War Journal Entry number 665 - Weekly Haul 7/8/09
MARVEL
Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1 of 3 - It's a series of short tories telling how Norman recruited the various members of his "Dark X-Men" team. The Namor and Norman story by Paul Cornell & Leonard Kirk is the real highlight of the issue. Its fun to watch a conversation between two people that despise each other but know that they have to work together. For the time being, anyway. In the span of a few pages, the Mimic story by James Asmus and Jesse Delperdang makes the character more interesting than decades of stories have. Lastly, the Dark Beast story by Shane McCarthy + Ibraim Robertson shows that the evil McCoy is having a lot of fun playing head games with Norman.
Essential Thor volume 4 - This volume reprints Thor #167-195. The stories finish the Stan Lee & Jack Kirby run, contain the all too brief Lee & Neal Adams run, and show off the beginning of John Buscema's run (first written by Lee, then taken over by Gerry Conway). I enjoyed the volume, but there isn't really anything here for anybody that isn't a fan of Thor. Even the two Neal Adams issues were not representative of his best work.
Skrull Kill Krew #3 of 5 - Adam Felber + Mark Robinson/Mike Getty. Still better written than it has a right to be, but the art isn't working for me. The art is too cartoony and "fluid" overall to allow the shape-changing to stand out.
Uncanny X-Men: First Class #1 - Scott Gray + Roger Cruz. I'm sad that Jeff Parker isn't writing this, but so far Scott is doing a fairly good job of tapping the feeling of the just-formed "All New, All Different" X-Men team. And lots of fun interactions with the Inhumans.
War of Kings: Warriors #1 of 2 - Christos Gage + Mahmud A Asrar/Carlos Magno. It's a pair of spotlight stories that reveal new insights into the pasts of two players in the war - Gladiator and Blastaar.
X-Men: Legacy #226 - Carey + Weaver. Rogue, Gambit, and Danger arrive in San Francisco just in time to get involved in the Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men crossover.
DC
Booster Gold #22 - Jurgens. Booster tries to prevent the time traveling Black Beetle from killing off the original Robin and the New Teen Titans. Yeah, good luck with that.
The Blue Beetle back-up feature by Sturges and Norton continues to just barely hold my interest. Let's just say that if it wasn't attached to Booster Gold, I wouldn't be reading it.
Green Lantern #43 - Geoff Johns + Doug Mahnke. This Blackest Night prelude focuses on the history and decent into madness of the first Black Lantern, the villain known as Black Hand.
Wednesday Comics #1 of 12 - The newest experiment begins, and it's got more good than bad. Ron Fortier did a fairly decent write-up at ComicRelated.com. Though, as I commented upon the review, I have the opposite opinion on two of the features.
IDW PRESS
G.I.Joe Origins #5 - Larry Hama + Mike Hawthorne. A very, very satisfying end to the first story.
Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1 of 3 - It's a series of short tories telling how Norman recruited the various members of his "Dark X-Men" team. The Namor and Norman story by Paul Cornell & Leonard Kirk is the real highlight of the issue. Its fun to watch a conversation between two people that despise each other but know that they have to work together. For the time being, anyway. In the span of a few pages, the Mimic story by James Asmus and Jesse Delperdang makes the character more interesting than decades of stories have. Lastly, the Dark Beast story by Shane McCarthy + Ibraim Robertson shows that the evil McCoy is having a lot of fun playing head games with Norman.
Essential Thor volume 4 - This volume reprints Thor #167-195. The stories finish the Stan Lee & Jack Kirby run, contain the all too brief Lee & Neal Adams run, and show off the beginning of John Buscema's run (first written by Lee, then taken over by Gerry Conway). I enjoyed the volume, but there isn't really anything here for anybody that isn't a fan of Thor. Even the two Neal Adams issues were not representative of his best work.
Skrull Kill Krew #3 of 5 - Adam Felber + Mark Robinson/Mike Getty. Still better written than it has a right to be, but the art isn't working for me. The art is too cartoony and "fluid" overall to allow the shape-changing to stand out.
Uncanny X-Men: First Class #1 - Scott Gray + Roger Cruz. I'm sad that Jeff Parker isn't writing this, but so far Scott is doing a fairly good job of tapping the feeling of the just-formed "All New, All Different" X-Men team. And lots of fun interactions with the Inhumans.
War of Kings: Warriors #1 of 2 - Christos Gage + Mahmud A Asrar/Carlos Magno. It's a pair of spotlight stories that reveal new insights into the pasts of two players in the war - Gladiator and Blastaar.
X-Men: Legacy #226 - Carey + Weaver. Rogue, Gambit, and Danger arrive in San Francisco just in time to get involved in the Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men crossover.
DC
Booster Gold #22 - Jurgens. Booster tries to prevent the time traveling Black Beetle from killing off the original Robin and the New Teen Titans. Yeah, good luck with that.
The Blue Beetle back-up feature by Sturges and Norton continues to just barely hold my interest. Let's just say that if it wasn't attached to Booster Gold, I wouldn't be reading it.
Green Lantern #43 - Geoff Johns + Doug Mahnke. This Blackest Night prelude focuses on the history and decent into madness of the first Black Lantern, the villain known as Black Hand.
Wednesday Comics #1 of 12 - The newest experiment begins, and it's got more good than bad. Ron Fortier did a fairly decent write-up at ComicRelated.com. Though, as I commented upon the review, I have the opposite opinion on two of the features.
IDW PRESS
G.I.Joe Origins #5 - Larry Hama + Mike Hawthorne. A very, very satisfying end to the first story.