Go Starman! It's your birthday! Read the comics! Write a review!
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Yeah. I promise never to do that again.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #541 - Ah, Wilson Fisk. You have been missed, sir. Anti-climactic as this issue is regarding the confrontation between Spider-Man and Kingpin (we already know that Fisk will escape the prison brawl unharmed, thanks to recent issues of Daredevil) it is effective in building the drama regarding an injured Aunt May. And full props to JMS for the reference to Stan Lee's story with Peter having to donate blood for Aunt May's transfusion.
CONAN #41 - After months of waiting, it is here. - Part One of Tim Truman's adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Rogues in the House. While quite a bit has been adapted and added-on (Conan is decidedly more verbal in this first part of the tale) the gist of the story is captured perfectly and indeed Truman remains truer to the original story than even Roy Thomas was in his adaptation of the story for Marvel Comics. Thumbs up from this die-hard fan of the world's most famous barbarian.
COUNTDOWN #45 - Well... that was... anti-climactic. And am I the only one confused as to who most of the Moinitors are working for now?
FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #13 - Okay, I've never been the biggest Bart Allen fan - especially after he was forcibly grown up, forcibly aged and forced into becoming The New Flash - but to have the book end like this is just disrespectful.
HELLBLAZER #233 - The more and more I read Andy Diggle's take on John Constantine, the more I wish he was writing Green Arrow past the upcoming Green Arrow: Year One. Diggle had delved into the past of John Constantine and the continuity of other writers with a glee and zeal not see in many writers besides Geoff Johns. Still, this issue, based on a throwaway bit during Paul Jenkins severely underrated time on the title, is a real treat as we see Diggle move John back toward being the John Constantine of old rather than the more generic mystical hero written by Denise Mina over the last year. If you aren't reading Hellblazer, now is a great time to start.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #10 - By the same token, re: The Flash, while I have always liked the character of Wally West - there had to be a better way to bring him back than this. Was there really THAT much outcry against the current Flash book that we had to waste three months of time in JLA and JSA to bring Wally back the same week that Bart dies?
SAVAGE TALES #2 - A bit flat compared to the first issue. The Sonja story ends in a predictable manner. The Atlantis story feels far too slow. The story with the Hunter seems a standard middle chapter. Only the continuation of the story of how The Old Ones from Lovecraft's books came to Earth seems to hit the high-mark set by the first issue. Not a bad book by any means - but the first issue seemed much more exciting by comparison.
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #110 - Okay, Bendis? I know you have a major man-crush on Moon Knight. And I know that the Ultimate Universe characters are, for the most part, different people than the Regular Marvel Universe. That being said... I don't like Daredevil threatening innocent lives and meaning it. I don't like Danny Rand being a whinny bitch. I don't like Doctor Strange being an incompetent poser. But mostly, I don't like Peter being robbed of the moral victory he wins here just because you wanted to make your version of Moon Knight look like a bad-ass. Okay?
Regarding Flash Fastest Man Alive #13, I've been trying to do a column on my thoughts about the death of my favorite hero without flying into a Jesse Baker-esc rage.
ReplyDeleteIt hasn't been easy...
I know the feeling, on both counts.
ReplyDeleteI'm working on a well-reasoned, footnoted explanation of why Judd Winick has failed as a writer during his run on Green Arrow - not in terms of past continuity (I already wrote the book on that) but from the purely asthetic terms of literature form.
Still, it's hard - as I write about how all his stories have lacked a beginning, middle and end and his dependence on Deus Ex Machina - not to scream "Ollie Queen does not hide like a scared bunny in his office when people question his actions!"
I know it's cold comfort but at least Bart got a heroic death, which is better than the slow wasting death of character assassination that has destroyed Ollie's reputation and is now going to work on Dinah "Sword-Swallower" Lance.