Wednesday, April 23, 2008

4/23 Comics

Well, it is hot up here in Troy. It is currently 80 and humid. Not the most fun environment for going down a lot of stairs while carrying a heavy backpack, only to go back up again. Still, I make the trek every week. Let's get to it, shall we?

Ultimate Fantastic Four 53


Basic Plot: The final fight against Thanos.

Okay, I have to admit, they wrapped it up in a way that was amusing and makes my head hurt. Basically, I really didn't like the UFF after Millar left, but I was able to struggle through it. This issue wasn't great, but it did end the storyline they started in a way that made sense. The Cosmic Cube worked with a safety so that you actually had to want and then make yourself act on something so that you wouldn't do something stupid like wish you were dead, and then you die. So, if you have followed it, you know how there was a Cosmic Cube that Thanos had and then lost or something, so he had Reed build him a new one? Well, basically, there has only been one Cosmic Cube in all of existence. Thanos found a Cosmic Cube that crashed through the sky and then he used it. Well, after they beat Thanos by taking away the safety, allowing Thanos to kill himself, Reed dropped it onto Acheron into Thanos's hands. Oh, time travel. How you make my head hurt.

Thor 8


Basic Plot: Thor speaks with Odin, and Donald Blake speaks with Jane Foster.

Not bad for a story, I think. It was rather fun and had a nice ending that is a surprise that many people (not me though) probably could have guessed. Although Thor is going to have to be king of Asgard, as Odin is stuck forever fighting Surtur and keeping him from escaping from his imprisonment wherever it is they are. Kind of cool, along with noble and boring as hell. Heh. Anyway, Donald thinks Sif might be in Jane, but she smacks him for his being the only reason he visits her. Sif is stuck in some old lady who Loki is keeping alive or something kind of weird. All I know is that Loki is really creepy as a chick. This was filler to an extent, so I look forward to the next issues. The filler really wasn't that bad all in all.

X-Force 3


Basic Plot: Bastion sets his plan in motion as X-Force rescues Rahne.

Um, this is an amusing comic that again, is really dark, and by that I mean the actual pictures and not the tone of the story, which, while dark, I can't really take seriously for whatever reason. Bastion is one crazy hybrid Sentinel-thingy. I have to admit, it is certainly an interesting plan. Although I am not sure how well it will work all in all. Take a bunch of mutant-haters and make them all part of the Technarchy. Their group has:
Stephen Lang, the head of Project: Armageddon, most famous for bringing the X-Men to space, where to survive coming back to Earth, Jean Grey had to become the Phoenix originally. Body Count (BC): 29
Graydon Creed, the founder of the Friends of Humanity, a crazy dangerous man, who is Mystique's and Sabretooth's son. BC: 147
Cameron Hodge, the founder of the Right, a crazy cyborg who was behind the X-Tinction Agenda, who has died multiple times. BC: 178
The Leper Queen, leader of the Sapien League, a group that is more active and violent, but otherwise similar to the Friends of Humanity. BC: 221
Donald Pierce, the leader of the Reavers, and also an important member of the Hellfire Club, who has tried to take over the group on multiple occasions. BC: 348
Reverend William Stryker, the Archbishop of the Purifiers, main guy behind God Loves, Man Kills, which became inspiration for X2, and most recently, killing lots of mutants after Decimation. BC: 414
Bolivar Trask, the inventor of the Sentinels, who died in his first appearance, trying to destroy the Sentinels after realizing not all mutants were evil but unfortunately, failing to completely eradicate them. BC (including the times after his death): 16,521,618
Well, the person there with the most kills actually tried to stop mutants from dying and he died to try and prevent that, so including him is interesting. All in all, I don't think that this is necessarily a good idea. All of them (except for Bolivar) hate mutants, but all are also egotistical and probably won't work well together. The series is interesting and is fun for those of us with history in the past of the X-Men, but it still doesn't really feel that dark in tone, while it is very dark in color.

Wolverine: First Class 2


Basic Plot: Kitty sets up a birthday party for Wolverine, not knowing Wolvie keeps his birthday a secret because Sabretooth always attacks him on his birthday.

Oops! I really, really like this series. Andrea Di Vito is an amazing artist, and Fred Van Lente knows how to tell a good story, combining the classic Wolvie/Kitty relationship from classic X-Men comics with the present. It kind of takes place today in the present, even though it is about the times in the past when Kitty was starting to hang out with Wolverine. The entire time, you have a tense and uptight and very paranoid Wolverine with a naive Kitty Pryde just trying to make him happy, so he'll drive her and her friends to a Dazzler concert. The fighting is good, especially with Sabretooth shoving wasabi into Wolvie's nose early on, so he can't go by smell. It really is just pure fun and I really enjoy the story. I like these classic tales that take part in the past technically, but they have stuff from the present (e-mails and cell phones). That's also why I like Spider-Man Family, because it is similar. I don't necessarily need the greatest comics in the world where every thing is a universe-shattering battle. Sometimes, stuff like this is just awesome. Like this time.
Oh, and in the back, it had a Secret Invasion themed Chris Giarusso story. It is pretty awesome, and from what I see, there is more of it later. Seriously, if you aren't looking for serious comics, but fun ones, read Wolverine: First Class. Issue 1 was great also.

Ultimate Spider-Man 121


Basic Plot: Spidey faces off against an angry Omega Red with his GPA's life in the balance.

Um, yeah. Pretty much a simple one-issue fun story. It all starts with the end of the baby project. Oh, no, the baby was destroyed. Why am I not surprised? The whole reason is basically that it was destroyed when Omega Red tried to get Jameson to stop printing hurtful articles about Roxxon, with whom he is trying to get hired and destroys a lot of the Bugle offices in a fight with Spider-Man. Even with everything destroyed, the story is actually good enough for a B-, which completely ruins Peter's life as his GPA will drop because of it. A fun story to tide over until whatever is next. More of Kitty being completely pissed off at not being an X-Man, which is funny if you read Ultimate X-Men, in which she no longer wanted to be with them at all. Confusing? Yeah, me too.

Mighty Avengers 12


Basic Plot: What has Nick Fury been up to since Secret War?

I don't like Maleev, but he was able to get the job done. It was a great story and I loved it, aside from hating the artwork. Nick Fury really is the best there is at what he does. No one is better. I am not a big fan of S.H.I.E.L.D. in general, but Nick Fury is definitely a very amazing individual, especially for no actual superpowers. Skrulls were able to track him down at one point, which if they can do that, I believe they can pretty much infiltrate anywhere. Oh, Nick Fury, you crazy bastard. What's next? Who knows? I certainly enjoyed getting a look at the life of Nick Fury in the post Secret War world.

No comments:

slots
web counter