire's plan has birthed itself into perfection. It is hero versus hero!! Resurrections and reunions!! Is Tony Stark a Skrull? And is that actually Captain America leading the heroes into a new era?? EXPECT CHANGE!!
Kirk Says: "It is hero versus hero!!". You're damn right it is. I'm really getting tired of it, too. I can't remember the last time a real villain was featured in the Marvel Universe. It's been Civil War followed by the Hulk followed by this. I'd love to see some honest to goodness bad guys for a change. Yes, I know these are Skrulls, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a super powered Marvel character. Wait, that's not right. Whatever, my point still stands!
I was a little rough on the first issue, but it wasn't like it was bad. I just didn't particularly care about anything that happened and everything that did just seemed like common occurances in the MU. Things like the Baxter Building blowing up or crashing in the Savage Land or random no name space division getting destroyed. They were supposed to create suspense and a shit has hit the fan type response, but I couldn't help but yawn. I'm going to stick it out for the long haul and I'll try to be subjective, but don't be surprised to see rather negative reviews from me with this title.
X-FACTOR: QUICK AND THE DEAD #1Written by Peter David
Art by Pablo Raimondi
He’s gone from the son of the one of the world’s greatest villains, to one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and then to one of the world’s greatest villains in his own right. Now, Pietro Maximoff, Quicksilver, the man behind the Decimation of the world’s mutants finds himself depowered and trapped in a prison cell, where he must confront all the demons of his past. Be sure not to miss this momentous, unforgettable story of the world’s former fastest mutant, with an ending that will have massive ramification for the mutant universe.
Kirk Says: I'm not complaining here, but what's the deal with all these one-shots replacing issues for that month? If it's the same creative team and the same characters from the regular series, but with a focus on a minor character, why not just have it continue in the sequential numbering for the series instead of a new one? There were the Iron Fist one-shots, which were all great, and the recent DD: Black Tarantula one and a few others I'm forgetting already and I assume more to come in the future. I sound like some old fogey here, but, back in the day, these were considered asides or character building issues and were told in the actual title, not random one-shots. Is it because the shiny #1 on the cover boosts sales? I can't figure it out. As long as the story is good, I don't mind that much, but it just boggles the mind as to why they do it.
As for this issue, it's X-Factor, you should be reading it. That's all you really need to know.
YOUNG X-MEN #2Written by Marc Guggenheim
Art by Yanick Paquette
Who are the New Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and what do Dani Moonstar and Magma have to do with it? Whatever their plan is, Cyclops has put together the Young X-Men to stop them. But can they survive?
Kirk Says: Young X-Men? On my pull list? What the heck? Well, to be honest, I was a little rough on the fledgline title and wanted to confirm if it was just complete trash or if my love of New X-Men was clouding my judgment a bit in regards to this issue. I still don't agree with some of the story choices for this series, but I'm a little intrigued to see if the Brotherhood deal is a fake out. At least, I pray that it is as it doesn't make any sense otherwise.
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10 comments:
You variants counts are mostly off, not by much admittedly and not that you don't have a point but still it's important to get facts right:
Secret Invasion #1: 4, 5 if including 2nd print
Invincible Iron Man #1: 5
Logan #3: 1, if you count the full black and white version as one
Avengers/Invaders: 2, a sixth of a dozen
Dark Tower LRH: 2
Secret Invasion #2: 3
I am basically treating Fraction's new Iron Man as a replacement for The Order since it launched right after The Order was canceled. I also wouldn't be surprised if the Order actually showed up in the book.
I think the reason why they are introducing new Howling Commandos is because Fury is getting his own series after SI, either a new book or taking over Iron Man, DoS.
Nova is great, one of my top 5. Hopefully Galactus and Silver Surfer can get my people into the series so it doesn't get canceled.
I think SI is going to have the same problem HoM had, too slow at the beginning and then all the action comes at the end. Hopefully Bendis proves me wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised either way.
I assume all the one-shots are a way to try and get people into the series proper. It is a sample with no need to continue so it is less of a risk to try it out. As long as it is by the same writer I don't really have a problem with it.
You know the rant on multiple covers reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend in Borders last week. We talked about how he never buys american comics anymore. The first thing is they are too expensive. 4 bucks an issue? pricey. The other thing is decompresion and making stories fit into trades. He does buy a lot of Manga though. I wonder if the comic book companies might do better if they used a cheaper paper stock for the actual books. Give the trades the nice paper. And assume that if they are buying the trades, they'll buy across multiple trades for the story, cause manga readers sure do.
As for all the number ones, that's because it's the cheap easy milestone. It takes years to decades to do milestone issues like 100, 200, etc. But heck, you can do a number one every month if you want! Granted I'm going to assume something good enouth to last 246 issues has at least some quality behind it, unlike a number 1, but that's just me.
@leeisl - Actually, I'm counting the original cover as a variant as well. So Logan would have 2 with the standard and the black and white, Dark Tower would have 3 including the standard one and so on. The only one I was really wrong on was Avengers Invaders and I'm not sure how I got 6 for the 3 covers it has.
These, of course, don't count the Dynamic Forces or Wizard special editions that are floating around for some of these covers.
@eric - Ya, I assume Invincible Iron Man will be the equivilent of Iron Man & The Order or, at the very least, they'll be recurring supporting cast.
@negadarkwing - I'm not sure how to fix comics. You could argue that the manga are cheaper and do not have years of back story or the stigma of comic fans (although otakus are usually neck and neck stigma wise with us) stopping people from picking it up. Add in numerous genres outside standard men with their underwear on the outside and it's a whole different beast.
Most just look at manga as Pokemon or Naruto or Bleach or whatever's currently on YTV or Cartoon Network.
Could comics work in a Shounen style 8-12 page black and white segments with digests or high quality trades released later? Probably. But I can't see DC or Marvel ever adopting such a model as long as people keep buying the same thing every month.
Marvel, not sure about DC, is at least trying to compete with digest style offerigns of Spider-Girl, Runaways and several other books that, to my knowledge, are doing quite well in that segment, or at least better thant hey would in $20 trades for the same product.
i'm actually surprisingly looking real forward to avengers/invaders. although i think pretty much everything ross touches is gold. i've heard it ties into mainstream continuity, but not toooo much, so i'm sort of looking forward to a nice isolated comic experience in the middle of SI crossovers.
I wonder if the comic book companies might do better if they used a cheaper paper stock for the actual books.
I do too, except that's what Vertigo does and their books are still standard 3 bucks.
At least Johnny DC books are 2.25 though, right?
Marvel, not sure about DC, is at least trying to compete with digest style offerigns of Spider-Girl, Runaways and several other books that, to my knowledge, are doing quite well. . .
Ditto, Mr. Warren! I'm so glad that Marvel's making these digests, and wonder why DC hasn't caught on.
Oh yeah, I'm looking forward to Nova as well, and bringing in GALACTUS, DEVOURER OF WORLDS, should help boost its profile even further.
I'm kind of upset that Iron Man is getting a second title, I mean, after the recent run it had, adding a second title (and if you're right about Nick Fury taking over the title) seems misplaced. I don't know, I was just getting interested in Iron Man and now I have to follow two books. Frowns.
Avengers/Invaders has me excited. I'm not sure if it's because Alex Ross is involved or not, but that's what caught my attention. Stories about the original Invaders have always interested me (Remember Marvels?).
Moon Knight isn't on your list? I'm a little confused by that as it's been one of the better books (Though to be fair, Marvel has alot of good stuff lately..). What are your thoughts on the title?
Off-Topic: Pens or Flyers?
@ethreal - I think the Pens will win. Pens are the better team, but so were the Canadiens, I suppose.
Flyers are a better team then the 6th place finish they had made them out to be, but I don't think they even stand a chance against the Red Wings and would make for a 4 game sweep if they made it to the finals.
Biron is a great goalie, but his stats for this playoffs are misleading. He got 30+ shots almost every game from the Habs, but I'd wager maybe 10 were shots that had any chance of going in. Most were from just over the blue line with no one screening him. A blind man could stop those. Did he make some fantastic saves when it counts? Damn right he did, but he hasn't put on an MVP performance that some people are making it out to be.
Add in Montreal's pussy footing around the net and not getting in front of Biron to screen or even trying to get inside his head by being in his face all the time means he got to just go out and have warm ups most of the time.
So, when he goes up against the Pens or, if they get by them, Detroit, he's not going to have nearly as much success and I think that will be the deciding factor in the end.
Either way it goes, the Pens Flyers series is going to be a lot of fun to watch. The finals? Not so much if the Flyers make it. I'm tired of the finals always being these shitty 4 or 5 game routs.
As for Iron Man, I just read the first issue of Invincible and I dont think you have anything to worry about. It's a decent first issue,b ut it's a copmletely differnt look and feel to the Knauf's book.
While Mighty and New Avengers are different but alike at the same time, these two books are on different wavelengths and I can see one person loving one and hating the other very easily.
As of right now, there's nothing linking either books other than it being about Iron Man. Think of this as the same Tony in Mighty Avengers. Ya, it has Iron Man, but no impact on what you're reading in Director of SHIELD. You'll only need to pick up one book and it's actually kind of refreshing to see them do it this way for a change.
Concerning Alex Ross, I'm not a big fan of his written work. Ya, he's a decent artist, but a lot of it is just static images and his cover work is abyssmal in my opinion. He has like 3 layouts and poses he uses over and over for every cover. Are they all good taken on their own? Ya, but as a body of work, it's generic looking. Most artists grow and evolve styles over time, but, ever since Marvels and KC, it seems like Ross has been just phoning in the same images with new coats of paint and I just don't find him that appealing anymore. I'm definitely in the minority on this one, so take it as you will.
hasn't my flyer-harping had any effect on you? i'm disappointed kirk. fleury's performance has been more misleading than birons, anyways. now he'll get to face a team thats actually playing like they deserve to be in the playoffs.
i'm surprised to hear you say that about ross too. imho, he is still heads above 75 percent of the comic book artists and/or writers these days.
I don't have anything against the Flyers, but the Caps were not a 2nd place team and it was fluke they even took the Flyers to 7 games. Caps shouldn't even be in the playoffs and it's only because of the stupid division set ups and how their division is complete garbage. They had like one more point than 8th place and went from 9th to 2nd with one win because of the rules. They should just go back to the Prince of Whales and Campbell Converences.
Montreal became a trainwreck of near-Ottawa proportions in the playoffs, as well. 1st place power play all season adn went 5-60 or some crap, if that, in the playoffs. Carey got rattled and coaches pulled him for two games, futher shattering any confidence.
Flyers are a great team that hit a rut mid-season and are probably a 3rd or 4th place team, easily, but I just feel the Habs and Pens should have / should steamroll them with the talent they have.
And yes, Fleury hasn't done that much this playoffs either. Biron is probably playing better than him, but that's more Ottawa's fault and their farmclub-like play barely even challenging him.
I suspect Flyers will take this to 6 games, though. It won't be a rout by any means and they are playing like how they started the season.
About Ross, again, I'm not saying he's bad, but he hasn't really done anything since Kingdom Come. He doesn't paint / draw anything other than covers and they consist of "man standing with face down (optional: make this group shot)", "group flying from left to right on page, usually looking up" and "group standing / posing left to right, usually standing".
There's no life to it and you (well, I) can tell it's the same reference models being used over and over for all his covers and it's just getting plain boring at this point for me.
He's still a fantastic artist and painter, but the fact is, he doesn't really do anything anymore aside from "writing", which is usually just adding Silver Age twists and story ideas to whatever his co-writer is doing.
I still adore KC and Marvels, though. Just not a fan of his writing or cover work in the slightest.
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