Every week I go to the comic book store (Comics Ink at Overland and Braddock in Culver City, CA, hey Steve and Jason!) and grab a lot of comics. I sort these into two piles -- the "buy" pile (things I intend to spend money on, most often a small pile) and the "read" pile (often huge, including lots of stuff I don't actually like but wanna stay well informed about). In no particular order, here's some thoughts about all that.
Defenders #3:
Heh. When you get punching out Eternity, the embodiment of the entire universe, on page one ... well, you know you're in for a big story. The Defenders still can't get it together, with the Hulk having a very physical encounter with Umar (Bruce Banner's expressions at encountering Umar upon de-Hulking are sheer classical material, a remix in the waiting), and maybe even the Surfer is getting involved. Wacky good times at a nice leisurely pace.
Cable Vs. Deadpool #20:
Jump from the Read Pile. Deadpool is the star here, which drove me into this title's arms like an easy girl with a flat backside -- it was there when I needed it. With Asp, Black Mamba and Cap's old squeeze Diamondback in the hunt, and an old Deadpool character back from the wherevers, there's tons of solid Wade Wilson chuckles (even the disturbing Fez-and-Kelso reminiscent backrub). It just barely made the cut, with solid quips, a new hidden agenda from Cable, and a Battlestar Galactica reference that pushed me over the edge. Patrick Zircher even made it clear when Deadpool was smiling behind his mask. Good solid traditional fanboy fun.
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005:
I can't stop myself from buying these. I want Marvel to make an official handbook of my ex-girlfriends, with art superstars chiming in. Anyhoo, I was very happy to revisit the likes of the New Universe and Days of Future Past (who picked the numbers for the worlds), concise wrap ups of 1602, "Here Comes Tomorrow" and Supreme Power and new new art mixed in with old classic images (nice to see that old Art Thibert shot of Cable with Kane and the Askani Clan). I like it, but I like reference books.
ABC A-Z #1:
Jump from the Read Pile. Another reference book I liked, with Tom Strong narrating the bullet points of his life and ... you know, there's a whole other section of the book with some "Jack B. Quick" character. I never even read that, wow. I just liked the Tom Strong stuff and brought it home. Cool -- like a DVD extra!
Buy Pile Breakdown: Four the right way -- I got no beef with that.
Then there's the stuff on the "read pile" that I don't bring home ...
Ultimate Secret #3:
Practically an "Ultimate Team-Up" in its own right, Ultimate Iron Man consoles himself after Ultimate Sue Storm doesn't fancy him, then pals up with Ultimate Reed Richards (way younger than him, here) like old pals. The heroes ultimately borrow a page from my namesake Hannibal Barca to lure the Kree into giving them intel and materials to fight the uber-threat that solves the age old question about intelligent life in the universe with a grim finality. Hawkeye gets some ironic lines about how unprofessional this all is and what will likely happen, and I liked it, but it read too fast by a smidge and didn't feel like a story so much as a fragment of one.
OMAC Project #6:
Everybody who doesn't know that Brother Eye is a big anti-metahuman satellite, go read Strangers in Paradise for a minute. Okay. There's over a million OMACs activated, and they're whacking masks and capes left and right (on the good side: The Demolition Crew and Firefly are no more). Bats comes up with a complicated plan using a plot point from the first issue to blah blah blah. Nobody wins. No real spoiler there, since (like Day of Vengeance before it, this is prelude to Infinite Crisis). What bugged me is that nobody thought, "kill the satellite." Between Superman, J'onn and Captain Marvel, they couldn't have stomped that stupid thing before it had a chance to think? C'mon! Preposterous! So we get a big dumb largely meaningless fight, the deaths of some lower-tier characters, and just a touch of Sasha. Probably the dumbest book on the stands this week.
Avengers #11:
Apparently, Ronin isn't Daredevil (but I suspect he could be The Cat, who's skilled, Japanese and has black hair, plus criminal connections, as it appears Ronin does). Organized crime in Japan wants Silver Samurai as its head, and the New Avengers wanna put out the fire (but can't get Wolverine). So some new kung fool shows up and kicking and punching and the "Oy with the Madam Hydra" (digression time: that's an actual line from Spidey, here. "When did Spidey get Yiddish?" I asked. Retail Troll said, "Well, he is from Queens" I replied, "so is Run-DMC, but you don't see them all faklempt do you? You don't see LL talkin' about 'my goyim!" This cracks up Retail Troll, who is Jewish, and said that had I tossed in "meshugganah" [spelling?] it'd have been over. I implied that word was for special occassions. End of digression). The poses look good, but why else would I find this appealing?
Jack Cross #2:
Still channeling Warren past, with shouting Denis Leary-styled rants and shooting people, Jack Cross traks the clues and chases down the crooks and ... you know what, even his own Fell does this better. Fuhggedaboutit.
Young Avengers #7:
Obeying the letter of their agreements if not the spirit, the team tries to tell their parents, discovers an ugly (and possibly stereotyped, I dunno) secret about one of their own, and again it felt incomplete.
JLA #119:
Dumb dumb dumb. Despero mind controls almost everybody, fightfightfight, bashes in the batcave and rips Hawkman's wings off (yay), and generally seems poised to kill them all before ... I won't tell you, but it's kind of dumb. An ill question about Selina Kyle comes up, but otherwise this is all wrung out dishrags already -- dry, and done.
Daredevil #77:
Matt's life is closing in on him, as Wilson Fisks plays the ultimate card (not the Ultimate Card, it was short packed) and things come tumbling down, with ex-girlfriends taking an interest in checking in on ol' hornhead. I kind of think this has all run its course, but I have to see how they resolve this.
Superman/Batman #22:
Argh -- at least when Mark Millar did this in The Authority it was relentlessly violent. Here Maguire's cartoonish depiictions make the MaxImum's look cream filled. Plus, with Batzarro, Ref Son and Batman Beyond showing up ... I think I just saw a kitchen sink fly by ...
Drax #1:
Another case of interesting but too slow, and where was Jae Lee for this one (his moody dark scenes would have fit in perfectly)? Still, Drax and a bunch of cosmic hardcases are on a prison ship, and crash in Alaska, and things go predictably awry. Slowly. But interestingly. Sort of. We'll see how it goes.
Fantastic Four #531:
Lots of smashing cannon fodder alien ships as Reed struggles to understand it all while shoving an alien (who gave the team their powers, apparently, as a greeting) into the Negative Zone. Too little story again.
Invincible #26:
Ew, alien kissing. A nice last page reveal, though, as Mark's meeting with his father goes very differently than I expected. Not so much "too little story" here as what does happen, largely in flashback, is just kind of "eh, okay."
Hulk: Destruction #3:
Things go off the rails when a ghost (a la Six with Doctor Baltar on Battlestar Galactica) starts freaking out good ol' Emil on his trip down memory lane. I guess the goal here was to do what went so well with Bullseye's Greatest HIts but between the art (Steve Dillon is sublime, Jim Muniz merely adequate) and the fact that the Abomination just is less interesting than, say, Bullseye ... let's move on.
Flash #226:
Stuart Immonen is a way better artist than writer, and I tread lightly here because he's one of my "wish list" pencilers, if I ever get carte blanche. A vacation for Wally goes awry when his super speed cheating catches up to him, and still has to play hero. None of Wally's wit, throwaway cardboard characters, and a forgettable story.
Ultimate Iron Man #4:
Jim Rhodes and Young Tony Stark go up against some really mean spirited teens, with half-working armor cobbled together in Tony's bedroom. Plus, young Obadiah Stane is being trained at the Baxter Building on Howard Stark's tab, which just seems suicidal. The fierce loyatly to his father is an interesting part of Tony's character, but there seem to be just a few too many plates spinning, and reading along you keep waiting for something to go "crash."
JLA Classified #12:
First of all, that Poser-esque cover is horrible -- fine for also-rans, not the JLA. Second, yes, Warren Ellis did use the idea-as-a-virus shtick recently in ... Ocean was it? Third, okay, the JLA marching across the White House lawn was kind of cool (even though it is out of character for the Bat to do so, with the cameras and all, but let's leave War Games out of this). It had the zip of Morrison's teams flying around with Ellis' unique snark, held back by Butch Guice uncharacteristically not handling his end of the bargain and all the characters speaking with the same voice (except Kyle, who seems dumb).
New Warriors #4:
A girl who mentally controls nearby "debris" is jammed into the team by the producers, fighting a pet kidnapper that appears to be Terrax. The kind of whimsical pep that made this title interesting at first is somehow gone, as it's mired in character idiosyncracies, not character points. If that makes any sense to you. Namorita's ill tempered (like a sea bass, heh), sure, Microbe seems crazy, okay. We get that. How does that make them work together? Bah.
Adventures of Superman #644:
Zatanna and Kal-El spend most of the book whining, and for some reason Zatanna's magic gets almost used up (no, it makes no sense to me either). There's an almost Law & Order: Special Victims Unit thing going on with the Toyman, as Zatanna's guilt over repeatedly mindraping scores of villains hangs over her like the Sword of Damocles.
Sentry #1:
The power of a million exploding suns! This moody introspection almost made the jump, with CLOC serving as Bob Reynolds' own private Brother Eye, the Void "locked" in a room of the Watchtower (not going door to door?), the secret identity in therapy, playing God with the lives of people and Terrax (who's having a bad week) getting handled in a page or so. Close to making the jump, especially due to JRJr's art, and a nice meaty story that twists and turned ... crap, I shoulda bought this. I'm just realizing that now, how good it was, this should have been a Buy. I'll go back for it.
Wolverine #44:
Agent of the House of M? Late to the crossover bus, this catches up with the events of some House of M issues a few weeks ago, looking at the crossed-over SHIELD and its mutant chain of command, and finding a terrorist in an old friend. A cute interlude between pages of the big House of M book, but not interesting outside of that context (and barely there).
Read Pile Roundup: Story fragments ruled as everybody seemed to be writing for the trade, but I really should have bought Sentry (my bad, y'all).
So, How Was It This Week? A would-be jump and the real thing, with reference galore? That's a winner in my book, even under the deluge of crappiness in the Read Pile.
The Buy Pile is a weekly collection of comic reviews done by Hannibal Tabu (www.operative.net) originally published at UGO.com.
