Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The Weekly Pile

Top of the Pile: Daredevil Annual #1

Last week's Top of the Pile was Daredevil #101, and this week Ed Brubaker puts out another gem in Daredevil Annual #1. Matt Murdock gets visited by Carlos LaMuerto (a.k.a. The Black Tarantula), just released from prison and looking to turn his life around. Murdock not only gives LaMuerto a job at his law firm but enlists his help in costume as Black Tarantula. Tarantula tries to walk the perfectly straight & narrow but ultimately realizes that he doesn't have the patience to do things Daredevil's way. He returns to his old ways, only this time as a force of good instead of evil.

The Rest of the Pile

Countdown #26 - See The Countdown Countdown.

Ultimate Power #8 - The first seven issues of this title were written by Brian Michael Bendis. This issue was written by Jeph Loeb. Odd.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

The Countdown Countdown


One Week Left...

Another week on the Countdown, another week of the stories casually milling around. (Jimmy Olsen is still deciding whether or not to go with Forager, even though it appears that was decided last week.) Well, that's not entirely true. Some of the stories leap forward to another chapter with little or no explanation. (The confrontation between Mary Marvel and Shadowpact that was set up in the last issue is already pretty much over by the time we get to it in this issue.) There's also the continued trend of characters dropping by to say hi and having no real impact on the story. (Two-face, anyone?) There was one thing that stood out in this issue, though: Jason Todd's turn. Him turning his back on his travel buddies to join Monarch's army was an actual exciting twist that came out of nowhere. And not the cheap, illogical "out of nowhere" that a lot of other things in this book have come from. Could this be the thing that saves the book for me? The follow up had better be good since next week is their last chance.

The Weekly Pile

Top of the Pile: Daredevil #101

This book is like Law & Order with a superhero as the main character. The two sides of the book (the stuff in the courtroom and the stuff in the tights) go together so well because Matt Murdock has a strong desire to live both sides of his life. It's not like Batman, where Bruce Wayne is just a public face he puts on. Both characters seem real and substantial. You can chalk all that up to Ed Brubaker being one of the best writers in comics today.

The Rest of the Pile

Countdown #27 - See The Countdown Countdown

Ultimate Spider-Man #115 - As much as Mark Bagley became synonymous with this book after one hundred and ten consecutive issues, I gotta say I like Stuart Immonen's work even more.

Walking Dead #43 - After last month's issue set the stage for the confrontation between the survivors and the people from Woodbury, it seemed kind of a let down for this to be a fill-in issue that didn't advance the story. But that's not to say that this issue was bad. It gave some excellent backstory for The Governor, one of the post despicable villains to come along in years.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

The Countdown Countdown

Two Weeks Left...

This week's Countdown #28 was actually a huge improvement over the previous week's, but that's not saying much. Aside from a small child using "I'll be your bestest buddy" to stop a crazed Brother Eye, there wasn't much to insult the intelligence like last week's installment. There was even some semblance of a couple stories actually starting to inch forward with Shadowpact looking to take down Mary Marvel and Jimmy Olsen finally having a purpose in investigating the deaths of the New Gods. But I have to say these new developments feel like part three of a story. Part one took place in the first few weeks of Countdown but we never got part two. How is Jimmy Olsen ready to go for a big time super hero mission when we don't even know why or how he has powers yet?

Could we really be leaving the Newsboy Legion behind so soon after meeting them? Like the Jokester and the majority of the characters from the other Earths, they just seemed to pop their heads up and say "Hi, we're in this book." and then fade away.

And would it kill DC give the reader a little heads up on whats been going on in the DCU between issues of Countdown? Marvel uses recap pages at the beginning of many of their books that make it possible to know what's going on in the event that you missed an issue. If ever a book screamed for that feature, it's Countdown. At the very least and check list of books you should read before reading this week's issue would help immensely. Then you wouldn't be spoiled on things like Big Barda's death in Death of the New Gods #1.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Countdown Advice

Unlike my distinguished colleague here at Comicdom Wrecks, I am enjoying the series. Don't get me wrong, I still think it should not have been done, but I'm not gonna stop buying it. Being a weekly series, it is getting compared to 52, but this is an unfair comparison. 52 was a stand alone series, that anyone could pick up and read. Countdown is not. Countdown was not advertised as such. It was advertised as the "spine" of the DCU, meaning that it was going to tie-in to everything. With that being said, there are 3 ways for someone to enjoy Countdown.

1) Buy every book DC puts out. This the most expensive and time-consuming of the ways to enjoy Countdown. If you buy everything, then you are guaranteed of not missing anything.

2) Find spoilers for the tie-in books. Somewhere, someone online is putting up spoilers for what has happened in the tie-in books. It should be DC, but unfortunately, they are not. Not sure why. They did it for Countdown to Infinite Crisis, and Infinite Crisis. But the message boards on DC's site probably have something. Or there's always Wikipedia.

3) Just accept it. By "just accept it," I mean that just accept that there are a ton of books that are connected to Countdown, and accept that what has happened between issues has happened.

Now, if you can't do any of these 3, then just don't read Countdown. All it will bring you is frustration.

The Weekly Pile


The Top of the Pile

Justice League of America #14 -4 out of 5- by Dwyane McDuffie & Ed Benes

Dwayne McDuffie's "Unlimited" story continues. This issue seemed more like an issue of Superman or Action Comics, than JLA. Which isn't really a bad thing. I just make the comparison because the issue is driven by the drama between Superman and Luthor. Something I haven't seen enough of in the Superman titles. But the Superman books are a rant for another day. Back to the League. I like the teaming of Black Lightning and Superman in this issue. I think it's a good thing for a team book like this to pair the minor characters with the major ones. But more importantly, to make them have just as much of a positive role in the action as the major players. This is important to building up the lesser known characters, so that one day, the Big 3 (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) may be able to leave the book.

There's nothing complex about McDuffie's writing. It's just enjoyable. It was also nice having Ed Benes back to draw the issue. However, I don't think he's going to be around much longer. Thought I saw someone else solicited for the next story arc.


Rest of the Pile

Countdown #28 -3 out of 5- by Tony Bedard & Al Barrionuevo
See future article.

The Weekly Pile


Top of the Pile: Mighty Avengers #5

It's a shame this book has been so delayed. With the extended periods between issues it's hard to keep up any kind of storytelling pace. The most you can hope for, aside from the creators getting their asses in gear and putting the book out on time, is that the issue is good when it does come out. Mighty Avengers comes through in that department.

Bendis' decent drama and snappy dialog always make his books an entertaining read. His use of random thought bubbles is a great way to give an extra dimension to the characters without having to delve into a lot of expository writing. Frank Cho's art continues to look fantastic and it's sad to know he's the reason the book's so delayed.

The Rest of the Pile

Captain America #31 - This book was very close to being the Top this week. Ed Brubaker continues to craft a compelling story even though the title character's been dead for more than six months.

Captain America: The Chosen #3 - Continuing the story of an aging Cap searching for his replacement.

Countdown #28 - See this week's Countdown Countdown

JLA #14 - The Injustice League, a large gathering of villains who seem to have gotten together just to get together. This may sound weird, but it reads more like a cartoon than a comic book.

Marvel Zombies 2 #1 - Nothing special here, just the same gory fun as the first series. Robert Kirkman continues to be one of my favorite writers.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #47 - I'm torn about this book. It hasn't been bad, it just hasn't been interesting.

Wolverine: Origins #18 - Wolverine fights Nazis with Captain America, Bucky, and a young Nick Fury.

Monday, October 15, 2007

The Countdown Countdown

I mentioned in a previous post that I would only be giving DC's Countdown four more weeks to convince me to keep reading. For those four issues, I'll be posting a special review of them that I'm calling The Countdown Countdown. Enjoy.


Three More Weeks...

Let's see...a lot of other stuff has gone on with this series' characters since the last issue, so I'm kind of at a loss for some of it... I can barely handle the excitement when Jimmy Olsen teams up with the Newsboy Legion, who claim that they recognized "their old pal" Jimmy as Mr. Action even though his costume features a mask. I'm only bringing that up because it makes Olsen and everyone else look like an idiot for not picking up on Superman's secret identity when his costume is a pair of glasses...Piper & Trickster wanted for murder of one of the world's most beloved heroes, waltz into a diner during the day, in costume and claim to have passed themselves off as singing telegram guys...The Jokester dies after serving his purpose of, um, well nothing really. He was just sort of there to crack wise for a couple weeks.

Not only did nothing substantial happen, but the book was filled with enough flawed internal logic to choke an elephant. Better luck next week.

The Weekly Pile


Top of the Pile: Green Arrow/Black Canary #1

My favorite book this week wasn't even on my list when I went to the comic shop. I collect somewhere around eighteen books a month and only three of them (not counting Countdown, which I'll address in another post) are published by DC. Two others are published by Image, the rest by Marvel. I'd been meaning to address this disparity, wanting to read more DC but I had no idea where to turn. I considered Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern but the fact that they're all far into their current titles was a bit intimidating. I like to start at the beginning, and I'm a bit of a completist. I wanted something I could jump right on and didn't have to spend an arm and a leg for back issues if necessary. I'd always liked Green Arrow, and when I saw a #1 with his name on it I thought I'd give it a shot. I couldn't be more glad I did. Writer Judd Winick and artist Cliff Chiang won me over and DC earns another spot on my list.

The Rest of the Pile
Booster Gold #3- As confusing as the may be, I love time travel stories. And I love Booster Gold, so this book's always enjoyable.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24- Part two of One More Day. It seems like they're building toward some huge deus ex machina to undo the tragedy of Aunt May and somehow affect Peter & MJ's marriage. I've got a bad feeling about this.

New Avengers #35- An inside look at the Hood's new criminal organization. Not much of the Avengers, though.

Punisher: War Journal #12- Frank protects the innocent citizens of a New York neighborhood from a rogue soldier from the Hulk's army.

Wolverine #58- This story is leaning more toward the mystic, which failed so spectacularly with Jeph Loeb's Evolution. Why can't we just just get a good Wolverine story where he plays Dirty Harry and slaughters the bad guys? I guess that'd be too simple.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Craptain America


So apparently this is Alex Ross' new design for a new Captain America, set to debut in January's Captain America #34. We don't know who's under the mask, although Marvel promises its not Steve Rogers as he's still dead. Putting aside the fact that this new fella is toting a handgun and hunting knife, which is totally not Captain America, what do I think of the costume? One word: Ugh. The black and ultra shiny red, white, and blue don't go together well at all. The triangular design is reminiscent of Ross' unused original movie Spider-Man costume, which I was also not a fan of. Just replace the red, webbed part with the American flag. I can really only think of one thing that would make this aesthetically unpleasing apparel worthwhile, and that's it this new Captain America turns out to be none other than Bucky Barnes. That'd also explain the weapons.

I know there are some people out there who think everything Alex Ross touches turns to gold, but I'm not one of them. He paints pretty pictures of already existing characters and costumes, but his original designs are hit & miss with me.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Book of the Week - 10/10/07

Booster Gold #3; rating 4 out of 5

Booster Gold and Skeets continue their mission of protecting the timeline. This week, they find themselves in the 1800s, in the company of the gunfighter Jonah Hex, protecting Superman. Someone is trying to alter the history of Jonathan Kent, so that him and Martha are not around to find the baby Kal-El. Another problem at hand is that someone has stolen the Supernova suit from Daniel Carter.

Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz did a fine job with the script. But then again, when Johns' name is on the book, the quality of the story is never really in question. The pacing of the story makes it a quick read. The dialogue moves nicely, and exchanges between characters is always enhancing the relationship between them.

Dan Jurgens artwork does nice job of adding to the story. The facial expressions just enhance what the characters are saying.


Rest of what I read:

Superman #668 by Kurt Busiek and Rick Leonardi; 3 out of 5; "The Third Kryptonian" story starts of with an adequate issue, setting up the rest of the story.

Countdown #29 by Adam Beechen and Manuel Garcia; 3 out of 5; Finally, Countdown seems to be going somewhere with this issue, which is much better than the last few.

Friday, October 05, 2007

Counting Down What's Left of My Patience

A little over eight months ago a friend convinced me to start reading 52, DC's weekly series that was supposed to chronicle what happed between Infinite Crisis and the One Year Later story jump. Issue #41 had just come out, so I sat down with a huge stack of books in front of me and cracked open issue #1. About three days later I was caught up and in love with the story. Now, I've never been a big DC fan but the story arcs contained in 52, particularly that of Booster Gold, enthralled me. I bought the last eleven issues of 52 myself and they didn't disappoint. That's why when DC announced that another weekly series, Countdown, would begin immediately following 52 I was excited. Here was a series where I could get in on the ground floor and if it was going to be anything like 52 I was in for a treat.

Fast forward twenty-one weeks and I'm still waiting for my treat. The first few issues of Countdown were interesting enough but the book has been spinning its wheels ever since. Here's what's happened in some of the storylines:

-Mary Marvel gets Black Adam's powers then starts to get bitchier by the week. She seeks help from Zatanna but thinks she's trying to steal her powers. The two fight and Mary takes off. She then accepts the help of Klarion the Witch Boy, who actually was trying to steal her powers. The two fight and Mary takes off. Now she's working with Eclipso and one can only wonder how that will turn out.

-Piper and Trickster were on the run because they weren't trusted by the rest of the Rogues, then they were on the run because they were accused of killing The Flash (Bart Allen). Now they're on the run because they escaped after The Flash (Wally West) caught them. They don't like each other and they're chained together. Hilarity ensues.

-Jimmy Olsen is somehow exhibiting random super powers. He can't control them and doesn't know how he got them or why he has them.

-Donna Troy, Jason Todd, and Bob the Monitor went searching first the Palmerverse (the microscopic civilization that exists all around us discovered by former The Atom, Ray Palmer) then the multiverse for Ray Palmer, who's been missing since the end of Infinite Crisis. Each week they seem to be on the trail only for someone to tell them that Palmer was here but he's gone now. Sorry Mario, but your princess is in another castle.

-There's supposedly a "great disaster" coming and absolutely no clues have been provided as to what it could be.

Now all those things, at their core, are interesting enough ideas. And if all these things were going on in, let's say, week ten that'd be fine. But this is week twenty-one. One more month and the series will already be half way over. We're still no better off at understanding what any of these stories mean, where they're headed, and how they're related to each other than when the book started. The series is progressing at a snail's pace. It's as if they know they don't have enough story to fill out fifty-two issues and they're producing filler. What this reeks of, I hate to say it, is DC wanting to cash in on the success of 52 with another weekly series. And that's a sound marketing strategy, so more power to them. But the readers will only continue to shell out the extra three bucks as week as long as you continue to produce a good product.

And that's what the point of this entry is, me deciding if I want to continue shelling out that extra three bucks as week as long as Countdown's going nowhere fast. And here's what I've come up with: DC, you've got me until week twenty-six. Four more issues. That's the exact half way point of the series. If there hasn't been at least one major development by then, I'm done. No more for me, thank you. The book's not bad, it's just not interesting. As I said I'm not a big DC fan, and maybe that's part of it, but I'd like to read more. So come on...give me a reason to keep reading Countdown.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Countdown to Messiah Complex: Avengers Disassembled

Avengers 500-503, Avengers Finale

What Happened:
Scarlet Witch, whose powers have been steadily driving her mad, finally blows a gasket and subconsciously manifests a number of attacks upon the Avengers, crippling the mansion, injuring half the team, and killing three members. When they confront her, Dr. Strange stops her assault, but shatters her mind in the process. Magneto arrives to take his daughter to Charles Xavier for help, and the remaining Avengers, devastated, disband the team.

What Matters:
Scarlet Witch goes nuts
Ant-Man (Scott Lang), Hawkeye, Vision, and Agatha Harkness all die.
Wasp, Captain Britain (Kelsey Kirkland), and She Hulk are seriously injured.
Iron Man is forced to resign as Secretary of Defense of the United States.
The Avengers disband, leaving the mansion in ruins.

Why it's Significant:
Are you kidding? This is where it all starts! While most of the serious events of this story have since been reversed (new Ant-Man, Hawkeye and Vision alive, all injured parties fine, Iron Man director of SHIELD, two teams of Avengers) this directly sets up House of M and its subsequent outcome, M-Day. This is where it all starts, folks.