Thursday, March 23, 2006

Weekly Comic Round Up

Phantom: What day is it?
Swan: Thursday. Today, is Thursday.

Thanks Mr. Williams, I'll take it from here. Today is, in fact, Thursday. Which also means it's one day after new comics hit the comic book stores. This, in turn, leads to another recap of what I'm reading in this week's comics.

Something astounding happened this week. Despite being tempted by Supergirl and the Legion of Superheroes, I didn't have a single comic from DC in my pull this week.

Not a one.

This is bizarre. My pull list is heavily weighted towards DC, and DC has several specials related to Infinite Crisis that are coming out, further adding to my DC books. But none of them hit this week.

So, off we trudge into the merry land of Marvel comics. Incidentally, with me not reading the large amount of X-Men related titles, and not reading Iron Spider-Man, and wavering on Civil War, Marvel is entering a stage where I'm considering dropping everything that doesn't have "Ultimate" as the first word of it's title.

But not yet. So, without further ado...

Captain America 16
There are a few comic book deaths that are sacred. Captain Mar-Vel. Barry Allen. Ben Parker. And Bucky.

Wait, Bucky's alive? Never mind.

The whole Winter Soldier thing interested me, but at the same time, Bucky being alive just bothered me. Making the Red Skull, Crossbones and Sin a subplot was even stranger to me, so it's nice to see them interweaving. I'm also really happy to see Steve and Sharon have another chance together. While Diamondback was always my favorite of Cap's girlfriends, Sharon is the one who makes the most sense. And I'm excited about figuring out what AIM's involvement in all this will be.

Daredevil 83
Mr. Murdock? Peter Parker called. He wants his title as "most tortured Marvel comics character" back. I don't know why it never occured to me that, despite all the torment Bendis and Brubaker have put Ol' Hornhead through in the last few years that they could kill Foggy. But they did. Matt has lost his job. His identity. His best friend. His freedom. He literally has nothing left to lose. I'm glad that he stopped short of killing the Owl, but I have a feeling that if he gets to Fisk, we may need a new Kingpin of Crime.


And now, it's time for Predictions I make here that are proven totally wrong in the future! I'm also going to predict that the fake Daredevil running around is Peter Parker. There, I am now on record. In two months when it's revealed that it was Matt Murdock's unknown brother who has been raised by Shaolin monks, you can all point back to this entry and laugh.

Incredible Hulk 93
Set the way-back machine for the early 1980's. Picture our humble narrator as a small child in a comic book store owned by friends of the family. As my father and mother chat with their friends, our humble narrator is being chased around the store by another of the family friends. Now, this individual is over 6' tall, and solidly built. So imagine the delight in the young child as this towering figure bellows "Hulk Smash Puny Human!" and chases him.

So began my love affair with the Hulk. Other comics have come and gone from my reading list. But since I was able to purchase comics regularly I have never removed the Hulk from my pull. Never.

Planet Hulk? It's making me get close. End this story. Please. Put the Hulk back on Earth. Put Banner back on the run. If we end up with God-Emperor Gladiator Hulk with the personality of Joe Fixit, I may have to scream. What's Peter David doing right now? Why can't we get him back on this book?

New Avengers 17
Oh, Bendis. Thank goodness for Bendis. I didn't read House of M. I probably won't read Civil War. Bendis makes this not matter. There were a million tiny elements in this issue that just rang perfectly true. Cap's talk with S.H.I.E.L.D. The Sentry having an "off" day. Stark telling Parker that he needs to go use that brain of his instead of wasting it by swinging into battle. The off-hand reference to the fact that the Fantastic Four are in another dimension. And Carol Danvers rushing into battle, firmly convinced she's doing the right thing.

I don't know if Michael is Korvac. I don't know if we're going to see the return of Binary. I do know that I'll be counting the days until I can get New Avengers 18.

She-Hulk 6
The rebirth of Bucky. The death of Foggy Nelson. Gladiator Hulk. Impending apocalypse for the Avengers.


Does anyone remember when comic books were just fun?

Yes! Yes, someone does! And we're getting it here. Or, there are important details. She may be responsible for Hawkeye coming back to life. She did bring the Two-Gun Kid back into modern times. But that's really incidental.

On the one hand, yes, I care about what happens with Starfox. Yes, I want the romantic triangle between Jen, John and Pug to be resolved. But ultimately, all I care about is that I'm having fun with every issue of Shulkie.

Ultimate Fantastic Four 28
The Ultimate universe works best when it is willing to tell 616 to shove off. We see that best here. The President Thor storyline has been incredibly fun, and the idea of a world where everyone other than Ben Grimm has superpowers is wonderful. The Super Skrull is frighteningly scary, especially if you remember this. Reed Richards of the Ultimate Universe is even more of a genius now than he was before the radiation accident because his mind can stretch too. The 616 Super Skrull has always been able to be defeated by being outwitted. This Super Skrull can copy Reed's brain, as well as the psychic abilities of any nearby superhumans.

A final thought: What happened to the zombie FF when Reed started mucking around with time?

So, another week down, another batch of comic books reviewed. Hopefully next week DC will work itself back into the mix.

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