Marvel:
X-Force #27 ****
Finally I feel like the action is ramped up, and all it took was a good maiming. Nothing like a character losing his hands to remind the reader what the stakes are in this battle. I also appreciate that Scott is now going on the offensive. I don't believe for one second that X-Force isn't coming back, but I do think one of them will die in the future. My bet is Cable. I'm now back on the edge of my seat like I was at the beginning of the event.
Second Coming Revelations: Blind Science ***
The story isn't bad, but the "twist" at the end isn't exactly shocking. Since the rest of the event is definitely worth a read, I'd say pick it up for completion's sake, or if you happen to be exceedingly curious about the X-Club. Otherwise, not the strongest issue of Second Coming.
Secret Avengers #1 ****
This is only the second of the Heroic Age Avengers books released so far, but I still think this is going to be my favorite. While I never thought I'd be saying this, I actually kind of like Cap, and the other team members amuse me. It's a group that we don't normally see together, and I think the dynamic will prove interesting. I can deal with Beast better than I did in the x-books, and it's an introduction to many of the other characters that I haven't read so much in the past.
DC:
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #2 **1/2
Oh Grant Morrison. Arnab and I have had long discussions about Morrison's work, specifically revolving around how I find the author to be rather full of himself, subjecting his reader to needlessly complex plots (Arnab disagrees). It's not that the character development and story overall aren't interesting, and after reading most of his Batman work I appreciate the final product for what it is, but the ride seems to want to purposely lose the reader. And I say this being a huge fan of complex shows like Damages, which never make sense until the end. Maybe it's that the Batman stories of late, with all of those isolation chamber/death storylines, usually involve some degree of hallucination and I can't tell what is and is not hallucination until the end. Like in this issue, *spoiler alert* when the keeper takes off its head and we find out it's Bruce: ...what? I'm sure that the intention was that this twist make me want to read more, but instead I thought Morrison had finally lost his mind and this was just the end result. I'll stick with it, but the more I read the more I'm developing my "Oh, it's a Morrison book" eye-roll technique. Oh, and I didn't like the art, which is great since the same artist is doing Batman and Robin coming up.
Green Lantern #54 ****
Two weeks later, it's hard for me to separate in my head what happened in GL from what happened in GLC, which speaks to how intertwined the two stories are. But do not read this as any sort of complaint: I am incredibly interested in what is happening in the GL universe. The stuff with Atrocitus on Earth was so damn cool, and that little grey thing stealing Ion? Also so damn cool. While I don't like really how the Aspects look, the concept of them gets me giddy, and the fact that this little grey thing is stealing them is just so interesting.
Green Lantern Corps #48 ****
Ganthet kicks ass and the Alpha Lanterns scare the crap out of me. Whatever Guy, Ganthet, and Atrocitus have cooking, I reckon it's going to be massive and I reckon it's going to be awesome. I know I was hesitant about the first book back after Blackest Night, but they have proven me wrong and I love them for it.
Wonder Woman #44 **1/2
Meh. Nothing really happened, did it? The mini-arc with the snake bitches from space ended, but it wasn't exactly the most engaging storyline ever. With both Batman and Green Lantern being given some pretty juicy stuff (and I hear War of the Supermen wasn't half-bad either), I would really like them to give some good material to Diana. Hopefully when J. Michael Straczynski starts there will be some quality storytelling.
I don't want Cable to die. He's probably one of my favorites. But I definitely am going to need Hope's powers to kick in. And like I said, you just gotta have faith in Scott, he'll lead them to victory.
ReplyDeleteread this: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/05/27/annotations-batman-the-return-of-bruce-wayne-2-spoilers/
I love Ganthet. He's a kick ass old dude.
Atrocitus' blood ritual was all kinds of awesome as well.
If Cable dies, there will be hell to pay. Cable should never die, ever. X-Force was damn good last week, but thankfully, it usually always is.
ReplyDeleteThe art in The Return of Bruce Wayne hurt my eyes. I told Arnab that I hoped he would never do art again and he reminded me that he was doing Batman and Robin and, I don't know, I died a little inside. I'm a fan of Morrison, and while it does take a bit more to understand his stuff, I think I love his overall stories and that negates having to think a bit more.
Atrocitus was pretty damn awesome in Green Lantern.
@Arnab - See, I don't think regular readers should require annotations to understand what's going on. Although I do appreciate you linking me to them. I think I will just accept that I don't like Morrison and stop complaining about it now, though.
ReplyDeleteCable is the most logical choice from a storytelling perspective. It would be enough to get Hope to manifest, and it would be a far bigger death than Nightcrawler's was (Kurt dying was big, but Kurt doesn't exactly get used monthly). Plus you've got Nate Grey running about, and with the weak time travel rules of the Marvel U, Cable could always come back. Also, I haven't seen Cable in any of the post-Second-Coming promos.