The Best Comics I Have Ever Bought In One Week
I have returned from India. Hi everyone. Successfully. Safely. Malaria free. All is good. I hope to go back soon. Was a great place. People were the nicest I have ever met. And I can now watch Cricket and Soccer without making fun of it. And on to comics.
This was the Best Damn Week of Comics I Have Ever Bought. Ever. I haven't even read the last one in the stack yet, that one being Fallen Angel, by Peter David. And I even have high hopes for it.
So, without further ado--ahem---EVER---here are my weeks reviews, all in one long article, so I'll keep the reviews short for you all. And, as always, NO spoilers.
Black Widow: The Things They Say About Her...Part 4: Women and Children First
Let me be brief here: My favorite three characters in the comics universe are, in order, Moon Knight, Elektra & Black Widow. So here I have a limited series on one of my favorites. Am I going to bash it. Nope. Because its good. Because its THE Black Widow, not the Belova wanna-be. And its a mean Black Widow. Its a Black Widow that should have always been. Is it violent- hell yeah. She's a super spy with great connections and torture techniques. She does it well. She is good at it.
It has more Nick Fury in it. Right now the whole S.H.I.E.L.D./Nick Fury thing has me very interested. So I like it. It has Matt Murdock. (Don't get me started. WAIT til you see that review farther down.)
It has one of my favorite artists drawing this-- Bill Sienkiewicz. Probably because it was his Moon Knight art that was my big draw (oo..pun..) to MK, so I stick with Bill.
This is the venomous, riled up Black Widow that's just been tucked away all these years. She's been drawn out and let loose, and oh my, I'm staying out of the way and enjoying the ride.
Rating: 4/5. I'm playing favorites. Live with it. Its fun. Its violent. Its not really spy-ey, but seeing her wreak havoc on people who prey on others is good wholesome family fun.
CatWoman #50I jumped into this book about 6 issues ago. Will Pfeiffer had a good rep, so I tried this book. Its not too bad. It has a good story, a decent character and Batman stays away (well, for the most part.) Some of the loose ends I'll have to go back and check up on, but I can do that another time.
This one guest stars Zatanna. And I'm betting you all know what that means. Think JLA stuff. And so it begins.
Remember when CatWoman was a playful villian, not a true villian but one out to just have fun and not really hurt anyone.
So does DC.
Overall rating: 3/5. The next arc looks pretty good. It was a nice setup. I expect Zatanna to make a rash guest appearances in some books soon.
New Avengers #14The heck with Spider Woman: Origin. You get the whole kitten-caboodle in a nice synopsis. Save yer cash, get it here. I will say this: I miss Earth's Mightiest Heroes. But we have all seen alot of that rambling on this page more than once, and I'm sure that we'll see it again, just not right now. So, I'm stuck with who I have. I don't like Luke Cage. He does not fit. Simply put. Everyone else would actually have a chance at being an Avenger. Oh wait, I hate the Sentry. He is so chump change in this book. Now, everyone else could actually have a shot at being an Avenger. Because at one point I believe all the rest were, minus that loser Ronin. I TOLD YOU CHRIS IT WASN'T MURDOCK!!
I digress. This has some Fury stuff too. And its REAL good. Otherwise, not much else happens here. I'm SpiderWoman, here's whats happened to me. Blah blah blah. BRING ON KANG!!!....and then give me Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I will say that Cho did a great job on the art though. It did look pretty damn nice. He draws a great SpiderWoman.
Overall Rating: 3/5. Fury made it for me. I'd give it a 2.5, but I hate math, and decimals, just like fractions, give me a headache. Now give me my Warbird back dammit! "End Rant"
Wonder Woman #224Marathon Pt. 2
Wonder Woman is coming to a conclusion. Sucks. Its one big fight scene of Amazons kicking ass, and um, getting their asses handed to them too.
Infinite Crisis stole a lot from this book. I would like to have seen the book come first, then IC as a nice synopsis. But no, DC had to spoil it for me. Rat Bastages.
I am hoping that the last cover is misleading. Warrior Princess. I would prefer her to go out in a blaze of glory, but for some reason I don't see it happening. She'll go with a whimper, and I'll swear at DC for weeks. (Just ask Chris how I swear at Marvel Team-Up.)
Themyscira- gone. Accomplice Amazon characters- gone. The story was a big review until near the end when Brother Eye speaks. Actually speaks to someone other than Batman. The book picks up speed then.
And the cover. I do so like the cover. Amazon warriors ready for battle. And that's what this book is. One big fight scene. And I am just fine with that.
Overall rating: 3/5. If IC didn't ruin this for me, it would be a 4. Damn you DC.
Ultimate Fantastic Four #26Tomb of Namor 3/3
I get to see the FF fight more people. Wow, too bad they don't do more of that in the past like 40 years in the regular series. Maybe more people might buy it.
Toe to Toe vs. Namor. Its good. Its fun. Its a fight that takes up the entire book, plus character fun, plus geeky-science stuff. We get to see the unemotional Reed go ga-ga over Sue finally, in public even. That was fun. And Namor has a neat trick up his sleeve. Kinda cool.
I am going to hate to see Millar leave the book. I heard that the book was not so good before he took over, kicked ass while he's been on it. So I fear for the future. But I'll still give it a go.
What was up with the end though. I'm missing something. Someone give me a hint please.
Ultimate Vision story. Don't care.
Overall Rating: 5/5. This is the FF that I've always wanted to see. And that WAY wrong scene was kinda funny too. Ah, kids.
DareDevil #80The Murdock Papers continue...
And I will probably say this a couple of times: This is the BEST damn story arc I have ever read. And I'm not kidding. This beats my original series Avengers 273-277 Masters of Evil arc. Beats my Avengers 41-55 Kang arc in the last recent? series. This beats my Frank Miller Daredevil/Elektra series even. I'm just going to say Wow. Everybody can beat up Bendis. His group stuff is not so good. I can admit that. But you give him one character. Let him write one character, and he can really make a story flow.
I get Daredevil. Eh.... I get Elektra. SWEET!! I get Black Widow. SWEET!! And I even get Elektra friends. SWEET!! We get continued guest appearances from Cage and Fist. I could not be more excited over this arc.
And, I want to know how THIS GUY gets all the chicks??!! What's up with that. I mean, they all come back to help this guy. What, he got pheromones like that SpiderWoman gal? Wait, wait, I DON'T WANT TO KNOW. I can already see the responses. Well, hush. I don't want to know. I'll just accept it.
I got goosebumps when I hit the middle of the book, you know, where the staples actually close. Cuz you knew what was coming, and it was excellent. And I get Battle Royale for some of it too. New Avengers, eat your heart out, cuz this was a far better, albeit short fight.
Alex Maleev, the art is perfect for this book. I haven't like all of his stuff, but damn it flows so well here.
The end of "To Be Concluded" . I want time to speed up please. Now. Please. Can I whine more?
Did I mention that this was the Best Damn Story Arc I Have Ever Read?
And quite honestly, I don't really care for DareDevil all that much.
But this has been a great run. Bendis. Stick with the single characters. You can truly develop them. Stay away from groups. No New Avengers, no House of M. Start a Dr. Strange title or something.
Ok, I'm done raving on this ish.
Wait, one more thing. Elektra rules. Wow. She so rules by the time this ish is over. At this point she could go be an Avenger and I wouldn't even blink. OK, maybe I would. And then not care. She can do no worse than Echo, err.. Ronin. Or Sentry.
Oh, and the picture of the cover- that's not what I actually received. Its Elektra in her classic red.
Now I'm done ranting.
Overall Rating: 6/5. I can do that. I don't like math. So it works for me. Dont' read this ish by itself. Get the Murdock Papers arc from the start and read on. That's incredible, or so Fran Tarkenton might say.
Thank you all.
I'm glad to be back.
Now there's ...three guys.....I'm fine with that. Trifecta. On board.
Randy
4 Comments:
Not to be contradictory, but The Murdock Papers is not the best story arc ever (Born Again).
It is not even the best Daredevil arc ever (again... Born Again).
It's not even Bendis's best arc ever (hmm... I guess I'll go with Hardcore... maybe Underboss).
The Murdock Papers has been 24 good pages out of nearly 100. It's picking up, but the boring-as-hell first two issues preclude it from being the best story arc ever. The last issue was pretty much a reminder that after about a year and a half of garbage, Bendis might actually still remember how to write a decent story. This issue continues the trend. If he doesn't drop the ball in the conclusion, I'll admit it wasn't terrible.
Fallen Angel came out? Damn it. I'll have to yell at the guys at my local comics shoppe, as I pre-ordered it and didn't receive it today. Unless you are lucky enough to get a preview copy?
Nope, it came out. And not having read a single issue of its previous incarnation, I've gotta say I'm intrigued.
Kind of enjoyed UFF, but I was a bit confused when namor summoned Aquaman to aid him in battle. Not sure what that glowing tattoo bit was about either. And the issue surely has to win the award for the most shameless bit of plot-related cheesecake in comics with Reed's imaginary giant.
Yes, bring back Warbird, get rid of Bendis. Interesting to see that HYDRA now equip their agents with boob implants. I don't remember Baron Strucker being particularly big up top, but you never know, I suppose.
But enough with the talking, Bendis, and enough with following on from Secret War, which no one cares about anyway, or someone would have bought the bloody thing. Give us more Avengering!
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