Chris + Randy's Shared Reviews 4/19

We here at 2 Guys Buying Comics are nothing if not slavish devotees of our favorite features, and since we haven't seen a "Current Comics Conversation" over at Comics Should Be Good in a while, Randy and I took a different approach to reviews this week.

We'll still post our individual reviews separately, but we figured that we'd actually talk about the comics that we BOTH read....and let you, dear readers, see the results of that conversation.

This could be great. It could also suck. YOU decide!

Chris is marlowespade1. Randy is the onlysaintsfan.

MarloweSpade1: Let the reviewing commence.

MarloweSpade1: NEW AVENGERS #17

only saints fan: actually, its #18

MarloweSpade1: OK, #18.

only saints fan: this was, once again, almost an Avengers book

only saints fan: minus the Young Avengers, minus the Sentry, and more Ms. errr..Warbird, and this would have made a decent book, if like Cap, Cage, Wolvie and Spidergirl actually DID something

MarloweSpade1: So, it was "almost an Avengers book" in the same way that tigers are "almost" alligators.

only saints fan: yes, absolutely

MarloweSpade1: And thank God we had two or three pages of wordless "Sentry getting his ass handed to him".

MarloweSpade1: And don't forget, Spider Woman had the all important job of flying Spider-Man to SHIELD.

MarloweSpade1: By the way, Spider-Man was actively annoying this issue.

only saints fan: and, as a side note, for those of you who say "why do you keep buying the comic if you are only bashing it", well, after the civil war arc, and the lame Ronin arc starts, Randy is DONE buying the Not Avengers

MarloweSpade1: I would say the same, but I'm a weak, weak man.

only saints fan: All Hope Has Been Lost

only saints fan: Come on second series Avengers, be a little more classic for me

MarloweSpade1: Yeah, hope got flushed down the crapper right about the time we got the now-pointless Silver Samurai/Hydra arc

MarloweSpade1: They never did anything with that.

only saints fan: and he probably never will

MarloweSpade1: Stupid Marvel.

only saints fan: more importantly, bad BMB

MarloweSpade1: I suppose we should mention what actually happened.

only saints fan: no

only saints fan: we did

only saints fan: oh fine, go ahead

only saints fan: spoiler guy

MarloweSpade1: Avengers fight Big Energy Guy named Mike, and discover that he's the lucky bastard what got all the dispersed House O' M mutant powers crammed into him.

MarloweSpade1: And by "fight", I mean "get they ass kicked".

only saints fan: The one redeeming quality is I really do like Ms..Warbird, and I will be reviewing her ongoing tomorrow from last week

MarloweSpade1: Agreed.

MarloweSpade1: Best Moment: the big splash page at the end that shows all of the mutant profiles that register hits on the SHIELD computer trying to match Mike's powers to known energy signature.

only saints fan: My Best Moment: "Also. just FYI, Carol Danvers survived a hand to hand encounter. It can be done."

MarloweSpade1: Worst Moment: It's either the line "We've never faced anything this undefinable before" (what does that mean?) or Iron Man in his jammies for most of the issue.

only saints fan: Worst Moment: "Bob. The SENTRY"

MarloweSpade1: Good call.

only saints fan: Rather have Warbird in her jammies.

MarloweSpade1: Comic Book Goodness: 1/5. Decent art. Unsurprising story. Stupid Marvel.

only saints fan: Disagree. Goodness: 2/5. I see feeble attempt at least.
Still feeble though.

MarloweSpade1: Quit praising this comic! :-)

MarloweSpade1: CAPTAIN AMERICA #17

only saints fan: Chris had to go make another drink, so I will lead this one off.

only saints fan: Cap y Brubaker should just stay for like another 120 issues.

only saints fan: We get to see Cap and SHIELD agents (all stealthy) and Sharon fighting AIM, Crossbones and Sin in one big arse brawl

MarloweSpade1: Yeah, this was good. Mainly because it featured the one thing I want from a Cap comic:

MarloweSpade1: Cap's shield ricocheting off of bad guys' noggins.

MarloweSpade1: And it even ties in to the 65th anniversary special

only saints fan: yes. the end was kinda mild, but it just leads right into the UK invasion

MarloweSpade1: Yep

MarloweSpade1: And there's lots of killin'.

MarloweSpade1: One line synopsis: Cap and Sharon realize that the small town they followed Bucky to is an AIM base, which is raided by Crossbones and Sin, who flee when the MODOC squad starts killin'. Lots of AIMers die, some SHIELDers die, and a captured SHIELDer tells Crossbones and Sin that Lukin is responsible for killing the Red Skull.

only saints fan: Best Moment: "Too much talkin'. .....Hostile...?

MarloweSpade1: Best Moment: "BLANNGG"

only saints fan: Worst Moment: the Bucky portion doesn't intrigue me all that much. Its not bad, but just not intriguing.

MarloweSpade1: Worst Moment: I really can't think of one.

only saints fan: Overall Rating: 4/5. A fine read this week. Thank you Mr. Brubaker for at least one redeeming quality of Marvel.

MarloweSpade1: Comic Book Goodness: 4/5. Cap, AIM, SHIELD, and BLANNGG. What
more could you ask for?

MarloweSpade1: DAREDEVIL #84

MarloweSpade1: Double Brubaker!

MarloweSpade1: Woo!

only saints fan: Because that is, and so far, has always been a good thing

MarloweSpade1: Totally.

MarloweSpade1: I liked Frank.

only saints fan: I liked Frank

MarloweSpade1: Man, Frank was cool.

only saints fan: I liked J Jonah arguing with ummm..Urich

MarloweSpade1: It's no Frank.

only saints fan: I liked the warden scolding Matt

only saints fan: I liked Matt beating the crap out of the general prison population

only saints fan: I liked Frank

MarloweSpade1: Yeah, so in this issue Murdock beats the living hell out of Hammerhead, Kingpin gets transferred back to gen pop, Bullseye gets incarcerated, and at the end...

MarloweSpade1: wait for it...

MarloweSpade1: wait for it..

only saints fan: k

MarloweSpade1: Punisher gets himself arrested so he can go join in the fun! And he does it by breaking a Random Pimp's neck!

MarloweSpade1: Man, I loved Frank.

only saints fan: The next ish is going to be just gobs and gobs of fun

MarloweSpade1: I don't care if it's been done before.

MarloweSpade1: This was just a solid issue with icing at the end.

only saints fan: Welcome Frank back to the regular Marvel U

MarloweSpade1: Hi, Frank!

MarloweSpade1: Best Moment: Frank.

only saints fan: Best Moment: Frank

MarloweSpade1: Worst Moment: Having to wait another month to see the powderkeg ignite

only saints fan: Worst Moment: sigh....more Bullseye.

MarloweSpade1: Good point

only saints fan: Overall Rating: 5/5. I really could have given Cap this rating too. Man, this was such a great non-super hero book.

MarloweSpade1: Comic Book Goodness: 4/5. I don't usually buy this, but damn if I'm not going to start. I actively feel bad reading your issues and not paying for them. It's that good.

MarloweSpade1: ANNIHILATION: NOVA #1 (of 4)

only saints fan: I, quite frankly, really liked this book

MarloweSpade1: Yeah, this was a nice surprise. I liked the way that the Guardians kept Kyle Rayner alive after all the other Green Lanterns died. :-)

MarloweSpade1: Seriously, though, it was pretty solid.

only saints fan: Super Skrull was ok....I won't buy Silver Surfer, but this one was a very enjoyable read. And um the Guardians didn't keep him alive, he did it by sheer luck and coincidence

MarloweSpade1: Anyhoo, Dick Rider (heh) is the last of the Green Lan---er, Nova Corps. He absorbs the central computer, which keeps him alive and gives him a snazzy new outfit and hella powerful abilities. He destroys a bunch of stuff, gets wiped out, then Drax finds him at the end.

MarloweSpade1: Wow, that sounds like ass.

only saints fan: That's Richard

MarloweSpade1: It's actually pretty good

MarloweSpade1: And the art was good too

only saints fan: And the new outfit- it actually makes sense

MarloweSpade1: Yep

only saints fan: it was tied up pretty nicely

MarloweSpade1: Definitely a sympathetic character, too. I genuinely want to see this person.

only saints fan: Yeah, that was well done

MarloweSpade1: Wow, the Shared Marvel Suck Ratio is only 1:3 this week!

only saints fan: SHOCKING BEHAVIOR!!!!

MarloweSpade1: Best Moment: I"m going with the whole characterization of Rider. He's human, and Abnett and Lanning do a great job showing us the shock, grief, and anger that goes along with seeing all your friends killed. Very well done.

only saints fan: Best Moment: '...ooh, that was bad. Even by my standards."

MarloweSpade1: And don't forget the humor! Good point!

only saints fan: And for me, no Silver Surfer

MarloweSpade1: Worst Moment: I still think the logo is a rip-off from the old PBS science series logo.

only saints fan: Worst Moment: Drax? sigh.

MarloweSpade1: Yep.

MarloweSpade1: Comic Book Goodness: 3/5, trending towards a 4. This was, quite frankly, MUCH better than I thought it was going to be, and the fact that I want to get the next one when I couldn't otherwise give a rat's ass about Nova speaks highly about the quality of this book. Well done!

only saints fan: Overall Rating: I"m going with a 4/5. I was very surprised by the writing and art in the book. It was a great read. Followed up from the one-shot very well and neat.

MarloweSpade1: And the "Nova Files" at the end are actually helpful, which is a bonus.

only saints fan: The files there are useful, as were the SuperSkrull files MarloweSpade1: The only other series I'm getting is Ronan.

only saints fan: But don't read that one Chris. I don't think you'll like it

MarloweSpade1: Ronan?

only saints fan: No Skrull. I am looking forward to the Ronan, since I know so little about him.

MarloweSpade1: Yep.

MarloweSpade1: So, to give credit where credit is due, Marvel did a nice job this week in all fairness.

only saints fan: Absolutely. did we even read a DC book that we both read?

MarloweSpade1: Nope.

only saints fan: Oh darn?

MarloweSpade1: You had BoP, I had Justice.

MarloweSpade1: I think you got the better of the deal.

only saints fan: I also had Manhunter

MarloweSpade1: Oh, right.

only saints fan: This concludes our first regularly scheduled joint review session

MarloweSpade1: 2 Guys Buying Comics: Revolutionizing Online Reviews. Look for our individual reviews tomorrow! Hope you enjoyed this!