The Final Countdown
I feel absolutely wretched today. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, other than that all my muscles hurt and I have a bad headache that I woke up with and just isn’t going away. Today at work, instead of going for lunch I just put my head down on my desk and slept for an hour, but that didn’t seem to help much other than just making me feel even more tired when the hour was up. And all my muscles feel weak, like I’m a baby, except I know they’re not, because I’ve been lifting heavy stuff all day. They just feel like it. It’s weird. Maybe a touch of the flu? Real flu, I mean, not that throwing up, upset stomach syndrome people like to call flu. I hope it’s not, because it’s too hot out to catch the flu and I don’t wanna waste a beautiful weekend unable to do anything.
So, I’ve been reading more of my giant comics stack, so time for more reviews:
Captain America #50: This was a really nice examination of Bucky’s history, as seen through several birthdays in his past - his sixteenth, eighteenth, and twentieth birthdays with the army and in WWII with Steve Rogers. It helped to shed a lot of light onto the character of Bucky, show his guilt over the actions he did as the Winter Soldier. And then when he gets back to the headquarters of the New Avengers, to see them all there, holding him a surprise party, he realizes that Steve Rogers, in giving him back his memories, didn’t just curse him with the memories of everything he’d done while under Soviet control, but had also set the stage for him to become part of a family. It was really nice, and I hope Bucky keeps up as Cap for awhile because I don’t want Steve Rogers returning anymore. I know that he will, especially with a Cap movie coming out in a few years, but I think there’s a lot of story to be mined still with Bucky Barnes. The back matter, the history of Captain America as drawn by Marcos Martin, was beautiful. I would love to own a page of Martin’s artwork.
Gigantic #4: What can I say? Gigantic continued to be awesome. On the verge of exploding again and decimating even more of the Earth, Gigantic manages to engineer a way back to the broadcasting planet to try to arrange a ceasefire - only to discover a twist surprise that turns the entire story so far on its head. Pretty damn good stuff, and it makes me wonder what the next issue will bring us.
Rapture #1: This is a comic I picked up on speculation, and I liked it far more than I suspected I would, though it was confusing at some parts. The basic premise is that there are superhumans in the world, but they have been waging a major, devastating war amongst each other for years, wiping out cities and states and causing the general population to live in terror. Then, at one moment, the world essentially ends as all the superheroes take off to do battle in space, leaving the devastated Earth behind. One young couple is caught up in all this; the girl, unsure of her emotions, leaves just before the catastrophe for Seattle, leaving the guy (a sensitive musician) behind. And then the world ends and the two are separated, determined to find each other in the aftermath. And - oh yeah - the girl is approached by a mysterious ghostly presence who claims she has been chosen to be the wielder of a spear of justice and become a new superhero. Good stuff, with great art.
This week I need to pick up my comics, which include the new Amazing Spider-Man (which continues the excellent American Son storyline) and the final ever issue of Ultimate Spider-Man. When that book ends, I may shed a tear… I love it so much. Of course, there’s the two Ultimate Spider-Man: Requiem books coming out, and then the continuation in Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man… but all signs seem to point to Peter Parker dying and someone else taking over - quite possibly Peter’s female clone from the clone saga, which would be bullshit. Ugh… I don’t want my Ultimate Spider-Man to end!!
Blah. I do not feel good. When will this day end so I can just go home and sleep??
So, I’ve been reading more of my giant comics stack, so time for more reviews:
Captain America #50: This was a really nice examination of Bucky’s history, as seen through several birthdays in his past - his sixteenth, eighteenth, and twentieth birthdays with the army and in WWII with Steve Rogers. It helped to shed a lot of light onto the character of Bucky, show his guilt over the actions he did as the Winter Soldier. And then when he gets back to the headquarters of the New Avengers, to see them all there, holding him a surprise party, he realizes that Steve Rogers, in giving him back his memories, didn’t just curse him with the memories of everything he’d done while under Soviet control, but had also set the stage for him to become part of a family. It was really nice, and I hope Bucky keeps up as Cap for awhile because I don’t want Steve Rogers returning anymore. I know that he will, especially with a Cap movie coming out in a few years, but I think there’s a lot of story to be mined still with Bucky Barnes. The back matter, the history of Captain America as drawn by Marcos Martin, was beautiful. I would love to own a page of Martin’s artwork.
Gigantic #4: What can I say? Gigantic continued to be awesome. On the verge of exploding again and decimating even more of the Earth, Gigantic manages to engineer a way back to the broadcasting planet to try to arrange a ceasefire - only to discover a twist surprise that turns the entire story so far on its head. Pretty damn good stuff, and it makes me wonder what the next issue will bring us.
Rapture #1: This is a comic I picked up on speculation, and I liked it far more than I suspected I would, though it was confusing at some parts. The basic premise is that there are superhumans in the world, but they have been waging a major, devastating war amongst each other for years, wiping out cities and states and causing the general population to live in terror. Then, at one moment, the world essentially ends as all the superheroes take off to do battle in space, leaving the devastated Earth behind. One young couple is caught up in all this; the girl, unsure of her emotions, leaves just before the catastrophe for Seattle, leaving the guy (a sensitive musician) behind. And then the world ends and the two are separated, determined to find each other in the aftermath. And - oh yeah - the girl is approached by a mysterious ghostly presence who claims she has been chosen to be the wielder of a spear of justice and become a new superhero. Good stuff, with great art.
This week I need to pick up my comics, which include the new Amazing Spider-Man (which continues the excellent American Son storyline) and the final ever issue of Ultimate Spider-Man. When that book ends, I may shed a tear… I love it so much. Of course, there’s the two Ultimate Spider-Man: Requiem books coming out, and then the continuation in Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man… but all signs seem to point to Peter Parker dying and someone else taking over - quite possibly Peter’s female clone from the clone saga, which would be bullshit. Ugh… I don’t want my Ultimate Spider-Man to end!!
Blah. I do not feel good. When will this day end so I can just go home and sleep??