Weekly Comix! - Week of 6-6-12

They say 2 out of 3 ain't bad...that's the case with this week's comix.  Check 'em out!

AvX (Avengers versus X-Men) #5

In the last issue the X-Men and Avengers were facing off yet again, this time on the moon.  Just as they started bumping chests again the dreaded Phoenix Force showed up.

In issue 5 the Avengers brains go to work as Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Hank Pym (Ant/Giant Man) have created an enormous Iron Man suit equipped with weapons designed to disperse the energy of the Phoenix Force.  As the colossal fiery bird swoops down towards Hope, the building-sized Iron Man flies right into it and unleashes it's payload.  The result is a huge explosion of energy that leaves all the heroes temporarily blinded.  As their vision returns Tony Stark asks, "Did we do it?  Did we kill the Phoenix?!?"  The answer is NO.  What DID happen was that the Phoenix was split into 5 parts, each of which inhabited one of the X-Men at the scene.  The "Phoenix 5" (consisting of Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Namor, and Magik) simply pick up the unconscious Hope Summers and head towards the Earth leaving the Avengers wondering what to do next.

This story is finally getting more interesting than just a bunch of fights.  This Phoenix 5 twist is a surprise and I'm curious to see where the story goes from here.  The art is sufficient, but as I've stated earlier, JRJR's art doesn't seem to fit this story perfectly.  Still, it works.

The Mighty Thor Annual #1

Once a year Marvel likes to put out a barely in-continuity, extra-thick issue of it's main titles and call it an annual.  I was forced to buy it because my comic store automatically pulls "The Mighty Thor" for me and it would be rude to not pay for it after they have based their orders on their customer's pull lists.  Here's what happens...

There are a couple of really vague, insanely powerful cosmic-level players at work here, using such characters as Galactus, Silver Surfer, and Thor for their own ethereal chess games.  Darth Vader wannabe, Scrier, borrows Silver Surfer from Galactus and tricks Thor into helping him fight off an invasion by some vague evil entity called "The Other".  I can't describe what happens because it's so vague and because it's not worth recalling.

This comic was a waste of time, money, and paper.  Just because Thor is in a story doesn't make it good.  I couldn't care less about Scrier or The Other or their power struggle for the universe.  This is generic cosmic garbage with a healthy dose of bland.  It was so boring it took me 3 readings to get through it.  I wouldn't recommend you picking this up from a garage sale, much less a comic book store.  Sorry, Marvel, you've gotta put SOME effort into the story.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #11
Why aren't you reading this title for yourself?  Really?  You don't have $4/month?  As much as I loved Ultimate Peter Parker, Marvel is doing a great job filling the spider-tights with Miles Morales.  It's not the same old Spider-Man.  He got his powers the same way, but his powers are different, his supporting cast is different, his setting is different...so far even his villains are different!  Miles is a good kid, but he's very young so it's interesting to see how he deals with the situations he's put into.

In this issue Miles is blackmailed by his criminal uncle, The Prowler, into helping him take out a rival villain, The Scorpion.  This is NOT your dad's Scorpion folks.  This guys is more like a Mexican Luke Cage with an affinity for using a chain with a spike on the end as his weapon.  He really strong and really hard to hurt.  Together Spidey and Prowler ARE able to hurt him though.  Miles finally knocks him out in the street just as the NYPD show up.  They try to arrest Miles as well, but of course, that doesn't work.  The issue ends with Prowler texting his nephew who is back at his dorm room (he's in a charter middle school with dorms) that this is just the beginning.  Miles texts back, "No, I'm done."  Prowler replies, "Oh, really?  Do you want me to tell your dad about this Spidey thing?"  Miles is in a bad spot!

Great artwork.  Great story.  Not QUITE good enough to get 5 stars from me, but very close.  PICK OF THE WEEK!

New Comix - 8/31/11

Hey comic fans. Sorry for the lapse of posting last week. I got my comics on the same day we left town for a 5-day road trip. I have 3 comics for you today. Technically today is comic book day once again, but nothing came out today that I had to have, so I'll just review last week's here and we'll pick up again on current books next week.


The Mighty Thor #5
Look back in last month's comic reviews and read about The Might Thor #4. Pretty much the same stuff happened in issue 5. The story barely moved. At. All. There are a few really cool panels of Thor vs Silver Surfer on Mars, but that is short lived and, of course, ends in a draw. While they duke it out a gigantic Odin continues a mind battle against Galactus until Odin has had enough and headbutts the big guy, shattering his weird forked helmet! Both fall to earth helpless, Galactus' head a big amorphous mass of energy from the eyes up. Thor arrives in time to watch Odin fall back into his Odin Sleep (always so inconvenient!) while Galactus stands back up, helmet magically back together as he approaches Broxton, Ok. There are some amusing panels of the Broxton townfolk trying to throw out Volstagg and he acts like they're some dangerous invading army that only he can repel. He calls the town's preacher "small friend of Jesus". Kinda funny.

The art is consistently good, as always, but the story really stalled for me here. Not a bad read, but not a blockbuster by any means.





Justice League #1
This is a big one. For those who don't know, DC Comics has just relaunched their entire lineup of comics with #1 issues that wipe clean decades of continuity and baggage. This is not an alternative comics universe. This is mainstream DC. Batman and Superman aren't friends. Superman isn't married to Lois Lane. Aquaman has a mean corn allergy (this one hasn't been verified). This is very exciting to some, devastating to others. I've only recently gotten back into some DC comics, so I'm not too upset, but it IS a little weird. What about all the big stuff that just happened in the Green Lantern comics I've been reading?!? What about Blackest Night? War of the Green Lanterns? The dramatic death of Mogo? I guess those didn't mean for much. On the bright side, this is a fresh start and a chance for new life in old characters. DC is releasing 52 new #1 issued comic series. I plan on picking up about 5 of them. We'll see what happens.

Also it's important to note that, with the launch of this comic, DC is releasing their comics in digital format on the same day the printed copy comes out, for a cheaper price tag! This is HUGE! In my opinion, not in a good way, but it is what it is. More people are reading comics digitally and this is, unfortunately, the future of the industry. I don't like reading comics on a computer screen or ipad. I like holding the book in my hand and turning the pages. I like the experience of going to the store and leaving with my weekly dose of happiness. I like being able to go back and thumb through my longboxes. I fear that is a dying experience. I will keep buying printed comics for as long as they release them. It may be 5 years, it may be 10 years, who knows. This news is roughest, I'm sure, on the local comic stores. Why would anyone besides hardcore fans drive to their store and pay more money for a product that will sit around collecting dust after the first day when they can just download it to their phone for $1.99. I don't like this move, but I've seen it coming for a long time. I'm going old school on this one.

Okay, down to the comic itself. This book is written by DC's creative director Geoff Johns and drawn by comic legend and DC co-editor, Jim Lee. The story pics up with Batman chasing a weird cyborg across the rooftops of Gotham while the GCPD helicopters try to shoot him down. The cyborg gets the best of Batman when Green Lantern shows up and crushes the bad guy with a green firetruck. In the new universe, Batman and GL have never met until now. GL comes across pretty full of himself and douchy. Batman is not impressed and this makes for some really funny dialog. They get a clue from the cyborg, before he blows himself up, that he heralds the coming of Darkseid. The heroes don't know what this means, but Batman recognizes it's technology as alien, so they head up to Metropolis to question the only alien they know of. They find Superman, but he isn't too keen on being interrogated.

The suits have been updated. The story has been streamlined. This comic feels a little shallow, without all the years of previous stories to back it up, but it was a fun story with great art and was well-paced. I'm interested to see where they go with this flagship DC book. Count me in...for the time being.

- Book of the Week!




The Legend of Drizzt #1
I am a big fan of fantasy novels. I'm almost always in the middle of one at any given time. One of my favorite characters is Drizzt, the drow (dark elf) from D&D's Forgotten Realms. There are, I think, 18 books about him now and I own all of them. They are super fun and read just like a comic book, to me. Drizzt and his friends are like the X-Men of the fantasy world. There have been comic book adaptations of Drizzt's stories before, but this series is his first all-new story for comic book format!

This story picks up right after the latest novel, Gauntlegrym, that I JUST finished reading. If you haven't read that book, this series might be pretty confusing to you, especially if you have read Drizzt in the past, but just aren't current. BIG SPOILERS AHEAD FOR FANTASY NOVEL READERS!!! Long story short, many years (80?) have passed since the Spellplague took Regis and Cattie Brie away from Drizzt. Wulfgar went off to live with his people in Icewind Dale and apparently died there after many years. That leaves long-living Drizzt and King Bruenor to find a reason to go on without their friends. Bruenor is determined to find the ancient home of the dwarves, Gauntlegrym. Well, they find it after some villains blew half of it up by releasing a powerful volcano/fire elemental that also destroys the nearby town of Neverwinter. They team up with Jarlaxle and Athrogate and manage to save the day and put down the elemental, though it costs Bruenor and his bodyguard, Pwent, their lives. Drizzt then decides to move forward with his life alongside his new mysterious elf friend, whose name I can't remember. She's basically a crazy elf assassin. Not Drizzt's normal kinda pal.

This series picks up there. First you see Pwent rise from his grave, having been "killed" by a vampire. A dwarf vampire is a pretty cool idea. He takes off to get revenge on the vampire who turned him, but on the way finds a camp full of goblins and has his first blood feast. Drizzt and elf lady come across the bloody scene the next morning and Drizzt is quick to recognize the marks of a battlerager, even though the neck bites are also obvious. That's where the issue ends.

This isn't terribly exciting, but I love the world and characters of Drizzt so I'll keep reading. The art wasn't anything to brag about, but the idea of Pwent the vampire has a lot of possibilities.