This Week's Comic Stack 3/24/10

This was a heavy Marvel week, but the two DC books were big ones.



The Good:

• Green Lantern #52-The penultimate (always wanted to use that word) chapter in Blackest Night covers a lot. We see the creation of the universe and the avatars of light and their relation to Judea-Christian belief. The many corps work together to prevent Xanshi from destroying Earth. Lots of stuff happening to lead into Blackest Night #8.
  
• Superman #698- Mon-El tries to free Kal from Brainiac/Luther who threaten the other shrunken cities for his surrender. Another long story nears it's conclusion.


• Avengers: The Initiative #34- Chaos reigns as contingents of the team are involved with battles at Camp HAMMER and in Broxton/Asgard. The Shadow Initiative join the Avengers resistance and Penance reveals himself as Robbie Baldwin (New Warriors reunion please!). Bucky faces off against Taskmaster. Diamondback and Constrictor's relationship reaches a turning point when sides have to be chosen. Unfortunately, that's when Sentry brings Asgard down. Fits nicely in with the main Siege event dealing with the shock event in the last Siege issue.


• Mighty Avengers #35- Ultron takes over Avengers Infinite Mansion and we see where Thor sent the Wasp (Janet) at the end of Secret Invasion. I hope some of the concepts and team members find their way into the "new" Avengers books coming out. This is a series that ended just as it was really taking off.


• Marvels Project #7- I like how Brubaker is tying everything together in this issue. I loved the Brian Falsworth/Keen Marlowe/Mighty Destroyer bit.


• The Stand: Soul Survivors #5- the halfway point of the thirty issue (six, five issue mini series) adaptation of King's novel picks up a bit from last issue only to have a two month break till the next series start

• Captain America #604- Okay, the Bucky and insano 50's Cap was not bad. The Falcon "Under Siege 2" parts were cool. End the damn "Nomad" story already! I read it and can't un-read it.


• Amazing Spider-Man #626- The ex-SHIELD Scorpion goes after the old Scorpion's (now Venom) suit the same time as Spidey. But, she's working for Kravens, so...they can make another Scorpion? Oh, and the Hood has enough time away from Siege to hold an auction for said suit? This is a mess, the saving grace is some of the banter that Van Lente seems good at.


• Uncanny X-Men #522- Magneto brings Kitty back to Earth from her space bullet prison. I should have felt something more seeing as how I felt about her being lost in the first place. She's still not out of the woods yet being unable to become solid again (remember what happened last time?-FF vs X-Men). I'm not sure if there will be a follow up on this anytime soon as Second Coming...err...comes.

Trades:

-On recommendation of a friend (and a sale price of $9) I got Marvel 1985. I have never liked any of Millar's books. However, this fan fic about Marvel characters entering into the "real" world was not that bad. It was a neat idea to do a Marvel Prime type story it falls a little short of my expectations. Mostly because of mis-characterizations (which can be explained away) and the execution fails to deliver something that I was looking for. The art was a bit of a misstep too. Too Indie noir-ish when a more realistic style would have been better. Plus, the Marvel Universe in the story may not be THE Marvel Universe, just the product of somebody's imagination. So, it's fun and generally better written than his other stuff, but still lacking...something...I don't know... I just think that although he has a fondness for comics(the MU in particular) he just doesn't have the same passion as other writers do, or he can't convey it that well. This is the closest he gets but he falls just short. Take the conclusion. The "loser" adult classic Marvel fan can only find solace and acceptance in the fantasy world and I can't help but feel that Millar is thumbing his nose at classic MU fans (like me).

-Also on sale was the Greg Pak War Machine Vol. 1 a nice series I missed in single issues that dealt with James Rhodes and his choice of being a soldier or a hero and his slowly becoming a machine (bionic parts). Leonard Manco does the interior art and this is my favorite out of all the other stuff he's done. (then again I'm not much of a fan of his). Pak's Incredible Hercules has actually made me seek out his other stuff. Now, I hope I can find Vol. 2 for a good price.