Comics. Funny books. Graphic literature. You get it, I know. Here's what's what...
Ultimate X-Men #73 - Marvel - Pretty standard mid-issue for a three issue arc. The Professor informs the X-Men that new recruit, Magician, is not what he seems. X-Men fight Magician. And that's all that really happens here, which isn't to say it's bad. Tom Raney's art is a bit cramped at times (like when every X-Man has a projectile coming at Magician) but for some reason I really liked it. The coloring reminded me of mid-90's X-Books, which is a good thing (as long as the plots don't do that). Last issue was point A, next issue is point B, but you need a little bit of journey in there and that's this issue. "B"
Civil War: Front Line #5 - Marvel - Speedball gets out of Earth prison and goes to the Negative Zone prison with Typeface and various C-List and D-List anti-heroes. Sally Floyd, the journalist trying to find Captain America, gets arrested. Ben Urich gets fired from The Daily Bugle because it couldn't possibly have been the Green Goblin who attacked him. Wonder Man cheated on his taxes and now has to track down the Atlantean Sleeper Agent. I've just saved you $3. I like the idea of this series alot more than I like reading it, but it's pretty much necessary to follow Civil War. Oh well. "C+"
Fantasic Four: First Family #6 of 6 - Marvel - Why did they never put a recap page on this book? I have no idea what the hell is going in it. I thought it was a re-telling of the Four's origins, but instead it's a fight with some crazed being with god-like powers... which accurately describes nearly all of the FF's foes. I think I need to re-read all of these to make sense of it, but at the same time, I never want to read it again. I'm surprised I bought all of this. A little saddened by it too. "C"
Fifty Two Week 14 - DC - It's going to cost $130 to read this series in its entireity. I could have bought booze with that money. What? Oh yeah, stuff happens in this issue and it's all very, very interesting for fans of Renee Montoya, the Metal Men, and ... actually I just finished it and I don't remember who else was in it. Inexplicably, there's a back-up Metamorpho strip. I'd have thought it'd be Superman or Batman for the second of these, but no. Metamorpho. This series makes me like The Question less because he's hanging around with a mean-spirited lesbian and trapsing off into the Middle East. And where is Booster Gold? Or Animal Man and Adam Strange? Thank God, in another month, Lobo returns in this book. "C"
Beyond! #2 (of 6) - Marvel - This is a very, very strange little mini-series. Ostensibly, this is Secret Wars redux part 3 (or is 4 now?) and most fanboys can surmise the Secret Wars, but for those who cannot, here's the deal. There's a god-like being called the Beyonder who took heroes and villains to a place called Battleworld and said he'd give the winners their heart's desires. Long story short, he's apparently back and has taken the weirdest friggin' group of characters ever assembled and thrown them into space with absolutely no promotion from the Marvel marketing department. This is a book where we have original Avengers the Wasp and Giant Man, as well as the new bootleg Venom - who used to be Scorpion, for those keeping score, the new bootleg Kraven, and the narrator of the story, little-known newbie hero Gravity, whose mini last year was one of my fav's. Last issue, heroes got abducted and Venom killed Spider-Man. This issue, Venom goes crazy, the ship crash lands, and Deathlok comes back out of absolutely nowhere. Casual comics fans should avoid this book like the plague, but if you like random characters doing things for random reasons (and I must say, I do) check it out. "B+"
Secret Six #3 (of 6) - DC - What is this, confuse the reader week? No recap page to found, and I have no idea what the point of this book is anymore. I know it has Catman and Deadshot and its about villains. Vandal Savage's daughter, Scandal needs to have a baby or Vandal will kill her except she's a lesbian (there are a lot of those nowadays at DC...). I don't even know what I just read, What a terribly confusing week. Oh, the Doom Patrol shows up and the Mad Hatter may or may not epileptic. And a naked chick. "B-"
Superman #655 - DC - Thankfully, there are no backwards talking robots or random cuts to Firestorm and Nightwing like in the last ish of Action Comics. Clark is on his way to Kazhkstan (insert Borat joke here) and goes off to save his scientist friend Callie. Nothing exemplary here, but that's fine by me. If you want to see Superman fly around and save people, here's a good place to start. Some ongoing plots are advanced and some new ones start up. I'm not sure how I feel about this Subjekt 17 villain. He looks like another super-strong invulnerable lunk who can hit Superman very hard. Seems like there's a lot of those floating around, so why make a new one up? I'll see where this is going before I pass my judgment. Vast improvement over the last Action Comics.
Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2 - Marvel - Spidey. Kingpin. Punisher. Daredevil. Moon Knight. Lots of blood, guns, and ass-kicking. Sound good? You bet your ass it does. "A"
That's all the time we have for today folks. See you in the funny books.
