Gashapon Reviews: May 12, 2010

Any week I spend $30 at the comic shop without buying a trade is considered big by my standards.  Granted I bought 3 issues of Chew at once.  Too bad they don't seem to have issue 7.

Yet another major event comes to a close this week, and some more Brightest Day titles are just taking off. 

Marvel:

New Mutants #13 ***

So we've said goodbye to Kurt and gotten everyone back on Utopia.  But seeing as we're halfway through, it's time to rev up the action again after last weeks breather as we head into the second half of the event.  I appreciated that we're really seeing now just how well-planned out Bastion is.  I'm not however appreciating Hope having all of these doubts.  And before anyone says anything, yes, I know I'm being terrifically unfair to her and all the shit she's gone through.  It can't be easy to have the weight of a species on your shoulders, especially when you're already a bitchy teenager.  I think I'm just getting impatient for more to happen, and I'm going to view that as a tribute to the writing, keeping me wanting more. 



Siege #4 ***

This probably should have gone before my New Mutants review, but Siege will most likely be getting its own post, so no need to rush it.  I thought it was an interesting end to the event, although I think the Void was taken down a bit too quickly.  Loki taking the Nord stones and then getting ripped in pieces was an unexpected development, especially watching his (apparent, I mean, it is Loki) regret over unleashing the Void.  But mainly I'm just happy that Dark Reign is finally over.  We all knew Osborn was crazypants, and I never thought the Registration Act was a good plan.  Now hopefully the Marvel U can get back to adventuring like they're supposed to.  


Dark Avengers #16 ****

Next to tragic villains, my favorite bad guys are the ones that think they're doing what's best.  It's why Bastion is interesting, it's why Bishop was interesting (at first) and it's why I think Osborn is interesting.  Sure, he was batshit insane and we all knew it wouldn't last, but you have to appreciate why he came to power.  It was a terrifying time in the world, with superheroes blowing up towns and cities being overrun by aliens.  When a normal human hero comes along, it's easy to forget how insane he is.  It explains a lot about our own political system as well. 

New Avengers: Finale ***

I didn't really read any New Avengers until Siege started up, so I don't have much to comment on.  It's nice that we're moving past the whole underground heroes stuff, and Spiderman always amuses me.  I will definitely be giving the new Avengers titles a go in the coming months.

Astonishing X-Men #1  **

This is probably the hardest issue for me to review this week.  First, we have to address the art.  When I first picked this up and thumbed through it, I almost put it down because Emma was drawn so atrociously I couldn't handle it.  The others weren't great, but the ass and tits on the White Queen turned my stomach.  But after sitting down and forcing myself to read it, the art kind of grew on me.  I actually thought Scott looked kind of hot drawn that way.  Now as for the story, it's been about 3 days since I read it and I have no recollection of what happened other than it taking place in Africa.  I thought the characterization of Emma as a right bitch was a departure from what we've been seeing recently, and it was nice to see Storm again after her extended absence in other books.  My biggest problem with this book is it's not the Astonishing X-Men of yore that was written by Whedon and ranks up there as one of my favorite books ever.  But I'll tune in next month to see how I feel.

DC:

Birds of Prey #1  ***

It's about Barbara Gordon, who has always been one of my favorite characters ever since the days of the old Adam West show when she'd push a button and her dresser would turn around so she could put on her orange wig (yes, I'm this gay).  I remember being very shocked when I watched the first episode of the Birds of Prey TV show and saw that Babs was now crippled because of the Joker.  The only Batman Gashapon I actually hunted down was the Batgirl figure.  All of this is a wordy way of saying I will read anything that centers around Barbara Gordon (I have to go back and read this years Batgirl, even if I think Stephanie will annoy me).

I thought the first issue was interesting, although I hate Hawk and Dove.  He's too psychopathic, and she's too ... meek?  I don't know.  I'm excited to see who this White Canary turns out to be, and I hope we get to see more of Barbara being awesome.  Not to mention I want the Birds to start interacting with Batman and Robin.  I'm very excited for this series in general, though.

Return of Bruce Wayne #1  ****

While I thought this issue was just OK, how could I not recommend a series which details the return of one of the biggest heroes in the DC universe?  My biggest problem is I don't really understand what's going on, having never read Final Crisis.  But I'm excited to watch Supes, Hal, and whoever that other person was chase Bruce across time, and also watch as he lays the clues for Tim and Dick to find.  Great potential here. 


Flash #2  ***

It being only the second issue, we're still in the set-up phase of things.  I very much enjoyed watching Barry build a house from scratch because he read it real fast in a book.  I'm also interested in the idea of future crimes, i.e. can you be convicted of a crime you have yet to commit?  Now, I think that is making this simple who-dunnit a bit more complicated than it will turn out to be, but still I enjoy watching Barry trying to figure it all out.  And again I don't have enough nice things to say about Manapul here.  

Justice League: Generation Lost #1 **1/2

The problem with this Brightest Day banner is that I want to read as many of the titles under it as possible.  Unfortunately, due to the fact that I'm poor and I don't care about 80% of the DC Universe, that will probably never happen, so I'm going to wind up constantly feeling like I've missed something.  I don't think this is a bad book at all, but I wasn't really connecting with any of the characters, and frankly I have enough to read.  We'll see, maybe I'll skim it sometime in the future.