The Weekly Comics Grind

[elfneedsfood]

The new JSA is amazing. The last page of #2 is sweet.

[avatar]

I liked Thunderbolts. I had forgotten how fucking awesome norman osbourne is, though some of the stuff the comic showed seemed a little forced.

Kids playing with thunderbolts action figures beating tup the "terroist" captain america. Ooooookay

[James]

I love how public opinion in comics is whatever the writer needs it to be. Cap is a hero today and a terrorist tomorrow? Ok then, we all know people are just that fickle.

James

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

Superhero wise I've always been more of a Marvel guy. However, I've always followed Flash and JLA.
The new Flash is just crap. Crap writing, crap art (I have no idea how Ken Lashley can be turning in pages this awful, it's just sad.) I see that the writers are canned already. I'll give the new guy a shot, but it doesn't look good for this series.
JLA has been ok. That's not really a good thing. JLA should be a flagship book and handled thusly. Never was all that taken with Meltzer's stuff, and this hasn't changed my mind. This needs a real writer (i know, Meltzer is a "real" writer, but not for comics) and a real artist. It deserves Turner on the insides, not just the cover.
I haven't made my monthly trek to the comic shop yet, but I'm all excited to check out New Universal 2 and Thunderbolts.
Also, anyone not following Jack of Fables really needs to check it out.

[elfneedsfood]

Hmm...I really like Meltzer. A lot actually.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

He's not at a chuck dixon or david michelinie level of crap, but he's no morrison or waid.

[Cowdisease]

I got 52 Week 37 yesterday. It has a hell of a reveal, which was spoiled by the damn cover!

Spirit #2 was okay, as was Superman/Batman vs Aliens/Predator #1.

Marvel has unveiled the new lineup for the New Avengers.

Spider-Man (in his black costume!)
Iron Fist
Luke Cage
Spider-Woman
Wolverine
Doctor Strange
Ronin
Echo

I'm sure you noticed two things. One, Captain America is not on the list. Two, Echo AND Ronin are on the list, which means that someone else has taken the Ronin identity. Some fans are already speculating that it's either Cap or Hawkeye. And if you're wondering, Luke Cage is now the leader of the team.

[elfneedsfood]

52 week 37 = . And there is another pretty awesome reveal that isn't spoiled on the cover...

[bloodyarts]

Marvel has unveiled the new lineup for the New Avengers.

Spider-Man (in his black costume!)
Iron Fist
Luke Cage
Spider-Woman
Wolverine
Doctor Strange
Ronin
Echo

I'm sure you noticed two things. One, Captain America is not on the list. Two, Echo AND Ronin are on the list, which means that someone else has taken the Ronin identity. Some fans are already speculating that it's either Cap or Hawkeye. And if you're wondering, Luke Cage is now the leader of the team.

MJ said she hated that costume, and Peter swore never to wear it again. Outside of the obvious movie cash-in, what reason would Peter have to don the ebon garb again? Why can't someone please just kill Venom and move on, in similar fashion to Carnage? Please tell me Bendis is NOT writing this title. I realize all his favorite toys are on this team, but I'd really like to see this in capable hands. Also, just like New Avengers, this team doesn't look sound or feel like The Avengers at all. Which means Bendis probably IS writing it. Crap. Well, he gave me the fitting end of Carnage, at least.

Two weeks in a row I picked up comics and didn't read most of them. The ones I have read are:

White Tiger #3 - This title reminds me of DC's Manhunter (being canceled again! ), and I like it. Tiger loses to Cobra (since when does he spit venom?), licks her wounds, ruins a gun deal, poses for the Bugle, attends a family get-together and follows more leads. Nothing really exceptional about the character, story or art, just a solid, enjoyable read. This could be Marvel's new classic Spider-Man. And I love how she calls Daredevil "2.0". She knows it's not Matt, but she doesn't know it's Danny, who we find out is kinda related to her. And we find out Danny and Misty Knight split up. Of course, looking at the current climate in America and the CW alliances, I guess I could see it, but it would have been more interesting to play with that development, like Cap and Agent 13.

Immortal Iron Fist #2 - Loved the first issue, but already I'm not liking where this is going. If the villain of this piece is who I think it is (and it's pretty obvious), then I'm going to be disappointed. We'll have another pointless resurrection to deal with, and lots more questions than answers. And obviously, Danny losing the iron fist is an interesting predicament. Also, stop making Danny Rand a Bruce Wayne-wannabe!

Iron Fist Essentials - Okay, so I didn't exactly read the whole thing, but I loved the Byrne series back in the mid-late 70s, and it's great to have them all collected here. I still believe Byrne's art was at it's best back then. Also, there's a lot of other Iron Fist stories (Marvel Premiere, Marvel Team-Up, etc.) that I somehow missed back in the day, many of which also feature John Byrne artwork. An awesome and worthy collection for an underrated and underused Marvel B-lister.

Batman 662 - Finally, the Grotesk story is over, and although it's rare for me, I think better artwork would've made me like the story a lot more enjoyable. Grotesk's origin is fitting enough to make him another of Batman's psychotic villains, but he somehow lacked that extra "oomph" to make him seem crazy enough or formidable enough to be more than a minor annoyance to Batman. I'm sure he'll return. The I-Gore apparatus kind of makes Grotesk seem like a dime-store Doc Ock (but with less limbs). He can be a real threat in the right hands, I just think this creative team wasn't it.

Outsiders 44 - More Jason Todd! While Jason's return due to the almighty reality and time altering properties of Superboy Prime's fists ( ) is the lamest thing to hit comics since... maybe ever, the character himself has become a thrill to behold whenever he shows up (okay, maybe except in the Bruce Jones Nightwing run, which I actually kinda liked, screw the haters). When The Red Hood shows up, you just know someone's going to bleed. Anyway, he and Nightwing begin fighting immediately. Evenly matched at first, RH gets the upper hand as he fancies his bullets will penetrate Dick's brain before NW's staff can shatter Jason's throat. Then they talk of team-ups and paternal hatred. This issue did nothing to forward the story along, but again, Red Hood appearances make worthwhile purchases for me. The artwork was hard to follow in the NW/RH fight scene, but otherwise serviceable. I think I like the grittier look the book had before this artist came on board. This artist (name escapes me) is bordering on those manga-lite artists I hate. I'll stay with the title because I like the cast so much, but honestly, I'm not certain about this book's future.

Exterminators 13 - rolls along brilliantly, as usual. I'm starting to lose focus on where this title is headed. It's so character-centric that I'm almost having a hard time keeping up with the cast and their doings. For instance, what happened to the girlfriend who left our main guy and is now doing her boss? What happened to the sadistic Vietcong doctor after he freaked out on his overweight but perfect-for-him date? Still, the main threat (super-insect infestation) is very much an active part of the story. In this issue, racism rears it's ugly head in the form of a friendly young nurse and a 10-year old boy who is seemingly as charming as any child, until his blindfold comes off (after an army of ants attack his eyeballs!), and realizes he's been treated by a black nurse. Powerful, hard-hitting... Exterminators.

[James]

Not much of a week for me, but the Dwayne McDuffie's first Fantastic Four is off to a much better start than I expected. She Hulk was pretty good, with a great Steranko tribute cover, and Shadowpact is running out of steam. It needs some direction fast, because while all the elements are there to be good they just don't seem to be coming together.

With not much to read, I took advantage of Borders's buy 3 get 1 free deal on Viz manga and picked up an oddball called Yakitate Japan. I want to say it's pretty bad except I was entertained on every page. Plus it gives a recipe on how to make bread in a rice cooker, which I have to try.

James