2008-10-30

New Comics Day 10/29/2008

As I get closer to my moving day, I've started to notice that my "cut down to only buying comics that are on my pull list" strategy hasn't worked out very well. Instead, I've been saving money by only eating shitty, cheap food. I'm pretty sure this is my first sign that I have a problem. But, that's ok, because Comics, am I right? This was a good week for pretty good books. And, since I skipped last weeks review due to being sick, I'm going to review every single book I got this week. Let's see the scroll!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #575
This is actually a really frustrating book for me. Part of me wants to hate it, because the writing makes Spider-Man look like a total asshole. I mean, I understand that there's a certain level of humor to the whole situation with this nasty "Greta" lady, but beyond that, half this book is Spider-Man making fun of a crazy lady right to her face. On the other hand, Joe Kelly writes a good Aunt May (not a fan of Chris Bachalo's pencils on her, though). That's not even mentioning the fact that the second half of this book makes up for the shittiness of the first half. We not only get a couple pages of surprisingly actually funny spider-bloopers, and a battle with a new-and-improved Hammerhead.

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #18
This book continues to be one of the most fun of the handful of Secret Invasion tie-ins I still pick up. This issue, especially, is particularly awesome. While journeying around with the Skrull Kill Krew, we get a chance to check in on the new Freedom Force, who I seriously hope get their own series, or at least more face time in this book. Not only does this team have former Initiative trainees Hardball, Komodo and Cloud 9 (who are now really badass, all of a sudden), but it also has a hero who is terribly underused, Gravity. Anyways, lots of fighting and skrulls, as you'd expect, but wait until you meet the original Skrull Kill Krew.

CAPTAIN AMERICA THEATER OF WAR: OPERATION ZERO POINT
This Mitch Breitweiser guy draws an awesome Captain America Riding Atop a Nazi UFO. Oh, by the way, that happens.







KILL YOUR BOYFRIEND
I understand that the internet comics community is largely of the opinion that Grant Morrison can do no wrong. I've yet to reach that level of Morrison fanboydom. So, at risk of alienating myself, can I just say this book was only just ok? It follows a young english schoolgirl who runs away from home into a life of crime and drugs, and is a pretty entertaining book. I really love the concept, but it feels like it rushes along way too quickly. The main character often does these little "monologues" where she breaks the 4th wall, which could be fun, if it were more clearly defined of when she was going to stop talking in story and start talking to the audience. Instead, you can only tell that she's talking to you if she's looking at you, which you always realize after you've tried to read the text into the story. And, honestly, the "twist ending" was just bad.

MARVEL 1985 #6
This book, on the other hand, is so damn good. I really like the way Millar and Edwards manage to make this book feel like a movie. This mini series has had such perfect pacing all the way through, and even managed to tie up all the loose ends well. And, well, let's just say the end was enough to bring a tear to your eye. If you were some kind of sissy, I mean.




MARVEL ADVENTURES: FANTASTIC FOUR #41
I'm pretty sure Chris Sims might have died when he read this book. Because, well, it's got Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy in it, see? And, as it were, that's pretty awesome.







NO HERO #2
Warren Ellis has really managed to put together a storyline that still has me trying to figure out what's going to happen. Normally, when you were 3 issues into a book (that's including issue #0!), and you've still only done a little bit within the books, I start to lose interest. Luckily, this book continues to hook me with the endings. This issue is a good example of that.





SUPERMAN #681
A bunch of supermen show up in Metropolis. People are worried. The end.









X-FORCE #8
Bringing The Vanisher, one of my favorite classic X-Men villains, back in the mix? Ok. Killing him off at the end? NOT OK!