I’m not a great one for new year’s resolutions, so I won’t be making any. But I did want to make an effort to post regularly and consistently. I don’t think I’ve got it in me for blogging every day, but I’ll do my best to be here continuously. With that in mind, I wanted to talk about the comics I should have discussed last year. I’ll split them up by week, to keep things separate: I wouldn’t want anyone to get confused …
100 Bullets #98
This felt like a set up for next issue, with the cliffhanger ending for three of our protagonists and placing the other characters on the table. Looks like next issue will be a doozy – I hope it succeeds.
Ambush Bug: Year None #5
I don’t know if I’m not as up to date on DC as I used to be, but Ambush Bug: Year None isn’t as consistently funny as earlier series. There are still nice jokes, such as the villain Yellow Snow (I’m easy like that), mocking the black bars on the swearing in All Star Batman, the multiverse Earths classified according to Bug’s memory of it and the ‘We Forgot!’ page listing the mandatory components of a crossover series (‘Some wholly inappropriate comic book iconography’, ‘One nearly naked superheroine’). However, the sum of the parts doesn’t add up to what it should. A few laughs isn’t enough.
Captain Britain and MI:13 #8
I’m still surprised by how well this book is welcomed by other comic bloggers – it’s as if they haven’t read an interesting book that is well written and well drawn. There are some good bits (Blade’s wordsword made from pages of magical books, the emotion impact of ‘Meggan’ to Brian’s understanding of the situation in the presence of his subconscious, and the last page reveal) and I enjoy it but it still hasn’t reached ‘necessary’ status on my pull list yet.
Final Crisis #5
I’m still enjoying this Grant Morrison-written series and I can’t fathom the people who say they don’t understand what’s going on – Darkseid has won, and the anti-life equation is taking over Earth. Is it that difficult? It has a huge scope, encompasses all of the DC universe, has action, and a sense of humour (talking about Motherboxx: ‘If gods made iPods that were alive? Way beyond that.’). It gets a little kinky with the possessed Mary Marvel, but that’s not a crime. And, when all is looking its worst, and Darkseid has gained his ultimate victory, we get something from ‘The Fifth World’ and ‘The Judge of all Evil is here’ to leave you giddily waiting for the next issue. The addition of Carlos Pacheco on art doesn’t hinder the storytelling experience (I prefer him to JG Jones, personally), providing a complete comic book package. Starting enjoying it already.
Secret Invasion: Dark Reign
How big are Loki’s breasts on the front cover? At least Maleev understands the anatomy of the breast, rather than having them silicone-enhanced balloons stuck on the chest. Maleev’s art is responsible for the main talking point of the issue: what is up with Namor? On the cover, he looks fine, but inside he looks like – well, I don’t know what, he looks so awful. Some have said Robert De Niro, some said he looks like Brian Michael Bendis but with hair, but he looks greasy and rough and his hair looks sprayed on: in short, he doesn’t look like the sort of man who would have Sue Richards drooling over him …
As for the story itself, it is basically Norman Osborn explaining the new status quo Bendis has set up, giving answers for any questions the reader might have about the new scenario, including an answer to why Emma Frost is there (in interviews, Bendis explained that he was going to use Magneto but was told that Magneto was not available) even though she feels completely out of place. I’m not entirely sold on the Osborn takeover and this new iteration of villains in charge, and this very talky issue did little to dissuade me (which is why I won’t be reading Dark Avengers), even if it was nice seeing Bendis and Maleev together again.
See you tomorrow for thoughts on comics I bought 18 December 2008. We’ll get up to date eventually.
