WTFEntertainment

Just because I love ripping things off of Tommy cause his ideas are better than mine… here I go with MY comic book post since he and I like arguing a lot about random shit.

What I grabbed off the shelf this week:

Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness #4

I Thought the initial run of Marvel Zombies was boring, bland, and lacking in anything other than the shock factor of all of the Marvel Universe transforming into… you got it… Zombies! I picked up every issue though and continued reading hoping that something would pick up; something would become more interesting, and make a little bit more sense; even though it’s a different universe from the normal. However it didn’t.

So I moved on with life and kept going reading my comics, picking up Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator, etc.

Finally Marvel Zombies kicked in with a plot I could get into when they released Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness – bringing Ashley Williams into this Universe was the best thing they could do and renewed my interest in super powered zombies with all their same intellect. Ash’s dimwitted nature lent itself to the Marvel Zombie’s universe perfectly, and in this issue it continued with a trip to Latvaria to talk with Dr. Doom and try to get their hands on the Necronomicon.

Pick this up if you haven’t already.

Incredible Hulk #106 (yes… Finally)

Okay, okay, I know I’m late with this one but I finally got around to grabbing it on Tuesday. I was avoiding the whole World War Hulk angle for as long as I could (see how great my will power is…) because I got sucked in to Civil War like it was crack, and I have a feeling WWH is probably going to be the same.

Anyway, this story takes place after She-Hulk’s last issue (with what seems to be a gap waiting to be filled in by the next issue) and mostly revolves around Mastermind Excello, a kid who is trying to recruit superheroes to help Hulk out before it’s too late and his relationship with She-Hulk herself. Not to mention the Illuminati watching Mastermind with quite great intensity, including sending Doc Sampson to try and diffuse a situation… quite a good read and really builds up to the landing of the Hulk and his Warbound soon!

Chucky #2

I love horror movies, I love comics based on horror movies. Chucky keeps falling flat to me. #1 was bland… #2 is just as bland and relies on the shock of a little doll cursing and cutting people up instead of having a cohesive plot to follow that makes sense for the character.

They have one more issue to pull me in before I light them on fire…

Naked.

With a stick I call Eduardo.

Punisher #48

I love the Punisher. Plain and simple. He had some bad plot lines here and there but overall he’s consistently one of my favorite characters in the Marvel Universe. When Marvel opened up the MAX line – we all knew it was just for The Punisher to become what we all knew he really was capable of being.

I got into this Widowmaker plotline way too late and have to play catch up soon! I originally picked up Punisher #47 and got thrown headlong into the plot of the group of females who are widows thanks to The Punisher. For those who are uninitiated, this MAX version of The Punisher is so based in reality it’s hard to even separate the books from being almost like a documentary.

Garth Ennis and I go way back all the way to Preacher #1 and ever since then his writing has drawn me into anything he writes. Garth has a way of building up the supporting cast around the main character that pretty much mirrors or polarizes the whole situation. He has a knack for finding the right person to make Frank Castle that much more intriguing. Now I love what Matt Fraction is doing with Punisher: War Journal, but it’s always so refreshing to plunge deep into the dark underbelly we all know The Punisher is about in such a harsh, realistic, and brutal way.

#48 deals less with the widows, Frank, or Jenny and builds up the story arc of one of the most underdeveloped characters in the plot thus far; Detective Budiansky. He is finally piecing everything together, and though we all know he is a good man and a good cop, this issue shows that even he, in this world Garth Ennis built, is horribly dangerous as well, as displayed in a scene where he empties an entire clip into someone without thinking twice.

The other main focus point builds on the relationship between Jenny Ceasare and Frank Castle where we finally feel exactly what they do, that they both are the same person on the inside, and Jenny’s scars are just as mental as they are physical; same as Franks. Do I think there’s going to be a romance? No. Should there be? No. They just are the perfect counterpoints for each other, and when Frank isn’t strong enough to continue at the end of the episode, we’re introduced to the Lady Punisher.

—

There you have it folks. What I read this week. I avoid The Initiative mostly, it just didn’t grab me the way Civil War did so I won’t be reviewing those much unless it all crosses over crazily, and Tommy can cover 52 and Countdown all he wants… I only picked up the one with Joker on the cover… for the cover… I <3 Joker.

Ill be back sometime next week with what I read on the 13th, which will include World War Hulk #1 (romita variant cover of course!), Spawn Godslayer #1, Punisher: War Journal #8, and MAYBE Cable/Deadpool #41 and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #21. If I have the money.

Popularity: -1% [?]

I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets sucked in by event comics. Huge crossovers are bug business as witnessed by last/this year’s blowouts Civil War and Infinite Crisis. Both of these storylines spanned nearly the entirety of each universe and to get the full story it was literally hundreds of dollars in comics. Infinite Crisis was the bigger story going back two years in various titles and storylines but Civil War also made a huge impact and is currently being reprinted in sixteen trade paperbacks. These events are obviously making huge bank for Marvel and DC and inspiring smaller publishers to try the same type of large scale storytelling (see Top Cow’s First Born crossover. On second thought don’t, Top Cow sucks). The big question for most of us is “Will this be worth the money and time spent?”. Unfortunately there is no way to know for sure if a big event is worth the dough but there are some factors that can guide you. Is the main title or titles this story comes from worth reading? Are the characters involved interesting to you? Will Micheal Turner draw incentive covers where the women are completely out of proportion and look like they are made of the same stuff as Stretch Armstrong?

A quick aside here. Turner CAN draw properly, I’ve seen him do it. What I have noticed lately is that he spends WAY more time getting the guys correct and just slaps huge tits on whatever girl he’s drawing and hoping no one will notice the complete lack of anatomical correctness. But I digress.

This summer Marvel is throwing two crossovers at us. One involving just the X-Men called Endangered Species and the other the company wide highly anticipated World War Hulk. Are either of these worth the price of admission? Let’s take a look at WWH and ask some questions and you can decide for yourself if it sounds like something you’re willing to dive into.

Where did the Hulk go? Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 1% [?]

I hope everyone had a good Free Comic Book Day Saturday. I’ll skip over the FCBD comics, mainly because I haven’t had the time to read them yet. Last week was a little overwhelming not only because I was exhausted from Free Comic Book Day but I had to get my car inspected (rejected) and deal with a pesky chest cold. On top of that I read something like 20 titles last week and the stack is a little overwhelming when trying to do reviews. This week is a bit more manageable with a bakers dozen. Enough with the chit chat, on with the reviews!

There were four titles this week with “The Initiative” emblazoned across the top of the cover and that doesn’t include Amazing Spider-Man with is tied into it but has its own “Back In Black” marquee. Before I get into the rest I want to start things off with my Pick Of The Week: NOVA! I have to admit, before Annihilation I wasn’t the biggest Nova fan. I read New Warriors for years but I never really warmed up to Richard Rider. During the big outer space war with Annihilus Rider was left as the last member of the Nova Corps and was imbued with not only all the power of the corps but also the Worldmind, a vastly powerful computer that holds the entirety of history or some such craziness. This issue finds Richie headed home for some well deserved R&R and as he reunites with his parents 2/3 of S.H.I.E.L.D. Shows up on his porch to arrest him. I was a tiny bit disappointed because I was hoping to see Nova beat the living hell out of Tony Stark and sadly that did not happen. What did happen was a reunion or two between Richie and what’s left of the New Warriors and a whole lot of old Jewish lady guilt when he asks Iron Man what he had been doing while he (Nova) was saving the entire universe. There is a lot of great human drama in this book, far more than any other “cosmic” book i’ve read in years. The art in this book is of the kind that you rarely hear about. It helps tell the story without being flashy. Artists like Sean Chen rarely get the high profiles but they tend to be the backbone of a company. Mark Bagley was a workhorse for Marvel before he broke out with Ultimate Spider-Man. I expect Chen to be around decades after guys who are “hot” but can’t meet a deadline are gone and forgotten (I’m talking about you Dale Keown but I’m looking at you Steve McNiven). The first issue of Nova should still be available at your local comic book retailer. I highly recommend anyone who likes some human emotion in with their cosmic powered adventure stories pick this up.

For those of you not paying attention, DC’s year long weekly “fill-in-the-gaps” event 52 ended last week. I have to say I didn’t expect to enjoy 52 as much as I did and I plan to get more in depth with that story in the not too distant future but for now I want to talk about DC’s NEW year long weekly series, Countdown. I had mixed feelings about this series from the moment it was announced. 52 was a surprise not only for fans like me but I think for DC as well. I can’t remember a weekly series that ever worked and I fear that DC is putting too much faith in the average comic fan. We are easily distracted and unless Countdown can give us characters who are both interesting and well written (Renee Montoya, Animal Man) I fear a huge fall off of readers after the first month. Having read the first issue I am somewhat underwhelmed and mightily lost. Half the characters in this series I lost track of in the One Year Later batch of crap. Mary marvel was in a coma and Duela Dent (the Joker’s daughter) knows who Jason Todd is. WTF? I remember Duela from 52 as a momentary Teen Titan but I didn’t know she knew that much about the Bat family. On top of that I think Darkseid shruck Desaad and gave him AIDS because he’s really tiny and has lost a LOT of weight since I last saw him. On top of that multiverse cops show up and argue over killing Jason Todd and then the source wall tells them Ray Palmer (the Atom) needs to be found to save the universe. I feel like this issue should have had a lot more exposition because I was a little lost and if a guy who reads as many comics as I do is lost I can’t imagine what the average person thought of this. I think DC needs to look at what Marvel is doing with its recap books. A couple of weeks before Joss Whedon’s first issue of Runaways (#25) hit the racks Marvel released Runaways Saga. The book was written as if the rest of the kids were reading Molly’s diary and while fans of the series got nothing new out of it, the book hit every major (and a few minor) plot points that people picking up the book for the first time would know who these kids are and what’s going on. Last week we got something similar in the World War Hulk preview and this week Annihilation Saga dropped at $1.99 to catch up people for the new wave of Annihilation books starting later this month. I have faith that Paul Dini can deliver a good story so I’ll keep picking this up until he proves otherwise. I’ll keep you posted.

Keeping the DC theme let’s talk about One Year Later. It sucked, a lot, especially for Nightwing. Why was Nightwing so horrible OYL? He was supposed to be dead so DC didn’t know what to do with him. It seems that the original plan for Dick was to die in the crisis because Dan Didio felt like Mr Grayson was superfluous as long as there was a Batman and Robin in continuity. Luckily Geoff Johns and several other writers sat Dan down and explained that Dick Grayson was essential to the DC universe. Before Infinite Crisis Nightwing was having a crisis of a more personal nature. He was injured and working for a mob boss trying to infiltrate the criminal underworld and save some people at the same time. After Bludhaven was turned into a toxic swamp Dick traveled the world with Bruce and Tim (as seen in 52) and OYL he and Jason Todd were both in New York being Nightwing. The story made little sense and I honestly have retained only the most basic of plot points from it. This weeks #132 is the last part of a storyline that I expected to be the final straw for Nightwing and myself. I expected a clean break after the first part of the Bride and Groom story arc. The preview images and blurbs made it sound plain awful but something happened that I didn’t notice. Marv Wolfman is writing Nightwing. I read the first two parts of this story before it actually hit me. The man responsible for arguably the greatest Teen Titan stories in the history of the Titans was writing the premiere Titan again. No wonder the book seems brand new! Wolfman has managed to make Dick fresh and acessible again. There is just enough angst to make his motives understandable but for the most part its all straight up GOOD storytelling, the kind I’ve rarely seen in this One Year Later world DC has built for itself.

Speaking of Nightwing, Outsiders #47 is the second part of the crossover with Checkmate cleverly called CheckOut! In the first part Checkmate systematically captured every member of the Outsiders expect Nghtwing in an attempt to get him to come to the Checkmate HQ to try and bust his pals outta jail. In a completely shocking and not at all predictable twist of fate, Checkmate is actually looking to recruit the outsiders to take down the nutballs still on Oolong Island building giant robot insects and what looks like a Godzilla sized Lagoon Boy (last seen in Young Justice if my memory serves). This is now TWO issues of setup and while they were both well written I think they need to get to the mad scientist fighting already. Greg Rucka (Checkmate) and Judd Winick (Outsiders) are co writing all the parts of this crossover which I really like. Both writers, while being two of my favorites, really understand the voices of the characters in their respective books. Keeping those characters consistent is one of those things most crossovers don’t really seem to care about. I can’t wait until next month’s Checkmate. This story should be a lot of fun.

Back to that Initiative overload I’m having this week I want to talk about New Avengers. I’m a huge fan of Bendis and I’ve been reading this series since day one. Having said that I think Leinil Yu’s artwork is nearly enough to make me stop reading. It’s all sketchy and feels rushed and unfinished. Rarely does an artist completely take me out of the story but Yu can do it. I would enjoy the art more if it was on a darker book. Maybe a Savage Land Wolverine adventure or a crazy Punisher romp full of blood and broken people but not a book where Spider-Man is making quips every five seconds and Hawkeye comes back. Oh yeah, Clint Barton is officially on the team and dressed as Ronin and no one is surprised. Next issue is supposed to be the biggest book of the millennium or some such according to Joe Quesada. I honestly don’t have a clue what going to happen. Maybe baby Cage will kill Elektra and then have sex with Spider-Woman. GAH! I just flipped through the book again to see if I had anything else to add and I realize I do. Adding a million tiny lines to your art doesn’t make it look detailed if the million tiny lines are just randomly placed. Everyone looks a hundred years old and they all have the same chin. Except baby Cage, he looks like Charlie Brown.

Now that I’ve bitched about really shitty art, let’s talk about some good art. I’ve never been a fan of the Punisher but Matt Fraction’s version of Frank in Punisher War Journal has a lot of heart and humor in it and Ariel Olivetti’s art is just stunning. Every panel feels like an intricate part of the story and Olivetti nails facial expressions like very few people in the industry right now. This issue (#7) came with a 50/50 cover split. One has the Punisher in his traditional black with skull body armor outfit and the other has the red white and black homage to Captain America I’m sure we all saw floating around the internet a month or so ago. I have to say I really dig the Cap inspired threads as they give you a really nice visual of where Frank’s head is these days. I love that Fraction pulled one of Captain America’s old villains, Hate Monger, out of mothballs and updated him as something of a crazed minutemen border defender who really like killing Mexicans. Both parts of this storyline have been told in flashback as Frank is tied to a fence post with along the Mexican border. The real payoff for those of us who have been following this book the last six issues happens in the last panel of the last page of this issue. I won’t spoil it here but I can’t wait to see what happens next.

QUICK HITS

Several great Trade paperbacks dropped this week including Ed Brubaker’s crime/action book Criminal. I can’t even begin to explain how awesome this book is.

• Black Panther #27- T’Challa and Ororo arrive home to the Baxter building along with their teammates Thing and Torch after their adventure that began in the last issue of BP and continued in Fantastic Four #545 and will finish up in FF #546 which isn’t out yet. I’m not sure why the Panther carried around a magical frog for the whole issue but Storm gets horny after an outer space adventure so I don’t really care.

• JLA Classified #38- This is the second part of the Kid Amazo storyline and I have to say I’m digging it. The only odd thing is that Batman is telling Superman how the kids deserves the benefit of the doubt. I like Peter Milligan but I think he has his heroes confused.

• The Amazing Spider-Man # 540- Aunt May is gonna die! Lots of angst in this issue although it isn’t nearly as emo as eyeliner Peter Parker from Spider-Man 3. Good lord did he need to be slapped. Mary Jane cries less than Peter both in this issue and in the movie. Also, Peter is angry and breaking the arms of assassins so look out for that if you’re an assassin.

• Ultimate Power #5- The issue where nothing happens except Hyperion gets naked and we learn that Cap and Peter have a special Skipper/Gilligan dynamic that makes Nick Fury crabby.

• Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #24- I started getting these for Logan but I have to say, single issue self contained stories that are packed with action are still awesome no matter what age range they’re aimed at.

• The Immortal Iron Fist #5- If you aren’t reading this book do so. I will get in depth when the next issue drops as it should be the end of the first story arc. Great plotting an the art is moody and atmospheric and works really well with this book.

• DMZ #19- Again, this is smack in the middle of a storyline that would make no sense unless you’ve been reading this book from the beginning. It is a continuity heavy book but its only 19 issues in and you get get caught up in trades so please go do that. I will talk much MUCH more about DMZ and its importance in our current culture of fear sometime in the future.

Popularity: -1% [?]

I read a lot of comics. I know plenty of people say that but I’ve noticed that most people who do this blogging/reviewing thing usually only read a handful of comics a month or they just comaplain about the books they do read. Now me personally, I love comics. It’s my favorite medium in which to tell a story. I mention this because there is no way I’m going to be able to review every comic I read every week. I have 18 titles this week and even more a few weeks ago. Enough babbling, lets get to it.

My pick of the week for April 18 was The Spirit #5. The plot of this issue revolves around pork and beans and believe it or not, it’s just plain awesome! I must confess here I never read Will Eisner’s Spirit but if its ANYTHING like the stuff Darwyn Cook is doing I’m going to start picking up the $50 hardcovers. I haven’t had this must fun or gotten this much childlike glee from reading a single comic in years. The stories are self contained, the pace is perfect and the art is like something out of the golden age in the best possible way. I don’t really want to say too much about this book except for this, if you aren’t buying this you are cheating yourself out of a whole lot of fun.

WORLD WAR III has been almost universally panned as a disappointment which is a shame because this week’s issue of 52 was flat out amazing. I can’t exactly argue with that sentiment as I didn’t exactly love it. I think if you can crank up your suspension of disbelief to max then you can call the quick recapping of where everyone was for the past year a success. The way they weaved some of these stories had a very daytime soapish feel to them. The transitions were poorly executed and the acting was a little stiff. Susan Lucci these cats ain’t. This may be the dad in me coming out but the first page of the first issue of WWIII had a river of blood and a huge pile of decomposing bodies. A “parental warning” on the cover would not have been a terrible idea.

I think the real shame of WWIII was the need, not the desire mind you but the NEED to help people understand all the crap that lead up to One Year Later. Some books took it upon themselves to explain what was going on (Green Arrow, Outsiders) but for the most part we were left with really bad stories that came straight outta left field. Luckily for me my favorite books seem to be back on track after the OYL debacle. Putting Marv Wolfman on Nightwing was a brilliant piece of strategery. I was on the verge of dumping that title.

As for 52, I love that no matter the evidence Atom Smasher refuses to believe Black Adam of genocide until he hears it straight from the man himself and even then I think A.S. Is still a little unbelieving. We don’t really know because he’s busy being unconscious after the startling revelation. The real world parallels were well done as the entire JSA stands outside the Chinese border waiting for the Great Ten to remove their heads from their asses and allow them to help. Of course a huge fight ensues and we get the highlights. WWIII did help fill in a few blanks that wouldn’t even bother a casual reader of comics but had super nerds like me wondering like where did Booster Gold and Rip Hunter take T.O. Morrow to? I can’t wait to see how 52 ends.

Popularity: -2% [?]

I found out this week who the real winner of Marvel’s big Civil War event actually was. It wasn’t Tony Start and the pro registration military industrial complex like we all thought it was. No sir, the real winner is the Black Panther. It seems like in the post Civil War environment T’Chall and his new bride Ororo are in every book. From the whimsical feel of Fantastic Four as they fly off in space, to the political intrigue and tense drama of Black Panthers own title to the overwritten excuse to have the sixteen billionth Wolverine/Sabertooth fight in this week’s Wolverine (though how T’Challa and his queen were in Wakanda and New York at the same time is mind boggling). That’s right folks, I took a chance and picked up the latest Wolverine and I promise I won’t do that again until someone I’ve heard of is back on the book. I’m a big fan of the Black Panther and of the non Halle Berry Storm but I felt their guest spot in Wolverine was superfluous at best. Luckily the interaction between Aunt Petunia’s favorite nephew and “T’Charlie” more than made up for it in FF. I’m looking forward to the new team taking on Silver Surfer and finding out why the giant disembodied head of Madeline Albright is stealing dead bodies.

52 this week slowed down the pace a bit. But in a good way. After three weeks of murder, mayhem and the destruction of a fictitious European country gears are shifted and we never see Black Adam (though we do “hear” him scream). Doc Magnus has become an incredibly interesting character. As the only member of the mad scientist guild who seems to not be completely crazy (or at least not evil) he is the ground wire that allows the other inhabitants of the island to run wild. I can’t wait to see what his mini Metal Men do. As for the REAL star of 52, Renee Montoya has headed back to Gotham just in time for her former lover Batwoman to once again be targeted by Intergang. I keep checking my local Barnes and Noble but they can’t seem to get me a copy of the Crime Bible. They said I can have a regular bible and the first season of Law and Order on DVD but I don’t think it would work the same. In other weird developments, we see Bruce and Tim in Nanda Parbat. Bruce is fighting something in a cave and Tim is eating soup with Wonder Woman who, out of costume, looks like 52 other female characters in the DCU. It took a few minutes to remember that she was with Bruce and Tim its been so long since we’ve seen them. Also, Animal Man is doing… uhhh….. stuff. I think it will make more sense later. Not enough Renee for me in this issue but I think that will be rectified next issue since her face is on the cover.

My pick of the week this week was not surprisingly Ultimate Spider-Man. People who know me know that I love Spider-Man, I love Bendis and I love Spider-Man. Yes I am aware that I said Spider-Man twice. I just really love him. In a totally non gay way. Ok, kind of gay. But I digress. The reason I love this book so much is the characterization of these kids. Mary Jane, Peter and now Kitty all act like teenagers. Something that is lacking in most books involving teens. Pete and MJ just survived an ordeal and now their romance is back on track. Only Peter never really managed to break up with Kitty. Now that she goes to their school it shouldn’t be awkward at all. There are teases galore in this issue. MJ might be getting powers (or dying, whatever), someone on the team is a traitor, Moon Knight is completely insane and Peter yells at Daredevil. My favorite exchange from the book was between Spidey and DD after Matt tells Peter about his plans to kill the Kingpin.

Peter: First of all- it wouldn’t do anything. Someone else would just be there to take his place.
Iron Fist: Not necessarily.
Peter: Of course there will be.
Daredevil: Not necessarily. They killed Hitler. And that was that for the third Reich.
Peter: But it eventually came back in the form of a little thing called Mtv.

I really like what Jodi Picoult is trying to do with Wonder Woman. It brings to mind some of the better “man out of time” Captain America stories. Diana has been seperated from the common man by her status as a near godlike being and because of that, simple things like using the subway and ordering at Starbucks are completely out of her wheelhouse. This would have been an incredibly interesting take on the character before Greg Rucka’s run on the book. Hell, if this had been where the book relaunched it would have made more sense. I’m one of those people who is furious with Heinburg for his lack of professionalism. I understand that this is “just comics” or whatever his excuse for lateness is but its still a business and lateness matters especially in a serialized story. I wonder how Fox would have handeled it if he came to them and said “I’m not finished with this episode of the OC. You can air it in about two months. Please, I am begging the industry as a whole. Stop hiring people who can’t deliver. I’m a HUGE Kevin Smith fan but I’ll be content if he never writes another comic. Sorry Jodi, you may be too late to make an impact. I’m pulling for you because I think this concept is very interesting. I just hope others will come along for the ride as well.

Other books I picked up this week.

Usagi Yojimbo #101 – This was my first issue of this and I will be buying it regularly from now on. I’ve heard good things for years but never bothered to read it before. Solid storytelling with a sense of fun.

Daredevil #95 – It’s too early to tell where Brubaker is taking us but as long as he’s driving I’ll be along for the ride.

Sensational Spider-Man #36 – Mr Hyde is turning homeless kids into Spider-Man. Dumb premise, surprisingly interesting story. The scenes with Reed Richards were easily the best thing in the book. I’m actually looking forward to how this turns out.

Elephantmen #8 – This book will be well served by a trade paperback. The stories are fragmented and at times hard to follow in single issues but reading a block of them makes up for it.

DMZ #17 – Every journalist in America should be made to read this book. It’ll teach them a few things about doing their job.

Silent War #3 – Pietro is going insane. It’s kind of fun to watch especially when the art is so pretty.

Ultimate Fantastic Four # 40 – Ultimate Diablo. Fun read. Not a lot else to say about it except the FF pretending to be carnies to blend in was all kinds of fun to see.

Popularity: -3% [?]