Between The Staples

Second week in a row to finish the Best Bang Reborn #7 on a Weds, same day as new comics. Ah well, here are the books that came out last week on August 20th. Some hi-lights include The Incredible Hercules, Air, Final Crisis: The Geoff Johns book… I mean Legion of 3 Worlds, Runaways: Dead End Kids hardcover and my pick of the week which was Guardians of the Galaxy #4! I picked all these lovely books up from Hourglass Comics out in Port Moody, BC. Enjoy.

Guardians of the Galaxy #4 (Marvel)
My pick of the week! Solid story, appealing characters, fun setting and hey it has both Skrulls and Starhawk. How can this book not be good? Maybe if Drax turns out to be a…
I thought the whole concept of an administration that reigns within the Knowhere confronting the Guardians about how they just “moved in” without asking and Warlocks disapproval that Starlord is dealing with such administration is just wonderful to read! One of the Best Marvel books on the stands today!

The Incredible Hercules #120 (Marvel)
So Amadeus Choi’s pup turned out to be a Skrull (there is NO WAY that was pre-planned!) and now the God Squad take on the Skrulls gods. A very rock solid issue which ends like it should giving the Skrulls and kick to their collective nards while the remaining God Squad gather together and go back to Earth, well all except Mikaboshi… no wait, it works out for him/her/it? I love how it leads off to what I expect is a great new story to come! If you are not onboard this great title, now is a good time as ever. Oh and thank goodness they didn’t kill Snowbird else I would have been SUPER PISSED!

Air #1 (Vertigo)
Much like the great cover that has a great sense of whitespace, I found this issue to be just as appealing. A bizarre yet fun story and with addictive characters. This book has that feel that something great is about to happen and you are along for the ride plus M.K. Perker’s artwork gives the book an “indy” yet not feel that many books do not often get although more Vertigo books get this rub. It reminds me of the Un-Men in a sense yet without all the over-the-top visuals.

The Amazing Spider-Man #568 (Marvel)
Soooooooooooooo yes, I picked this issue up and I was throughly surprised but I shouldn’t have been because I really do enjoy Dan Slott’s writing and I have always marked out for John Romita Jr (even remember meeting him way back when Vancouver used to put on larger comic book conventions). Now am I reading this because of the creators or the story itself? Well I was interested in this whole starting of the Anti-Venom so I flipped through and enjoyed it. Will it make me buy the next issue? Maybe. Will I get the trade of the Spider books after One More Day? Maybe, just maybe. Can I afford to be buying 3 more monthly floppies in Spidey books? Nope so something has gotta give…

Captain America #41 (Marvel)
I really do enjoy this series with all the on-going multi storylines from Sharron, Red Skull, Zola, Bucky / the new Captain America and Dr. Faustus. The new Captain America takes steps to make his mark on the world by saving a potential presidential candidate. One thing that got me in the book was when the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents appeared, they didn’t blink at the new Captain America when before there was this “S.H.I.E.L.D. has no idea about this new Captain America” and I know that people lie but it seemed a bit of scapegoat, I thought. Why was it an issue that S.H.I.E.L.D. would not know Bucky was Cap or helping him but then in this issue, they are hey, “Hey there, need a hand?”.

Rann-Thanagar War #4 (DC)
When last we left our heroes they were face to face with Synnar on Hardcore Station. All things go to hell and the teams tries to fight Synnar. Adam Strange gets Bizzaro to help the fight but this leads to Star-Lord leaving Throneworld which also goes to sh**t while he is gone. The Weird hulks out which is kinda fun and Hawkman is saved from a religious execution. All in all another great issue of this cosmic book which makes for a fun read with Jim Starlin’s writing and Ron Lim’s artwork!

Robin #177 (DC) “Batman R.I.P. continues”
Um… I mean… like… is Azreal now the Red Robin? This book was fun (I read it at William’s place in a rush) but it was all very much a Huh? Wha? type of read. Needs rereading numerous times to “get it”, I think. Even so, I still really enjoyed the fact it made me go all Huh, What?

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1 of 5 (DC)
Geoff Johns takes the Legion of Super-Heroes history, myth and legacy and gives it a fresh spin. As much as I enjoyed this book, I found myself wondering if I Johns is relying too much on the whole legacy of characters rather than a solid story base. The story itself seemed very fragmented and choppy which at times made the issue hard to read. I hate to say that because George Perez & Scott Koblish’s artwork is great but at times seems very rushed.

Doctor Who: The Forgotten #1 (IDW)
I really want to enjoy this comic but I found it hard, maybe it was the fact that the new Doctor is taken out of the story so quickly but I did enjoy the appearance of the 1st Doctor. Great artwork by Pia Guerra!

Stormwatch: Post Human Earth Division #13 (Wildstorm)
Well I cried months and months ago when this title ended and now it is back but what a mess their world is in. Stormwatch gives us another point of view on the f***ked up Wildstorm Earth. Ian Edginton writes a decent story, Leandro Fernandez & Francisco Paronzini do a decent job on the art to cast this post apocolyptic view of the new setting for future issues. The addition of Deathblow on the team was interesting but I wish that the book gave more details on the rest of the former team than hitting the ground running like it did.

Scalped #20 (Vertigo)
So after 20 issues of this great book, I found that the final pages were far too f***king dark for me with the character falling deeper into the sh**t. I do not think I am going to like where things go from this point, Badhorse went from a kick-ass bad ass mutha-f***ker to just another junkie? Disappointing BUT I am very intrigued by where this is going so I am going to stick around for a while.

Uncanny X-Men #501 (Marvel)
Okay so I thought I would not still be reading this book but somehow this whole “living in San Fransisco” direction has me interested enough to pick this up but I have to say that I am sick of Greg Land’s porn-star looking panels! Also (and those that do not know, I hate Cyclops) but Scott saying “Babe” to Emma was so outta character, might as well put an Australian accent on Wolverine! I am not a fan of Pixie so her walking all the way from downtown San Fransisco to the X-Men sanctuary half dead had a very “yeah right” feel to it. Oh and no matter how sexy the Red Queen is, this book is not better than a pair of 501 jeans!

Batman & The Outsiders #10 (DC)
Somehow Chuck Dixon’s last issue on BTO did not click with me although the artwork by Ryan Benjamin and Saleem Crawford is solid, somehow I hated being reminded of who the characters are (this is issue #10, if I don’t know who Batgirl is…) and it seemed to be fighting itself in both the story and layout. I cannot put my finger on it though.

Justice League of America #24 (DC)
Alright I really wanted to enjoy this issue but wow — the artwork and story really hit the wall for me. The artwork seemed to be fragmented and I felt that it worked against the story than for. My biggest problem was suddenly in page 12, Zatana appears and ta-da when she was NEVER setup in the future pages / panels. Wonder Woman had smashed Amazo through the floor down to where Batman and Steel were and suddenly off panel Zatana (who could not breathe or was desperately trying to breathe since her mouth was sealed up) makes it down to the fight then appears and saves the day. It just really did not work for me in any way. I don’t know if this was a screw up on the story or art but it failed to deliver the story. Oh and the final pages where we have to SEE Buddy / Animal Man bite into a piece of meat and reminded that he’s a vegetarian rather than before when he is cooking meat was weak as well!

X-Factor: Layla Miller #1 (Marvel)
I bought this for one reason — see Layla Miller just go away like dust in the future. Does she? Nope. She keeps up the annoying habit of just being and reminds me just why I hate the X-Men when she meets up with Scott Summers who is still alive and looks like a reject from a bad Z-grade sci-fi movie along with his (yet) other daughter Ruby. Did this comic book have a point other than rubbing the readers nose that Peter David is smarter than you? This one trick pony has gotten annoying fast. Please let this die off like Marvel Zombies, Marvel Apes and the one time appeal of Hembeck! Oh this book had one solid point, now that I think about it — the artwork was great, Valertine De Landro, Andrew Hennessy, Craig Yeung and colorist Jeromy Cox did awesome work (although the credits page is very smudged up) and VC’s Cory Petit added some great lettering to the book to make it legible.

Hardcover of the week

Runaways: Dead End Kids by Joss Whedon and Michael Ryan (Marvel)
I picked this up ’cause I was interested in the characters and needed a trade / hardcover to read. The pacing in the first few issues was great but then it seemed that the gas let out and suddenly I felt like I was being forced to read scenes. Michael Ryan’s wonderful artwork aside, the pacing hit a wall at one point to which I ended up flipped past pages just to get the pace moving again. Many things I read said that Whedon crammed too much in these issue which could have been the problem but I think if the middle of this story was dragged out any longer, I wouldn’t have enjoyed this book at all. I thought the middle was dry and boring and needed more life. Even after reading the entire book twice it seems that it starts gangbusters and then just ends like a half hour sitcom — on a bad joke.

Missed

Angel #11 (IDW)
I just could not let myself think it would be any good and be so let down. I will now trade wait that series, sadly.

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