Gashapon Reviews: May 19, 2010

I'm incredibly annoyed that "Enter the Heroic Age" was not in my comic store.  I know it was mostly just a preview of the new Avengers titles, but that's kind of why I wanted it.  Hopefully I can find it somewhere this week.

In other news, I'm now up to date with Chew, but I think I'm going to make a separate 'indies' post.

Marvel:

X-Men Legacy #236 ***

I am having the hardest time reviewing this issue.  Sure, I liked it.  But I'm not sure I can really put my finger on why, and that makes me uncomfortable.  Because I can definitely see some flaws in it.  The art at the beginning is confusing (I knew they were creating a shell around the mutants, but only from experience, not so much from the drawing) and the characters seem a little...stupid.  "Gee, a giant silver sphere that appears to be the center of this scary red thing.  Let's go poke it with an Iceman."  Part of me feels like the action is trying to start up again but it's not going as smoothly as the first 5 issues did.  I definitely think we'll get there, but right now I'm just a little hesitant.  In other words this wasn't my favorite issue so far, but I'm not about to say "This issue is crap," because it's not, and I think in the final trade this issue will just mark a lull in the overall story.  But I do want to mention that I'm very happy the Avengers showed up.  It would be very unrealistic (even by comics standards) that all this shit could go down in San Francisco and no one would take notice. 


X-Factor #205 ****

Gee, they weren't really dead.  Who knew?  But I loved that Jamie and co. were a step ahead of the MRD.  I have no clue what Layla Miller is doing there, but that's nothing new.  I'm really enjoying seeing Bastion's game plan from the outside.  Really, though, I just in general love reading X-Factor.  The characters are sarcastic and funny, which is something I miss in the other X-titles from time to time.  Makes me think of Cassaday and Whedon's run on Astonishing (which I'm one drunken night away from buying).

Age of Heroes #1 **

Yet another anthology book.  Meh.  It wasn't bad, really, but I can't come up with a good reason to recommend it to anyone.  I admit this may be a personal bias as I'm not a huge short-story fan in general, but these Marvel anthologies are never particularly interesting.  I found all four of the stories to be predictable, and I didn't find any of the art particularly striking.  I did however enjoy that the authors made an effort to show the general relief that people feel about having the Avengers back.  It's been a rough couple of years, but the general public has now seen what the world is like without heroes.  Sure, there are problems with having the capes running about, there is death and destruction from battles gone wrong, but the alternative is definitely the greater of two evils. 

Avengers #1 ***1/2

It's so much fun to be jumping on to a title at the beginning, instead of trying to find a place halfway through.  This book gets the extra half-star specifically for that reason.  In this issue we see the team come together, and already they're facing their first challenge (even if they don't fully understand what it is).  I enjoyed watching this group of people trying to get a feel for each other as the new teams come together.  I did not care for the art at all, but I like that Kang showed up and had a warning about the Next Avengers.  And the twist at the end was also fun.  The only thing I want is, if Kang is there, shouldn't the Young Avengers be involved, seeing as they knew Iron Lad?  Or did Iron Lad going to the future erase that?  I do not know.

Invincible Iron Man #26 ***

First, as I mentioned in my Twitter feed, I found the fact that Tony Stark has the same facial expressions as Josh Holloway to be very distracting.  But once we moved past that, I find myself kind of liking Tony Stark more each week.  I still think he can be a prig, but the fact that he realizes he fucked up royally wins him some points in my book.  His suit still confuses me slightly (So, whenever we see him in clothes, that's really just his suit?  And the suit is stored in his bone marrow?) the fact that he just morphs into Iron Man is a pretty neat trick. 

DC:

Brightest Day #2 ***1/2

This issue was over before I knew it.  And I think I have the same feeling with this that I have with second coming:  The series is great, issue-to-issue I'm always left wanting something more.  I don't think any issue is bad, but these are not stand-alone comics.  As someone who has no patience whatsoever, waiting every other week to see what happens next is a test.  The reveal of Deadman's adversary at the end though is kind of awesome, and I can't wait to see how that plays out.  And I'm very, very intrigued as we see more and more the downside to being brought back by the White Lantern.