One Month of Comics (Part Three)

Here we are, the final bit of my old comics. Now, to get enough money to buy more before another month or two goes by.

Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #39: Wow, this is great stuff. A 'Nuff Said kind of thing. No dialogue at all, just images to tell the story. It's perfect. Much better than many other attempts I have seen. You start with humor, move on to action, and move back to humor. Also, the Mini Marvels page at the end was hilarious. Great play on words with that, and a really funny final panel.

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #42: In this issue, we meet Puma. As with any comic, especially a Spider-man comic, there is a misunderstanding which leads to a fight. Added to the mix is Black Cat, doing her thing. A pretty straightforward issue. Nothing special.

Marvel Adventures Hulk #14: Same plot of any other issue of this series. Banner wants a cure of his Hulk problem. This time the idea is to siphon off the gamma radiation to an alternate dimension. There is a run in with the janitor at the lab, who happens to have the name of the Leader's original identity. Then they Hulk, Rick, and Monkey are tossed into another dimension, where they fight Psycho-Man. As usual, Rick manages to find the solution while channeling the Hulk toward a constructive goal.

Marvel Adventures Avengers #27: A two story issue. Story #1 has the Avengers at the fair. Thanks to a mishap, everyone is shrunk down to ant size (except Ant-Man). A whole bunch of stuff happens, mostly involving a pig in the run. It is all quite fun and cute. Hulk especially is awesome. Very silly and child-like, trying to get a hug from the pig. Great stuff. The other story has Iron Man and Captain America. It takes place at the same time as the first story, but in New York. Alien invasion thwarted by size. Cell phone spam scam run by The Enforcers. Great final panel. Plus, Iron Man and Captain America being friends and having a good time.

Marvel Adventures Superheroes #2: Ok, wow, this issue was just insane. This series appears to be much more unusual and funny than the standard Marvel Adventures stuff. All of the all-ages books have a degree of humor to them, but this is just...um...wow. Hulk is totally the star of the series so far. I love his love of animals. Great stuff.

New Universal: Conqueror: I did not like this. The other one-shot telling the history of this universe was great. This one, not so much. It seems less than historic. It is also confusing as hell, and the art isn't doing much for me. A weak offering.

Runaways #1: So, finally, Joss is gone. Maybe that means this thing will be on time. The new team of Terry Moore (who I have been meaning to read) and Humberto Ramos (whose art I cannot stand). So, this wasn't too bad of a start. New place to live. New addition to the team. New challenges (job and angry possible relatives). The art is still horrible. Anyhow, the story was decent enough of a beginning that I will come back for more. Hopefully the art doesn't drive me away.

Eternals #3: Well, the art is nice, even though I have no idea what the hell is going on. This is almost as hard to follow for me as the miniseries that lead into it. I get the overall story, but the individual pieces sometimes pass me by. Will probably give it another issue or two before dropping it. It is good, just not really sure what to think of it though.

Squadron Supreme #2: Wow, if this isn't crap. Not the story itself, or the idea. Just, you know, doing it in the Squadron Supreme universe. I liked Supreme Power, and Squadron Supreme (enough so, I went out and got the trades of teh original stuff...which was better). I did not like what the Ultimate Power thing did for either universe (a post I mean to make and never got around to...maybe I may do it soon-ish...or not...). This story takes the remnants of the Ultimate Power debacle, and turns the Squadron Supreme universe into yet another Ultimate-style thing. I will say, the additions are handled well at least. I just chafe at them being in this series, instead of somewhere else. Bring back Hyperion and the rest, now!

X-Factor: Layla Miller: Wow, I have been waiting to see this since the Messiah Complex stuff, and was not disappointed at all. Layla is still doing her thing, which is as awesome now as it has always been. Or, at least, since Peter David got a hold of her. It was neat seeing her talk about how she knew what was coming, and didn't like it but did it anyhow. Showed her to be a much stronger character than i would have thought. Knowing you would be stuck int he future, branded with a tattoo, and degraded...but doing it anyhow...that is true courage. A lot of people seemed to dislike the Ruby Summers character, but I thought she was cool. I never had a huge connection to the Jean/Scott thing other then where it played a role in the love triangle with Logan. So, no problem there. I also don't see it as Marvel thinking all women are replaceable. I think of it more like Peter David had a fun idea, using the current relationship, and ran with it. Anyhow, I like the knowledge that Layla is going to get back to the past somehow, and I hope it is soon.

The Immortal Iron Fist #18: More back story on the killer of the Iron Fists. This dude is hardcore, and pretty nasty too. Hes got a mole inside Danny's company, who I am assuming is probably the new guy. I say this because he is new, and he was interrupting Danny during the Iron Fist Study Time. Next issue, Danny is gonna get to try and be a hero by saving the kids, so he can blame himself for them being attacked in the first place. Yay angst!

Captain America #41: Wow, I just noticed the issue number and realized how long this title has gone on without the title character. Well, to be fair, Bucky is a pretty badass replacement...but still, no Steve. Crazy. Sharon lost the baby, which is very sad. Sin is not a very good daughter, or assassin for her dad. Bucky is the man. Zola is creepy. Faustus acts like a douche. Red Skull is going insane, in a not as good way. It is all coming to a head next issue. Still one of the better comics out there today.

Thunderbolts #123: Well, I still hate the team but at least they are less dickish than when Ellis was writing them. It is slightly more believable they would have government sanction the way they seem now, as opposed to before. The Skrull element added in to the book has so far been interesting. Not much else to say, other than I really want Songbird in charge and Moonstone gone.

X-Factor #34: Meh. Glad to see Darwin, one of my favorite of the recent mutants, join the book. The Skrull fighting and She-Hulk fighting wasn't as much fun. I want more like the book used to be. More detective, noir, strangeness. less superhero misunderstandings leading to fights that never should have happened. More like the Layla Miller book was, and less like this, please.

Nova #16: Disguising themselves as children. Cute, cat-like children. That's low, even for a Skrull. Super Skrull was pretty cool, and completely doing as I would have expected all the way through. Next issue will be fun, I think. Also, i hope Worldmind isn't permanently gone. That's too much angst, even for Nova.

Guardians of the Galaxy #4: Rocket Raccoon hates Kosmo. Which, really, sort of makes sense. The introduction of Secret Invasion to this title was one I would not have expected, but it is working as a story so far. I wonder who the Skrull will turn out to be, since there is bound to be one. I hope it isn't anyone cool. Which means, one of the council members since all of the team are awesome. Well, Groot could go away and I would be fine. That's it though. I wonder what Drax is up to, especially if he isn't a Skrull. I also can't wait to find out what is going on with the Vance Astro bits, and the future Guardians. Wonder if Vance will stick around long enough to meet his younger self. Again. Wonder if anyone remembers they are the same dude (both in the comic and in the marvel writing/editing teams).

The Mighty Avengers #17: Wow, first weak issue since the Secret Invasion stuff started popping up in here. A bunch of Skrull Pym talking about how the plan will fail, followed by a fight, followed by a new Skrull Pym. Not sure what to make of the last page, either. Overall, better than the title was before the invasion but not as good as it has been since the invasion. Middling out.

The New Avengers #44: At the beginning, I thought this issue would be sort of lame. A rehash of the Illuminati stuff. Then, it did the twist and i was hooked. So interesting to see how the Skrulls got the plan in the first place. Beautiful, almost Shakespearean really. Wonder if we will find out what how it works. On the one hand, I kind of want a pseudo-science explanation. On the other hand, i know that anything that is come up with will sound silly. Tough call. Good issue, though.

Avengers: The Initiative #16: I was less than impressed with this issue. Couple fun bits, but nothing as outstanding as I would expect from this title. Invasion has improved Mighty Avengers, and is killing the Initiative.

Secret Invasion #5: The opening scene from Thunderbolts, with mostly identical dialogue. Nice touch to whoever chose to do that. Agent Brand on the Skrull ship with Reed was good. Agent Hill on the carrier with the Skrulls was funny as hell, and well played. Savage Land was a whole lot of nothing, until Reed showed up. So-so issue. Really wondering how this whoe series will end.

Ultimate Iron Man 2 #5: Thank god this is over. This series was crap. The first Ultimate Iron Man was at least moderately interesting. It had cool concepts and it was neat to see the birth of Tony Stark. That mini had a good story to explain how and why Tony is like he is in the ultimate universe. Thsis series was stupid all the way through. I hate the blown off limbs beign regrown thing. Obediah Stane acted borderline retarded half the time, for no real reason. The end villain was a nice twist, but her speech was so horrible I lost all interest. I hope Orson Scott Card never touches a comic project ever again. Especially Ultimate, as I would have to have to not buy an Ultimate title.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #57: Is it over? I think it is, since there is no "To Be Continued" or anything. However, the story seems far from wrapped up on this arc. Reed and Sue are back together, which is nice. Namor is even bigger of a dick than the non-ultimate version (which is saying something). The lesbian stuff wasn't even really all that well done, too over the top for me. The concept of the villain was neat, but hard to accept. Really, it is not a good thing when a comic book as effed up as the Fantastic Four (Ultimate or not) reads as implausible in its own setting. Next issue will hopefully be better. I want more Ultimate versions of old bad guys. Do Molecule Man or something.

Ultimate Spider-Man #125: I am glad the video game story is being officially fit in to the regular continuity. It was a fun story, and now it is there for those of us who suck at games and got stuck part way through. Plus, Venom stuff is always kind of fun.

Ultimate X-Men #97: Wow, this was a nice ending to a good story arc. I wasn't expecting much from this either, since it was a TV guy doing it. TV guys doing comics rarely works out well, unless they are JMS or Joss Whedon. Even then, sometimes it doesn't work. This, however, was great. Tied in with the great reveal of Logan's origin in Ultimate Origin. Nice twist on Moira. Nice wrap up, and a great ending to lead in to Ultimatum. I fear for this title, though. With the things that have been happening in it and Ultimate Origin, it is looking ot me like the X-Men may not be lasting much longer. I hope I am right.