Thursday, January 17, 2008
Recent Comics I Have Read
Mighty Avengers #7: Not so sure about the Bagley artwork and Tony Stark appears to have shaved off his beard in between panels from last issue. More Skrull paranoia. Too bad Stark isn't a Skrull, as opposed to just a suddenly megalomaniacal fascist willing to stab his best friends in the back.
New Avengers #37: The Hood is turning out to be a very interesting villain who puts me in mind of Sidewinder from the Serpent Society, a villain who thinks outside the box. Yu's artwork is not growing on me.
Batman #672: Morrison's writing is as good as ever, though I find the character of Jezebel Jet boring. Artwork is...radically adequate. I did like the idea of Vicki Vale on Gotham's version of "The View."
Birds of Prey #113: Oracle has to suddenly be portrayed as wildly out-of-character incompetent just so Superman can come and lecture her? And if this had to be done, wouldn't the Batman have been a better choice? And that lame Transformer knock-off was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.
Detective Comics #839: Hate the "Bat Crusader" costume, rather indifferent to Ra's Al Ghul who is now apparently Asian despite his previous origin as Arabic/Persian. I can't get past Damien's ludicrous name enough to take the character seriously.
Ultimate Fantastic Four #49: Good if cartoony artwork, crisp writing. The Ultimate Crimson Dynamo and pals seem like a pretty blatant ripoff of DC's Rocket Red. Who would've thought Red Ghost and the Super Apes could be made even remotely cool? Still not sure what the point of the Ultimate Universe is though.
Green Arrow & Black Canary #4: This is a stupid death. Stupid and pointless and a needless elimination of part of the legacy feel that made the Arrow Family interesting. On the other hand, I could also see it as a painful lesson that this is a rough, dangerous job, something Ollie knows better than most. Artwork kind of cartoony for me, but at least Speedy is given the body of a teenage girl as opposed to an adult porn star in zero gravity.
Invincible #47: Can't say enough good about this series. The supporting cast is fascinating and makes you wish they had their own titles. Even the silly Viltrumites, a race of alien supermen all equipped with 70's porn star moustaches are interesting.
Justice League of America #16: Artwork WAY too Liefieldian for me. Black Canary has a three inch waist and Red Arrow has an upper left thigh the size of a small continent. And why does John Stewart intermittently have the body of the Incredible Hulk? Story is interesting, though, and Black Canary gets to actually lead.
Justice Society of America #11: More alternate universe hi-jinks. Artwork kind of stiff, but I appreciated the fact that Power Girl and Wonder Woman both had the sort of musculature you would expect and Jay Garrick and Alan Scott look a little closer to their real ages. Speaking of which, when did Alan Scott go back to being Green Lantern as opposed to Sentinel and regrow his eye? Did I miss something?
Ms. Marvel #23: I continue to like this series. Ms. Marvel is smart, intelligent and tough, yet still prone to vulnerabilities like worrying about a relationship (whatever happened to that guy who owned the restaurant?). This is an intriguing story arc apparently aimed at integrating the many different heroes Carol Danvers has been over the years, which is enough to make me overlook the fact that it's full of the kind of silly alien stuff I usually can't stand.
Ultimate Power #9: The light table art is better here but still annoying. And when the heck is this supposed to take place? The ending was kind of lame, given that the hook for the whole story turns out to be a red herring.
New Avengers #37: The Hood is turning out to be a very interesting villain who puts me in mind of Sidewinder from the Serpent Society, a villain who thinks outside the box. Yu's artwork is not growing on me.
Batman #672: Morrison's writing is as good as ever, though I find the character of Jezebel Jet boring. Artwork is...radically adequate. I did like the idea of Vicki Vale on Gotham's version of "The View."
Birds of Prey #113: Oracle has to suddenly be portrayed as wildly out-of-character incompetent just so Superman can come and lecture her? And if this had to be done, wouldn't the Batman have been a better choice? And that lame Transformer knock-off was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.
Detective Comics #839: Hate the "Bat Crusader" costume, rather indifferent to Ra's Al Ghul who is now apparently Asian despite his previous origin as Arabic/Persian. I can't get past Damien's ludicrous name enough to take the character seriously.
Ultimate Fantastic Four #49: Good if cartoony artwork, crisp writing. The Ultimate Crimson Dynamo and pals seem like a pretty blatant ripoff of DC's Rocket Red. Who would've thought Red Ghost and the Super Apes could be made even remotely cool? Still not sure what the point of the Ultimate Universe is though.
Green Arrow & Black Canary #4: This is a stupid death. Stupid and pointless and a needless elimination of part of the legacy feel that made the Arrow Family interesting. On the other hand, I could also see it as a painful lesson that this is a rough, dangerous job, something Ollie knows better than most. Artwork kind of cartoony for me, but at least Speedy is given the body of a teenage girl as opposed to an adult porn star in zero gravity.
Invincible #47: Can't say enough good about this series. The supporting cast is fascinating and makes you wish they had their own titles. Even the silly Viltrumites, a race of alien supermen all equipped with 70's porn star moustaches are interesting.
Justice League of America #16: Artwork WAY too Liefieldian for me. Black Canary has a three inch waist and Red Arrow has an upper left thigh the size of a small continent. And why does John Stewart intermittently have the body of the Incredible Hulk? Story is interesting, though, and Black Canary gets to actually lead.
Justice Society of America #11: More alternate universe hi-jinks. Artwork kind of stiff, but I appreciated the fact that Power Girl and Wonder Woman both had the sort of musculature you would expect and Jay Garrick and Alan Scott look a little closer to their real ages. Speaking of which, when did Alan Scott go back to being Green Lantern as opposed to Sentinel and regrow his eye? Did I miss something?
Ms. Marvel #23: I continue to like this series. Ms. Marvel is smart, intelligent and tough, yet still prone to vulnerabilities like worrying about a relationship (whatever happened to that guy who owned the restaurant?). This is an intriguing story arc apparently aimed at integrating the many different heroes Carol Danvers has been over the years, which is enough to make me overlook the fact that it's full of the kind of silly alien stuff I usually can't stand.
Ultimate Power #9: The light table art is better here but still annoying. And when the heck is this supposed to take place? The ending was kind of lame, given that the hook for the whole story turns out to be a red herring.
Comments:
<< Home
I figure if Batman had shown up to yell at Oracle, she could have brushed it off because Batman is always doing stuff like that, so after awhile she'd tune him out. Superman on the other hand, usually doesn't get that way, so I suppose it emphasizes the size of their misstep. I've been looking through McKeever's BoP, and it seems like each issue has a part of it I like, but it doesn't hold up well as a whole.
As to the Ra's Al Ghul being Asian, was this during that Resurrection storyline, or after? At some point there, he somehow transferred his soul into a monk, then later into one of his sons, whose ethnicity I'm uncertain of.
I think Ultimate Power has to be taking place before the current Ultimate Spider-Man story, since Fury's MIA there, though Spidey oddly doesn't know why Fury's absent, even though he was there when they left Fury in the Supreme Powerverse). Geez, what a mess of a story. This does not instill confidence in me for the big Ultimate Universe Event Loeb's supposed to write this summer.
As to the Ra's Al Ghul being Asian, was this during that Resurrection storyline, or after? At some point there, he somehow transferred his soul into a monk, then later into one of his sons, whose ethnicity I'm uncertain of.
I think Ultimate Power has to be taking place before the current Ultimate Spider-Man story, since Fury's MIA there, though Spidey oddly doesn't know why Fury's absent, even though he was there when they left Fury in the Supreme Powerverse). Geez, what a mess of a story. This does not instill confidence in me for the big Ultimate Universe Event Loeb's supposed to write this summer.
Sorry that took forever to post, Calvin. For some reason, Google has decided not to email notice of postings. I agree that the Ultimate Universe is seeming more and more like a mess continuity-wise, which is ironic given that one of the stated original purposes for the line was more "realism."
Post a Comment
<< Home
