Checkmate vol. 1 right now.

This week:

Mighty Avengers #1... Waitaminute. For a second there, I almost considered picking this up. Previews made this look like Marvel's counterpart to Superman/Batman, a terrifyingly awesome pure superhero book with a 1. Great yet overrated writer, 2. A consistently astounding and cartoony artist. Yet something turned me off here, and that was everything on the cover. The $3.99 cover price seemed utterly ridiculous and a reflection of Marvel's current hubris when it comes to the comic industry. Secondly, one of the covers showed Spider-man in his black suit in all its glory. For a story that hasn't even materialized yet, and furthermore, a character completely out of place when it comes to the context of this issue...it was a cheap and misplaced tactic. I like to see a single comic as a whole, including the cover art. Mighty Avengers so far has everything that's currently wrong with the comics industry in only its first issue.

Captain America #25. Wow, just...wow. The best parts of this issue have nothing, and I mean NOTHING to do with the shocker at the end. The characterization of Winter Soldier is something that has to be read to be believed as to how far execution can turn around an idea that sounds so horrible there's not even words to describe it. I think Golden Oldie was a better idea than bringing back Bucky. Tragedy in comics is really when you see whether or not the writer has the ability to make characters work and be consistent. While comics fans are probably groaning at another anti-climactic media frenzy-driven event, this issue has solid writing, pacing, and moreover, the execution of bad ideas exceptionally well.

Criminal #5: For some reason, all that energy from the first four issues really fell flat here. Maybe it was driven by my high expectations for this story, but the ending here just felt incredibly forced.

Superman/Batman #32: This book has only gone downhill, and fast. It's too early for a fill in artist and yet, this book is still not back on schedule. The storyline only becomes more and more incomprehensible, something that plagued Jeph Loeb's run but this lacks the lighthearted flavor of his adventures and the immediate readability of it. There was something cute about it before too that's been lost, and the sudden shift to a serious, darker tone is really jarring. This will be my last issue of this book.

Justice League #6: Hubris isn't only plaguing Marvel, but Meltzer here is displaying the same fundamental failings. His fanboy style of writing is almost his way of lording over the comic community at how well-read he is of JLA history. And what he doesn't realize is that very few care about happenings that were so old and obscure that all it does is alienate the main audience and confuse new readers.

Wolverine #51: Holy god almighty does this book suck. Jeph Loeb's transition to Marvel has not been good. Not only has he resurrected one of the worst comic crossovers ever, with one of the most reviled hacks in the industry, but here he writes Wolverine as if someone just saw an episode of the X-men cartoon and wanted to watch these rivals duke it out for who has the biggest balls. If JLA is written by and for the ultimate fanboy then this book is written by and for the childish and immature. Then I suddenly had a vision of the last time when Wolverine was written well: New X-men. Seeing Wolvie and Sabertooth peeing next to each other in the Hellfire club was the best moment in X-men history, because it highlighted everything that was going wrong with the X-men in years prior: the total lack of suspense, how heroes and villains in stories never made any sense, and how none of the X-men books make any sense at all every month when put next to each other.

Overall a pretty exciting week.

Mighty Avengers - Well we have two against Might Avengers, so I'll be the first person for it. I loved it! The art was really great(those character specific action pages were awesome), and the story was fun. I was sure I wasn't going to enjoy this book because I didn't care for the line-up, but already Bendis has liking the new team. There are some things I don't get, like why Carol is team leader, but I think that will become clearer overtime. I have a feeling this is going to be my Avengers book

Strangers in Paradise 88 - I can't believe only two issues are left. I'm about 20 issues behind, but I've been deliberately saving the last run of the book until it's all done so I can reread the whole title through again, with the last run being new.

Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness - This was a total letdown. I know the premise of the Zombies (without the UFF story behind it) is thin, but there is still fun to be had with this. Maybe it's because I couldn't care less about Ash, but this just felt trite.

Captain America #25 - I've wanted to slap every hyperbolic "I'm never reading Marvel again" fanboy across the net for bitching about this issue. Like others have said, this book rocked! It is AMAZING how much weight Brubaker has given Captain America. You can just feel the respect Cap gets from everyone, so much so that he doesn't have to command it. How incredible is it that the 616 Cap is cooler than the Ultimate version? And the Winter Soldier is badass. The action scenes in this book...its like you can see the movement. So so good.

Just read Mighty Avengers. Hated it. Great artwork, but the dialog did nothing for me. And the thought balloons, didn't care for them. I have a hard enough time reading old school Marvel stories, because of wordy thought balloons. The book was fun, but it was too much of a radical shift right after CW and Cap #25. But I guess if your the winner you can be happy and a douche.

I like your review more than the "meh" I gave it back on page 1. :lol:

Fantastic Four 543 - Post Civil War nonsense with 45th anniversary theme. Not looking forward to Panther and Storm being on the team.

My copy of Initiative was messed up! Starts out in the middle of the Omega Flight story, goes 5 or 6 pages, then repeats the same Omega Flight pages. :whofart: Tried to skim ahead but the whole issue seems wack. It looks to be one of those one-shot intro things, so if that's the case (can someone verify, please?) then I won't bother replacing it.

Spider-man - One of my all-time favorite characters, but am not enjoying any of the titles lately.

It reads a lot like DC's Brave New World book. The last quarter of the book are the first few pages of Mighty Avengers 1, Omega Flight 1, Initiative 1, Cap 25, and Iron Man 15. I would say it isn't worth replacing.

Okay, I bit. The art was indeed fantastic, and throughout the book there was a lot that DID remind me of the best parts of Superman/Batman. The campy dialog was fun, and that's what this book is about and why it works. The diverse cast of characters (excluding two superheroes on the cover that are actually on the OTHER Avengers team) opens the door for plenty of fun superhero moments but at the same time allows some more obscure Marvel characters to get some screen time and freshen up a somewhat tired and overexposed cast of characters.

However, this book shares almost all of the same flaws as Superman/Batman, chiefly being that for a front runner book for the Marvel Universe, the tone is completely off and extremely incongruous to the happenings of the rest of the Marvel Universe, especially after the events of Civil War and Captain America. There's also some severe continuity errors just waiting to happen with a book like this, coming fresh out of a major crossover and with many other plotlines running through Amazing Spider-man, Captain America, Astonishing X-men, and the new New Avengers that haven't even materialized yet. It's one thing for stories to wrap around each other and to be forgiving with continuity, it's another thing to have to read over 10 different books over the course of a year to even get the smallest understanding of what's happening in each of them. And as far as convoluted plot lines go, Marvel needs less of them.

I stopped reading this book about 3 years ago but I want to catch up and see how it all finishes. Really this book just had way too many anti-climactic moments. Characters as well developed as these make their own drama - there's no need to keep throwing curveballs at them.

I thought this book was largely unnecessary what with the upcoming prequel to Marvel Zombies appearing soon.

I think Ultimate Cap just hasn't had enough time to get fleshed out so I think that conclusion is kind of moot - I mean he's only been around for 24 issues, plus a few specials and dropping in the other Ultimate books just to show his face.

You are totally right in your assessment. For this book to star some of the front runners of CW, it felt too...happy. It was almost like a cartoon in how they were treating the threat, but I really liked that. It would make sense if this book was really dark, but I'm glad it's not that. As far as continuity goes, as crazy as it may sound, I don't really care about it too much. As long as a title feels right and I enjoy it I can overlook A LOT. Not even saying yours are small gripes, but they didn't even register for me.

Equating Mighty Avengers to Superman/Batman is perfect.

This is the only other story that has had more endings than Return of the King. But even if the story has gotten a little wonky, I still want to see the girls get together. You're right about the characters, and they are the main reason for my enjoyment of the book. I just love watching them go through the motions. I probably would have enjoyed this series exactly the same without some of the more dramatic elements (a lot of which I thought were awesome) and if it was just a title like Box Office Poison.

It's not that he hasn't had enough time, though. Think back to when the Ultimates first came out. Everyone and there mama was like "Now, THIS is a Cap I can get behind" and "Ultimate Cap is so badass!" etc. For a good little while Ultimate Cap was viewed in a greater light than the 616 version by a lot of people. I think that was largely because 616 Cap was kind of pointless/aimless at the time. The Avengers had no buzz (even though it was a good, solid title), 616 Cap's title was a B-level book, and he was just kind of there. Now 616 Cap feels like the center of the Marvel U again. That is how is should be. Spidey is awesome, but the Marvel U should rotate around Captain America if you ask me. Captain America and Sue Richards that is :eyebrow:

Right now:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Sweet.

Got my monthly haul of Feb's releases this week:

52 weeks 40-43: This one's a tough one. At this point, I'm in until the end, and I don't absolutely hate the series. And I give them credit, they are tying up the loose ends... it's just that the resolutions seem a bit anticlimactic to me, considering how long we've been waiting. Which I guess is understandable given we've been waiting a year and getting stuff in weekly increments. I mean, all that stuff that Ralph does, and it was for this? Really? And that's the resolution we get to the whole Luthor creating superheroes storyline? Maybe I'm just miffed that the teen titans consisted of Beast Boy, Offspring, Ravager (I think) and Raven. I am enjoying the Black Adam Family stuff, though I'm not going to get WWIII, and I wonder how much I'll really understand without it.

Justice 10: Probably not going to even start reading this until I get all 12 issues. Why didn't I wait for the trade then? I dunno.

Marvel Legacy 1990's Handbook: It's fun to see all the cheesiness of 90's marvel collected in one who's who issue.

Supergirl 14: I could've sworn I took this off my pull list. Let's see if it's any more coherent than the last few issues... nope. I'm still not sure how Supergirl knew that Cassandra was the one who wanted to kill her. And the whole "we are a product of our fathers" crap just so we could get Supergirl vs. Batgirl?

Supergirl and the Legion 27: One of my faves, so I'm saving this for last

Wonder Woman 4: saving this until I have time to dig up and re-read the first three issues. Stupid delays.

Trades:

Civil War: Road to Civil War: Before all the outcry over the ending of Civil War, I had decided to try to collect the major storyline in trades. I've only read the Illuminati part, but I like the concept, and the foreshadowing of the Planet Hulk storyline. The whole "Tony and Reed can predict the future" stuff was a little hokey, but I guess is central to Civil War.

Fables volume 3: When I have the spare cash I like to put an older trade in there of a series that's been highly recommended. Before Fables, it was Y the Last Man, which I've finally caught up trade-wise.

New Avengers volume 5: Civil War

Pretty expensive day today, but a lot of great stuff. Today I had waiting for me at the funny book store. . .

52 Week #45 - Haven't read yet, but the past few weeks have been awesome.

Fables #58 - I'm literally about 3 years behind reading this book. I'm weird where, my absolute favorite comics, are the ones I'm the farthest behind, b/c I need absolute quite time to myself to read my books, something of which I rarely have.

Green Lantern Corps #10 - Pretty good series so far, but I can't stand Gleason's art.

JLA Classified #36

Robin #160 - I wish this creative team would take over Nightwing. Robin has been the best it's been, maybe ever. (which isn't saying that much really, since it usually sucks)

Stormwatch PHD #5 - BUY THIS BOOK, BUY THIS BOOK, BUY THIS BOOK. I just can't stress it enough. This comic is so underrated. I never read storwatch (outside fo the Ellis run) you don't need to know the back story. You just need to know that Christos Gage is a stud, & he will be the next Brubaker. And Mahnke's art is pretty sweet as well.

Superman #660

Teen Titans #44

Wonder Woman #5 - This & TT are 2 more comics that I'm like 3 years behind reading.

Women Of The DC Universe Zatanna Bust - One of the best statue lines ever IMO. One, they are easily affordable, 2, Adam Hughes is amazing, draws some of the best women ever, & these busts are designed off his art, 3, let's face it, the DC women are the best female characters in comics & 4, who is hotter than Zatanna.

Wormwood Gentleman Corpse #6 - Man I dig the shit out of this comic & it's another book that nobody is reading. The first trade came out today, so now all you trade only guys have no excuse, plus the trade is a lot nicer looking than the average trade. The cover is awesome.

Complete Invincible Library Vol 1 HC Limited Signed Edition - One of the greatest superhero comics written in the past few decades. And I am a sucker for Hardcovers, this thing is a beauty.

Sam Noir Ronin Holiday #2 - Although I wish it was a monthly, I'm still glad that we are seing more of the Samurai Detective.

Irredeemable Ant-Man #6 - Another book that I wish everyone would check out. So many people bitch about Marvel, yet this is a totally original, unique comic by them, & nobody reads it. How do you not love a comics based around a superhero who is a total unlikeable sleeze-bag.

Moon Knight #8

New Avengers #28

New X-Men #36

Thunderbolts #112 - Not really diggin' the new direction so far, even though Ellis is one of my favorites. Don't like a lot of the characters plus I never cared for Deodato's art.

Wolverine Origins #12 - I know I'm in the minority but I really like this series. Dillon'd art has been great, & the book is just fun.

BPRD Garden Of Souls #1

Buffy The Vampire Slayer #1 (Season 8) - Cannot wait to read this. But man I hate Jeanty's art. This comic is going to be a MASSIVE hit, my store had people calling every other minute asking if this came in, & they ordered the hell out of it & still almost sold out within the first few hours.

My local LCS didn't get any copies of Cap #25 in today, so it looks like I'm gonna have to wait for the reprint in 2 weeks.

Buffy #1 (Season 8) - this was the first title I read for this week's haul, and it's just good to have Buffy and the gang back "in the world" on a regular basis again. Loved the Dawn reveal, that was wacky.

Any chance you could elaborate on this book? I Love Invincible and have nearly a complete run of absolutes/absolute-esque books. Is this hardcover similarly oversized or is more of the marvel omnibus oversize? How's the paper quality/binding? I've never bought an Image hardcover, but this could easily put me over the edge.

This was a small week for me:

Buffy Season 8 #1 - This was just a great, fun comic to read. The artwork was ok, but the dialogue and the banter between characters brought back a lot of great memories from the show. Xander still kicks ass(Seargant Fury!) and Giant Dawn was awesome, too. I can't wait for the next issue, which should be on time.

BPRD: Garden Of Souls #1 - I love Hellboy and BPRD, but I hate that the minis come out so sporadically now. I can't even remember what happened in the last mini, so I was totally lost while reading this issue. I'll have to go back and read the last couple minis to refresh myself, and then I might have a better opinion. I still love Guy Davis's artwork, though - he's such a perfect fit for the BPRD.

Thunderbolts #112 - No action this issue, just a lot of dialogue scenes. But man, are they good. I loved the meeting with all the T-bolts after the Jack Flag capture, and I loved Norman Osborn debriefing the new members. I know some people aren't liking Deodato's artwork, but I really like it. I know I'm on for the ride as long as Ellis is writing this series.

Wonder Woman #5 - This is a fill-in issue between the penultimate issue of Heinberg's run(which will be completed sometime later this year, I believe) and Jodi Picoult's start on the title. I didn't expect much but this was a pretty solid issue. It explored how Wonder Woman has become an inspiration for many women, with a focus on battered women in particular. Definitely an issue worth picking up if you're a WW fan like myself.

Mighty Avengers #1 - I wasn't going to pick this up. I haven't read a monthly comic by Bendis in ages and I wasn't looking to start, but the owner of my LCS was very adamant that this was a great first issue, and a great team book as well. I like Frank Cho's artwork so I gave it a shot, and man was I surprised - I absolutely loved it. I loved seeing the Avengers in action and working as a team to battle multiple enemies, a rarity in team books nowadays. The pacing of the issue was just perfect - flashing back to Iron Man and Ms Marvel putting the team together while cutting in with character specific action sequences was just genius. I wasn't looking to add another Marvel book to my pull list after CW and the Cap debacle, but I might just give this book a shot if this will be the quality each month.

I confess to buying Mighty Avengers simply for the Frank Cho art. I found the writing (thought balloons, especially) to be a little too cute and coy given the events so soon from Civil War.

I admit that the thought balloons were a little weird at first, but I liked them once I got used to them. They added a little bit of characterization to the conversations without sounding cheesy, like the thought balloons of the 60's, 70's, and 80's did. I just hope that the old type of expositional thought balloons don't make a comeback - they were terrible then and they are terrible now.

If you have been getting the DC "Absolute Editions", then this is a must have, especially if you have them all on a shelf like I do. It's about the exact same size as the Absolute books, done in the same manner with a slip-case. It's about 800 pages & has all of the same extras as the previous Invincible hardcovers, plus a new intro by Kirkman & it's limited to only 2500 copies.

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL 4- God, with 2 skull logos on the bumper of my car, I'm still thinking about dropping this. I'm tired of Frank cameo'ing his own book.
PUNISHER #45-Thanks Garth, washed the bad taste right out.
WONDER WOMAN #5 - One of the reasons I like DC over Marvel. Good to see heroes inspiring others, rather than being feared.
JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #6 -JLA fan, I Love it
TEEN TITANS# 44 - See above. Nice to finally see some back story on 1YL Batgirl
BUFFY #1 - Awesome, hopefully they keep it short like seasons, and not lose momentum.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #10
NIGHTWING #130
DETECTIVE COMICS #829
ROBIN # 160

Ok Mr. Buythisbook. Sold. But don't go getting cocky as it isn't on your word alone, bucko. Tim Seeley (of the awesome hackslash) was on a podcast and he trumpeted the book too. I didn't even know this book existed, but hearing the books title twice in the span of 7 hours is enough for me. I'll let you know how it is.
Thank you. I thought I was in a twilight zone. After seeing the Willow preview cover image for issue two, I was sure this book was going to have some great art. Boy was I ever wrong. I couldn't even get through it because of Jeanty's style. I'm glad people are enjoying it, but it has totally killed my interest in the book dead.

So if I start doing podcasts will people start buying the books I recommend :p

I guess I have to do a podcast for Dynamo 5 b/c I just read it last night & if F'n ruled. Great new Image series with a totally orignal twist on the superhero team concept. Something done to death this days so for everyone bored by Marvel & superhero comics give this book a shot.

Well do that and write something as fun as Hack/Slash...then yeah. ;)

Actually, I look forward to your posts to find out about new titles. I tried Elephantmen and Godland, both on your suggestion, and enjoyed them quite a bit. So your preaching isn't falling on deaf ears.

I also like Stormwatch PHD, it's the surprise of the Wildstorm relaunch for me. I did miss Mahke's artwork in the latest issue.

It's been a while...
 

52 WEEK #44 - Awesome friggin' issue. Awesome.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #25 CW - Commented on this already. Brilliant as always. And i'm not even a big Cap fan.

CIVIL WAR INITIATIVE - So...Cap's still alive?

NEW AVENGERS #28 - Oh. Guess not. Bleh. Even Yu's artwork didn't make me appreciate this.

DETECTIVE COMICS #829 - I Love these covers and I liked the story too.

FANTASTIC FOUR #543 CW - This is an anniversary issue?

FANTASTIC FOUR THE END #6 (OF 6) - Now I have to find the previous 5.

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #18 - Umm, yeah.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #6 - I'm diggin' this book.

MARVEL ZOMBIES ARMY OF DARKNESS #1 - I liked this, but I still couldn't figure out why Pete's Spidey-Sense didn't go off before Cap landed on him.

MIGHTY AVENGERS #1 - This sure is a pretty book. Don't care much for the "story".

NEWUNIVERSAL #4

NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET #6 - Please let the license go back to Avatar. Pleast let the license go back to Avatar.

NIGHTWING #130

OUTSIDERS #46

SQUADRON SUPREME HYPERION VS NIGHTHAWK #3 (OF 4) - I'll be waiting for issue number 4.

SUPERMAN BATMAN #32 - Haven't read it yet, but the cover looks nice.

TRANSFORMERS PRIME DIRECTIVE MOVIE PREQUEL #1 - Haven't read it, but i'm not impressed with the "transformer" on the cover.

UNCANNY X-MEN #484 - Blah.

UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #8 - I'm sad to see this book end, but i'll be keeping an eye out of Acuna's next book.

HEROES FOR HIRE #7 - I really like this book, but I really hate Rio's art. It's a shame they don't have him draw Mighty Avengers and stick Cho on this book. That would kick MUCH ass.

52 WEEK #45 - Awesome as usual.

ANT #11

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #1 - Meh.

CIVIL WAR THE CONFESSION

FRIDAY THE 13TH #4 - See Nightmare On Elm Street #6.

GHOST RIDER #9 - Haven't read it, but I dig Salteres/Texiera's artwork. Particularly Texiera's.

JLA CLASSIFIED #36

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT CIVIL WAR AFTERMATH

MOON KNIGHT #8 CW - First issue of this book that I didn't like.

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #5 - This was a pretty dumb issue. However, #4 (which I don't believe I commented on) hit a TON of nerves - particularly with the current direction of Marvel's books.

ROBIN #160 - Like the art. Story was good too.

SPIDER-MAN REIGN #4 (OF 4) - I still think this was the Dark Knight Returns with Andrews replacing "Batman" with "Spider-Man".

SUPERMAN #660 - Mike Manley & Bret Blevins. 2 blasts from the past. Didn't I read that Sleepwalker was coming back? ;)

TEEN TITANS #44 - Ended way too quickly.

WOLVERINE ORIGINS #12 - I didn't initially like this book, and I still think that Way is trying to do his best Ennis impersonation, but it's won me over...somewhat.

WONDER WOMAN #5 - Not bad. I miss the Dodsons.