No, but it was cut out so he has to have an eye patch. He also shaved his head and added some facial hair. Did I mention he's African American? Kinda looks like Sam Jackson now...

some recent things ive read that i havent seen covered much here:

i picked up moon knight since i love bendis and maleev together, even though i knew it was getting canceled. honestly i really liked it, and i dont understand why it didnt sell well. if you like their run on daredevil you will probably like this. and if you can handle a blind buy consider trying it without reading the description first as it has some spoilers.
http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Knight-Br...7349943&sr=8-1

i am also a big fan of dan slotts spidey stuff, and thought this new volume was one of the best yet. very fun (although if you havent read anything leading up to this you may be confused about peters situation in life -- i'd be happy to answer any questions though).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078...ls_o01_s00_i00

jason aarons punishermax was great. its similar to the ennis run i think. i just read the final volume below but you should read all four in order.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078...ls_o01_s00_i01

if you like joss whedon and have seen every episode of dollhouse, including the special that only came on the season set, this is a great continuation of that verse.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159...ls_o01_s01_i01

i very much enjoyed near death, and its a steal at $10. if you like any brubaker type style youd probably like this.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/160...ls_o04_s01_i00

speaking of brubaker, his most recent volume of criminal was great and can be read on its own if you want to just start here
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078...ls_o00_s00_i01

if you are a fan of andy diggle or crime comics in general, i thought rat catcher was good. it kinda reminded me of no country for old men.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/140...ls_o03_s00_i02

anyway i also liked the mainstream stuff everyone else liked; xmen schism and the new spidey in ultimate spiderman and northlanders and deadpool by daniel way etc

I did pick up Dollhouse since I watched that show. Haven't read it yet, though.

It looks like Marvel is going completely Self-Cover starting in July:

Bleeding Cool


The Self-Covers are okay for $2.99 titles if it helps keep the titles at $2.99. But for the $3.99 and up titles, it just seems like a crock. Where is the added value of a $3.99 title if it feels exactly like a $2.99 one? I can understand saving money but at least pass some of that along to the reader.

Do you think Marvel even cares about physical comics anymore? Like someone said "It doesn't matter. We're going full digital next year. Let's try to get as much money as we can before we shut the door."

Man, I'll save a shit-load of money if they do go fully digital next year. I'll go from about 35 titles to 0.

My son and I are just finishing up the Secret Wars II Omnibus.

I read the original Secret Wars as a kid but somewhere missed part II. Anyway, I just have to say that this is one of the worst mini-series and tie-ins to other titles that I have ever read. The writing in the main issues is just awful and the tie-in issues seem like the writers of those books were made to incorporate the story into their book, thus they half-ass do it and the entire book and story at large suffers.

I bought this on a whim but can't see myself ever revisiting it again. Did it sell well back when it was first released? Did it get an critical acclaim or was it seen for the lameness that it is/was?

No,it was always lame... I'm actually surprised they released an Omni for it. Isn't it basically a bunch of random issues of pretty much every title they published at that point, where the Beyonder tries to pretend to be human or something like that? I also vaguely remember something about Molecule Man and his girlfriend, but beyond that...

I'm going through the Zomnibus. I had only really read the first series and the Ultimate FF issues. I didn't really think they had anywhere to go after the first series, and I was pretty much right... although I'm only halfway through, they pretty much over-extended the concept already. There's also some weird crossover with some Marvel Apes "event" in the beginning which makes me glad I no longer follow the entire Marvel Universe like I used to. It also feels like it's been done before (or copied) by the Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe title and other elseworlds.

Next up is Secret Warriors, then I'll go back and read some of my 80's ones (Simonson Thor and Byrne FF).

I thought Secret Wars II was great. A better story than the original COIE.

I recently re-read the Infinity Gauntlet saga. I remember really enjoying that when I originally read it. It was not nearly as enjoyable this time around.

I also thought the Infinity Gauntlet was great. That was the first big crossover even that I read so seeing Adam Warlock gathering up the heroes to combat this threat to the universe, seeing Wolverine and The Hulk put aside their differences, I actually thought this was some epic tale that would change the Marvel Universe forever. I bought a couple tie-ins like Doctor Strange and found out they were just filler.

Secret Wars II I read first, but as a back issue. I just remember that it seemed pretty mature for the time. The Molecular Man's wife offering herself to the Beyonder only to have him kick her and call her a cow.

The Infinity Gauntlet mini was really good, coming out of that Thanos mini and the Silver Surfer title... even though Perez wasn't able to finish it, Ron Lim had his cosmic pedigree on the Surfer and it turned out fine. I don't remember it crossing into very many titles, either. The followups weren't that good, though.

Secret War was basically a toy tie-in, wasn't it (the ones with the little lenticular shields)? Find an excuse to get all the heroes and villains together, get Zeck on art, massage Shooter's ego, etc. Oh, plus introduce the symbiote.

If you want some good old-fashioned cosmic Marvel stuff, I highly recommend the Annihilation events. They don't feature the core heroes like the events above do, but that works to it's benefit; and while the sequels feel like they're rehashing cosmic threats I'd say it's worth reading all the way to War of Kings. And for anyone that wants some great old-fashioned X-crossover action, Second Coming was actually really good. Unfortunately, the current state of the Marvel Universe has no room for cosmic crossovers and the X-titles have had several reboots since Second Coming.

I think the first Infinity Gauntlet and maybe the Infinity War? were good series. I distinctly remember the third series in that progression being decidedly inferior.

Infinity Gauntlet doesn't hold up at all today. I have no idea what people are gushing on about, other than nostalgia. Even more absurd are those who think that could somehow be translated into a faithful screen play for the Avengers 2.

These crossover events are best aimed at non-older, non-jaded comic readers.

Secret Wars II, Fall of the Mutants, Infinity Gauntlet had me thinking that nothing well ever be the same again. Acts of Vengeance I didn't even follow. I thought the cover blurb was nothing more than that, just like "the non-mutant superhero."

By the time Death of Superman, Knightfall and the Clone Saga happened, it seemed like these storylines lasted forever, and I was just waiting and waiting for things to go back to normal. By the time they did I had already given up.

Even though I didn't like that Civil War lasted so long, I think the premise was actually really good and just not executed very well. I would have thought Spider-man would have given up his crime fighting before putting at risk MJ and Aunt May by registering.

Sinestro Corps War was the one crossover that got me excited about reading comics again. I didn't buy them all but the creation of an evil Corps that challenged the GL's was a great concept.

There's that entire thing with half the people on earth dying and then - deus ex machina! - coming back to life! that's totally lame.

The great thing about the Sinestro Corps War was that it was pretty much self contained in the GL books... you didn't interrupt other creators to try to shoehorn stuff in, and you could have a clear direction and goal. They then ruined this with Blackest Night.

I think this is why I liked Annihilation, it had it's own corner of the universe to work in and was untouched by Civil War. I understand the need for continuity, and the thinking that a big event should resonate in all books, but it does get to be over the top, and oftentimes you have writers in other books just needing to get from point a to point b and treading water, waiting for the event to be over and hoping they can continue with whatever story they started.

My problem with Civil War is that it made me totally hate Tony Stark and Reed Richards (Pym at least gets a pass). And I feel like it basically started this "shake up the whole Marvel Universe with this event, set a new status quo, but don't invest too much because it'll be reset by the next big event and the next status quo" thing for the whole Marvel Universe, when before it was just the X-men who got reset every few years.

I feel like a majority of those events in that story happen because of "deus ex machina" but you're supposed to gulp it up because Adam Warlock secretly knew how it would all play out.