Let's Talk Comics! Purchases and Reviews: 10/26/11

[Jin Kazama]

Welcome to "Let's Talk Comics!" for 10/26/11!

Every week, in this thread, you can:

1. Discuss what you're buying this week.

2. Discuss what you've read this last week.

3. Discuss current news and rumors in the comic book industry that you've heard!

If discussing something potentially spoilerific, then use your common sense and cover the text with the spoiler code (or provide spoiler space).

Forget what's coming out this week? TFAW has weekly updated list of all new releases!

Highlights of the Week:

Lil' Depressed Boy #7/Sonic the Hedgehog: Legacy Series Book 1​

If you have any feedback/comments/suggestions... just contact your neighborhood friendly comic moderators!

 

[suss2it]

So far I haven't read anything from DC which is surprising since I've been reading their stuff a lot lately. From Marvel, I read New Avengers all the way up to #25, and so far so good. Although I did notice some serious decompression in #16. It didn't really bother me since I got it for a dollar and I'm reading it in bulk, but it was still ridiculous. The Avengers don't even appear in the issue aside from a brief appearance from Iron Man. It's mostly just some guy on fire flying through Canada.

I will say though that the art throughout has been strong, but I didn't really like the art for the Captain America Civil War issue. The rest of the Civil War tie-ins were pretty good and much better than the current Fear Itself tie-ins that Bendis is writing. I especially liked the Luke Cage one. Although it's basically made me hate MU Iron Man. I will say though this has got me pumped to actually read Civil War.

From the Ultimate Universe I've recently read Ultimate Comics Hawkeye and Ultimates #3. Hawkeye was good, we got to see the Ultimate X team who I'm not to familiar with as well as Hulk. What I really liked though was the floating twin cities. Hickman is great at creating these grand concepts, definitely looking forward to the conclusion.

Ultimates #3 was even better. Much better. Not as epic as #2, but it still had this epic feel to it, with the world metaphorically going up in flames. I love Hickman's idea about Thor's hammer from his mini from last year, so I'm glad to see that be brought it back, as well as a few upgrades. It was also cool to see Spider-Woman, and more importantly Monica Chang. I loved her in Mark Millar's Avengers mini-series, so I'm glad to see she isn't forgotten. It was also cool to see Hawkeye there, though I'm a bit pissed that they spoiled some of the ending to his mini. And the art isn't something to complain about either. Ribic is doing a fantastic job on the pencils right now, and I really like the colorer's work as well. I know it's only on its third issue, but I think this is the Avengers ongoing out right now. Can't wait for the next issue, looks some good ol' fashion Nick Fury badassery.

Oh and I also bought Brian Azzarello's (sp) Spaceman #1 since it was only a dollar and I do like what I've read from him.

ETA: Now that I re-read Ultimates #3, the art was a bit inconsistent. Fury lost his beard in one panel, and the "O" faces that the characters make are kinda outta place. And Spider-Woman looks kinda weird, but other than that the art was really good.

 

[rggkjg1]

this week's ebay finds was a peter parker the spectacular spider-man #1 for 7 dollars in very fine + condition (cha ching!). i also got this autographed bad boy for $20.50:

i have an unsigned copy in better condition. great deal as far as i'm concerned.

i can't believe i'm saying this, but i bought a bunch of frank miller daredevil comics on ebay. i was really impressed with the batman: year one movie, and had to get some miller and mazzuchelli daredevil comics. i'm not that ashamed of myself since i've said for years that the last good thing frank miller has done was batman: year one, everything he did after that is garbage. although, daredevil: the man without fear was after batman: year one, so i'm hoping maybe the man without fear will be the last good thing he did.

most importantly, today i filmed my segment/episode for kevin smith's upcoming secret stash tv show which will air on amc. please ask any questions if anyone is interested.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

Daredevil: Man Without Fear might be the best Daredevil story ever published. It certainly has some of the best and most memorable scenes.

 

[wonderfly]

So far I haven't read anything from DC which is surprising since I've been reading their stuff a lot lately. From Marvel, I read New Avengers all the way up to #25, and so far so good. Although I did notice some serious decompression in #16. It didn't really bother me since I got it for a dollar and I'm reading it in bulk, but it was still ridiculous. The Avengers don't even appear in the issue aside from a brief appearance from Iron Man. It's mostly just some guy on fire flying through Canada.

I will say though that the art throughout has been strong, but I didn't really like the art for the Captain America Civil War issue.

That's Howard Chaykin doing the artwork in that issue! Howard Freakin' Chaykin. And his artwork is awesome (warning: adult material in that link).

Read recently:

Shang-Chi: Master of Kung-Fu (2003 mini-series): I got the TPB for this mini-series and read it over the last week. This being my first real introduction to the character, I did some background check. Apparently this was from the creative team of Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy, who were the most critically acclaimed writer/artist team to tackle Shang-Chi back in the 70's and 80's. Thus, the artwork has a old style to it, which I'm usually fine with, but his character's faces take a little getting used to...

Strangely though, for an "old school" comic, this has the "MAX" rating upon the cover. This was back in 2003, when Marvel was still somewhat new to making their own rating system free of the Comics Code. It's the same year that the "Rawhide Kid" comic book came out that got a MAX rating just because they came out and said he's a homosexual comic book character (yet the comic itself was rather pedestrian in it's storytelling).

Likewise, with this Shang-Chi comic, I see an increased used of swearing (though not outrageously so) and one or two scantly clad women (never full nudity though) and I'm left wondering what the big deal is. Like I said, I think Marvel was just getting used to rating their own comics back then...

This story saw Shang-Chi fighting against an evil scheme by his immortal father "The Ghost". After doing some research, I was surprised to find that Shang-Chi's father is "Fu Manchu", which was a licensed Marvel property back in the 70's. It appears that since Marvel has lost the rights to Fu Manchu, Marvel got around it by calling him "The Ghost" here. Overall, the depiction is of a pretty standard would-be world conqueror, but the relationship between him and our hero Shang-Chi make for some interesting scenes. Also, there's one scene where "The Ghost" is in his secret base, talking conversationally with his top assassin, and we see him playing Pac-Man on a little monitor screen. At first glance, it read like a serious scene, though perhaps the writers meant it to be comical. I couldn't help but laugh though. Even madmen can relax playing video games, I suppose!

This was a decent comic, and a fine introduction to Shang-Chi, but nothing spectacular. Grade: B-

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

A really good "Max Version" of a 70s character from that time is the Max "Cage" series. It's by Brian Azzarello and Richard Corben, and Corben's gritty art and Azzarello's tough scripting really suit this street setting. Some nice twists and turns, too, and it's a lot more believable that Cage would be this guy than the "Sweet Christmas" guy, although I love the 70s version anyway.

 

[Gregatron]

From all the books I got this week, The ones I liked most were:

Daredevil #5 - This book has been consistently good.

Amazing Spider-Man #672 - I liked the way Spider-Island ended, now it's time for the Epilogue.

Spider-Island: Amazing Spider-Girl #3 - Great issue.

Venom #8 - Every issue has been good and being a Spider-Island tie-in made it even better.


I did not like Wolverine and the X-Men #1. Don't spend 5 dollars on it.

 

[Radical Raven]

I've read a lot more of the new 52's recently, but after a slight upward curve they went right back to getting on my nerves - except for Justice League, which remains awesome.

I've read both issues of Batman so far, and they've followed the exact same pattern. Magnificent opening sequences that deal with a crime completely unrelated to the main plot, and then a signfigant dip in quality once the plot returns. Like with Superman, they just seem intent on keeping the camera off anything interesting. I thought the second issue would deal with Nightwing being suspected for murder, but that's nstantly waved away in the laziest manner possible, and we get next to no interaction between the characters.And I just find it really hard to care about this guy who's running for mayor or, in fact, about this new secret organization - the first plot point is just boring and the second one feels like it'll either be resolved in a very predictable or completely out of left field fashion. The dialogue is sort of bad too - it seems oddly juvenile and forced. The artist on this one does draw a mean Batman, though (although his faces are hit and miss). I might stick with it for a bit longer, but if it doesn't pick up soon I'm certainly dropping it.

I meant to pick up Batman: The Dark Knight so I could compare and decide which one I wanted, but I picked up the first issue of the pre-relaunch series by mistake! MAYBE LET YOUR COMICS GO BEYOND FIVE ISSUES BEFORE RESTARTING THEM HUH DC. Anyway Batman: The Dark Knight V.1 #1 is actually really good, but I'm not sure where I stand on the series now - nearly everyone I've heard has called the relaunched version of it mediocre. I at least wnat to find the one that continues the story I've already started, but I may or may not check out the new one.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention I picked up Nightwing, too, since it's tieing in with Batman. It was unfathamobly boring and Dick seems to have no personality whatsoever. I...there's honestly nothing else I can think of to say. Nothing sticks out. It was just really boring.

Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE is basically a videogame. It has a bunch of monsters with pseudo-personalities who spout off psuedo-clever lines while fighting TONS of other monsters in a pseudo-plot. Issue 2 ends with them trapped in another dimension with EVEN MORE MONSTERS. As a comic this is sort of uninteresting and I don't think I'm interested in getting # 3. Also what is with the art, the characters look more like they're dancing than fighting.

Animal Man is at least intriguing, and the art is interesting. The writing feels a little weak in spots - I hate plots where children act strangely and speak in cryptic clues and no one makes them shut up and explain, in clear sentences, what is going on - but I like Animal Man as a character and I'm going to stick around just to see what happens next.

Wonder Woman has the best art out of all of these, very pretty, perfectly colored, and expressive. It feels a little weird, though - sometimes in good ways, like how the "oracles" still talk like teenagers even while giving their prophecies - and sometimes in bad ways, like how Wonder Woman seems to have been rudely inserted into a completely unrelated modern take on Greek Mythology. It seemed like a very small amount of plot, too. I'm still gonna see where it's leading, at least.

 

[Jin Kazama]

That's Howard Chaykin doing the artwork in that issue! Howard Freakin' Chaykin. And his artwork is awesome (warning: adult material in that link).

His older stuff may have been great but, I'm sorry, I have to agree about his recent stuff. It's pretty bad. His most recent run on New Avengers from a few months back was pretty awful, and the preview pages the comic sites have shown from Avengers 1959 don't look much better.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

His older stuff may have been great but, I'm sorry, I have to agree about his recent stuff. It's pretty bad. His most recent run on New Avengers from a few months back was pretty awful, and the preview pages the comic sites have shown from Avengers 1959 don't look much better.

The Avengers 1959 stuff is not his best work by far, but his art has always kinda looked like that. It's just his style. I do see a lot of newer fans rejecting him, I think tastes have kinda changed, to more of the Jim Lee-style cold mechanical glossiness, and passed his pulpy two-fisted adventure stuff by.

 

[suss2it]

That's Howard Chaykin doing the artwork in that issue! Howard Freakin' Chaykin. And his artwork is awesome (warning: adult material in that link).

Those black and white covers actually look pretty good. What would you say is some of his best interior work?

His older stuff may have been great but, I'm sorry, I have to agree about his recent stuff. It's pretty bad. His most recent run on New Avengers from a few months back was pretty awful, and the preview pages the comic sites have shown from Avengers 1959 don't look much better.

That was him who did the Avengers 1959 parts for the New Avengers book? I didn't like his art there either.

A couple things I've recently read are the two non-Bendis MU Avengers titles, Avengers Academy #20 and Secret Avengers #18, IMO the two strongest as well. So much so that I've decided to drop both of Bendis' books for the time being, and I'll wait until Comixology eventually catches up the current run to decide if I wanna keep going or not.

Avengers Academy #20 was good. Mostly just concluded the first era, and setting up the second though. Nice to see them moving to the west coast, since almost everything in Marvel takes place in the Big Apple. It's also cool to see they're expanding their school, and no longer just focusing on trying to not make super-villains. As for Veil leaving, good riddance. She was my least liked character, and I don't think I'll miss her. Though her leaving was set up pretty nicely, and she did have a good story-arc. And I doubt it'll be the last we see of her and Briggs anyway. As for Speedball and Justice leaving, I don't care too much since they were never the focus of the series. I do hope that Gage gets another chance to write Speedball though, he's done excellent work with him in the Fear Itself: Home Front tie-in.

Spoiler

As for Thor dying in Fear Itself, I don't buy it for one minute. For one thing, Thor was on Bagely Avengers Assemble cover, but Marvel edited him out, so we know he's still alive. I haven't actually read the last couple issues of Fear Itself, so I was spoiled of his death, but I'm not sure I'm gonna finish it anyway, so I'm not really bothered.

The art was really good here. Captured Veil's emotions properly and just generally looked good. Although the girl's face on the last page just looked weird.

Secret Avengers #18 was fun. So far I'm really liking Ellis' run, just fun done-in-one issues, with a different artist each time. Speaking of the art, it was good here different than what I'm used to, but still good. Although some of the movement was a little confusing at first since it wasn't always separated into different panels. I'm really liking how in each issue Steve assembles a team for a mission, and it's not always the same guys. Still though, I'm looking forward to Remender and Hawkeye taking over. In regards to Steve, he's already showing that he's not quite capable of playing the Nick Fury role.

 

[Bat-Fan Beyond]

I've read both issues of Batman so far, and they've followed the exact same pattern. Magnificent opening sequences that deal with a crime completely unrelated to the main plot, and then a signfigant dip in quality once the plot returns. Like with Superman, they just seem intent on keeping the camera off anything interesting. I thought the second issue would deal with Nightwing being suspected for murder, but that's nstantly waved away in the laziest manner possible, and we get next to no interaction between the characters.And I just find it really hard to care about this guy who's running for mayor or, in fact, about this new secret organization - the first plot point is just boring and the second one feels like it'll either be resolved in a very predictable or completely out of left field fashion. The dialogue is sort of bad too - it seems oddly juvenile and forced. The artist on this one does draw a mean Batman, though (although his faces are hit and miss). I might stick with it for a bit longer, but if it doesn't pick up soon I'm certainly dropping it.

How do you know that the stuff with Nightwing has been totally waved away? What was said could be some misdirection with more to come on the subject as the story goes on. I'd recommend giving it a few more issues.

I meant to pick up Batman: The Dark Knight so I could compare and decide which one I wanted, but I picked up the first issue of the pre-relaunch series by mistake! MAYBE LET YOUR COMICS GO BEYOND FIVE ISSUES BEFORE RESTARTING THEM HUH DC. Anyway Batman: The Dark Knight V.1 #1 is actually really good, but I'm not sure where I stand on the series now - nearly everyone I've heard has called the relaunched version of it mediocre. I at least wnat to find the one that continues the story I've already started, but I may or may not check out the new one.

Aside from David Fich's great artwork, I think both the last series and the current series of Batman: The Dark Knight stinks in the writing department and don't even compare to the two issues we've had so far of Snyder's Batman. But different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

 

[suss2it]

I just read Ultimate Nightmare mini by Warren Ellis, the first part of the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy. Overall it was alright, Ultimate Falcon is pretty cool, and IMO came off better here than he did in the Ultimates Annual #2. I liked the interaction between him and Black Widow, and I liked her talking about Russia's super solider history and blaming Cap for it all. Gives more insight to her betrayal in Ultimates 2. I'm also surprised that Hawkeye wasn't on this mission since he and Widow are partners, and this seemed like the sort of mission he'd be on. The X-Men didn't really do anything of note, but Wolverine did have a few funny lines, but I am surprised that the Fantastic Four haven't shown up yet, given that the original Galactus trilogy took place in their book. Although I'm 100% they'll show up eventually.

The artwork by Trevor Hairsine was pretty good. Although I'm not sure why he didn't do #3, at least it wasn't jarring though since him and Steve Epting have a similar style.

Aside from the introduction of Ultimate Falcon and Vision and a cliffhanger about Gah Lak Tus not much really happened, so I'm hoping that Ultimate Secret and Ultimate Extinction​ will make up for it.

 

[Jin Kazama]

I just read Ultimate Nightmare mini by Warren Ellis, the first part of the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy. Overall it was alright, Ultimate Falcon is pretty cool, and IMO came off better here than he did in the Ultimates Annual #2. I liked the interaction between him and Black Widow, and I liked her talking about Russia's super solider history and blaming Cap for it all. Gives more insight to her betrayal in Ultimates 2. I'm also surprised that Hawkeye wasn't on this mission since he and Widow are partners, and this seemed like the sort of mission he'd be on. The X-Men didn't really do anything of note, but Wolverine did have a few funny lines, but I am surprised that the Fantastic Four haven't shown up yet, given that the original Galactus trilogy took place in their book. Although I'm 100% they'll show up eventually.

The artwork by Trevor Hairsine was pretty good. Although I'm not sure why he didn't do #3, at least it wasn't jarring though since him and Steve Epting have a similar style.

Aside from the introduction of Ultimate Falcon and Vision and a cliffhanger about Gah Lak Tus not much really happened, so I'm hoping that Ultimate Secret and Ultimate Extinction​ will make up for it.

Unless I'm mistaken, the Fantastic Four show up in the second mini with Captain Marvel. The first time I read it was in the "Ultimate Galactus Trilogy" trade that had all three minis in it, so I get them mixed up sometimes.

It does get better as it goes, but it's still very weird. The Silver Surfer stuff in the third mini is just odd, but still works in a way. To be honest, even though it's wasn't my cup of tea, I still respect the heck out of the trilogy for being what I always felt the Ultimate Universe should be. Taking existing ideas and flipping them on their heads in new and original ways.

The Avengers 1959 stuff is not his best work by far, but his art has always kinda looked like that. It's just his style. I do see a lot of newer fans rejecting him, I think tastes have kinda changed, to more of the Jim Lee-style cold mechanical glossiness, and passed his pulpy two-fisted adventure stuff by.

I can't speak for every newer fan, but a enjoyment for the Jim-Lee style isn't really my problem with it. Heck, my favorite artists at the moment are people like Francis Manapul and Marcos Martin, who are hardly that type.

I have read some of his older stuff. I recently read a Blackhawks mini he did, and it was better than his recent stuff. I guess his style just doesn't really do it for me that much.

 

[suss2it]

Unless I'm mistaken, the Fantastic Four show up in the second mini with Captain Marvel. The first time I read it was in the "Ultimate Galactus Trilogy" trade that had all three minis in it, so I get them mixed up sometimes.

It does get better as it goes, but it's still very weird. The Silver Surfer stuff in the third mini is just odd, but still works in a way. To be honest, even though it's wasn't my cup of tea, I still respect the heck out of the trilogy for being what I always felt the Ultimate Universe should be. Taking existing ideas and flipping them on their heads in new and original ways.

I just bought the second and third mini since Marvel/Comixology are having a $1 sale on the whole trilogy today. And you're right the FF do show up and it does get better.

I really liked Steve McNiven's art on the first two issues, shame he didn't finish the whole thing. Tom Raney's good too, but his style was noticeably different from McNiven's and since it was a mini, I would've preferred if it maintained the same art style.

I really liked Carol Danver's first appearance. Although I wonder if her dislike for Fury will be brought up in Extinction, because so far they seem chummy, but later on in the UU they can't stand each other.

Really liked how the first mini was a X-Men/Ultimates crossover and how this one is a Fantastic Four/Ultimates crossover. I feel it was done better in this one, since the FF and Ultimates interact for most of it, whereas in Nightmare the two teams didn't interact until the final issue, and without much buildup either.

I also really liked the characterization and dialogue in this. I actually liked the FF more here than in Ultimate Fantastic Four, and it was nice to see some seeds of evil Reed being planted early, since it kinda came outta left field in Ultimate Doom. Tony hitting on Sue was kinda gross though, since Sue is suppose to be a teenager. Seems more like Wolverine's taste than Iron Man's.

Thor, Thing and Human Torch's interactions was pretty fun. And led to one of the funnier moments in the UU.



Hawkeye & Black Widow's interactions were cool too. And there was a couple ironic lines when taking Ultimates 2 in consideration. And Hawkeye as the grouchy pro who doesn't like the supers is a good character trait that I wish had more follow up.

Although this did suffer from some decompression it was all around pretty good, and I'm looking forward to readingExtinction. Ellis really seems to get the Ultimate characters, and I'd love to see him do some more minis in the UU.

 

[Anthonynotes]

What I've read in the past week:

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #19: Two stories here; the first one has Spidey team up accidentally with the Silver Surfer. I liked the little girl in this one trying to help her hero the Surfer. The second story has Spidey being chased through an empty office building by Kraven the Hunter.

Superman #2: I enjoyed this issue, though as I've noted before, Perez's old-school comic writing might mean it won't be everyone's cup of tea (at least if they're used to reading a comic in under 5 minutes/a billion splash pages). While still not big on "somewhat emo Clark" (or his new costume), I enjoyed reading everyone's interactions here, plus the creature he fought.

Kevin Keller #3: Finally found a copy of the third issue of Kevin's miniseries; guess it was eitehr hard to find or sold better than expected. Here, Kevin's selected by Riverdale High to represent the school on a TV quiz show. One problem: he's nervous about speaking in public. An enjoyable issue...

 

[suss2it]

Throughout today I read Ultimate Extinction and IMO it was the best of the Ultimate Galactus trilogy. I guess that's cause it was the last one, and therefore had to get straight to the action. Lots of good stuff here, I really like the concept of Gah Lak Tus being made up of numerous robots. I wonder why the second FF movie didn't just go with this idea.

Misty Knight was a fun character, and I wish Bendis used this version of her instead of creating an new one in the Ultimate Doomsday trilogy. This idea of Silver Surfer was interesting. I think it worked with him being the herald of Gah Lak Tus. It's a shame they didn't get to redeem themselves.

Probably the most fun part was Nick Fury's closing lines. Love that guy. And since Fury has Reed's gun at his disposal I wonder if he'll use it against him in the current Ultimates​ ongoing.

The art was good in this mini too. Done by one artist whole way through, so it was the most consistent looking one. However one problem was with all the lines everywhere. Very unnecessary and distracting, brought the whole book down IMO.