War Journal Entry number 802 - Weekly Haul 10/20/10
MARVEL
Carnage #1 of 5 - Zeb Wells + Clayton Crain. The 90s return as Spider-Man and Iron Man become involved in a "Maximum Carnage" revival. Crain's art is still annoyingly dark, even in scenes of full daylight.
Chaos War #2 of 5 - Greg Pak/Fred Van Lente + Khoi Pham. The human heroes have all been immobilized, so Hercules has to recruit some more divine help to take on the Chaos King. It's the God Squad.
Deadpool #28 - Daniel Way + Carlo Barberi. Of course the idea of Deadpool joining the Secret Avengers was too incredible to believe. Featuring the return of Doctor Bong.
Halo: Fall of Reach - Boot Camp #2 of 4 - Brian Reed + Felix Ruiz. The children begin their military training, and John, the future Master Chief, quickly distinguishes himself as a skilled improvisor and natural leader.
Hulk #26 - Jeff Parker + Gabriel Hardman. Thor gets a measure of revenge upon the Red Hulk, and the big galoot just has to take it. With Parker taking over as writer, this series has quickly jumped to the top of my list.
A-Bomb back-up by Parker + Mark Robinson.
Loki #1 of 4 - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa + Sebastian Fiumara. Which is the true history, the one told in Marvel comics or the one told in Norse myths? Loki is confusing the two, and is left feeling even more the outsider than usual. The first issue has already impressed the hell out of me, and I'm very interested to see where it goes. Loki is rarely handled in a fashion that is so engagingly complex.
New Mutants #18 - Zeb Wells + Leonard Kirk. And the New Mutants are down. They aren't calling the story “Fall of the New Mutants” for nothing.
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: A-Z Update #4 of 5 - More files on folk.
Thor: First Thunder #2 of 5 - Bryan J. L. Glass + Tan Eng Huat. Thor's earliest Marvel stories retold. Pretty well written, very well illustrated, but poorly reproduced.
Ultimate New Ultimates #4 of 5 - Jeph Loeb + Frank Cho. There's nothing like a mad Thor. Gorgeous art.
X-Factor #210 - Peter David + Valentine De Landro. The Rahne and Rictor subplot continues, and unravels while something else, completely different, is introduced. I kind of hope it ends up going somewhere.
BOOM
Muppet Show Comic Book #11 - Roger Langridge. How can you go wrong with a Bunsen and Beaker focused issue?
DC
Green Lantern Corps #53 - Tony Bedard + Tyler Kirkham. Dammit, Kirkham is doing the art. His stuff looks like a 12 year old trying to mimic Marc Silvestri and Frank Turner. I give folks slack when they are amateur, but he's been at this a few years now and isn't getting any better. His work is as technically deficient now as it was the first time I saw it a couple of years ago. How he still gets work is beyond me.
Hellblazer #272 - Peter Milligan + Simon Bisley/Giuseppe Camuncoli. As if his fiance being in the past and getting to know his younger self wasn't bad enough, a group of demons have taken it upon themselves to try and ruin John's upcoming wedding. Pretty good stuff here.
Power Girl #17 - Judd Winick + Sami Basri. Batman!
Vertigo Resurrected one-shot - Features a Warren Ellis + Phil Jimenez Hellblazer story about a school shooting that was shelved because it was too close to the Columbine shootings. Now it's been brought out, probably somewhat due to the just-completed run on Astonishing X-Men of Ellis+Jimenez. The rest of the stories are from various anthologies and include work by Brian Bolland, Brian Azzarello + Essad Ribic, Grant Morrison + Frank Quitely, Garth Ennis + Jim Lee, Steven T. Seagle + Tim Sale, Peter Milligan + Eduardo Risso, Bill Willingham, and Bruce Jones + Bernie Wrightson with Tim Bradstreet.
IDW
G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero #159 - Larry Hama + Agustin Padilla. Wall-to-wall action as the Joes take the fight straight to the heart of Cobra. Hama's taken four issue to tell a tale that probably would have lasted t least twelve in the regular series. Sometimes a lack of decompression can be refreshing.
Transformers: Drift #4 of 4 - Shane McCarthy + Alex Milne. Drift fully gives up his identity as a Decepticon... but he never seemed all that dedicated to it in the first place, making the gesture, and climax of the story, rather hollow.
WILDSTORM
X-Files/30 Days of Night #4 of 6 - Steve Niles/Adam Jones + Tom Mandrake. More X-Files style storytelling with vampires in Alaska.
½ trade paperbacks!
MARVEL
Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2: War of Kings book 1 - Collects GotG #7-12 by Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Paul Pelletier/Brad Walker/Carlos Magno/Wesley Craig. Awesome!
Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3: War of Kings book 2 - Collects GotG #13-19 by Abnett/Lanning + Walker/Craig. Also awesome!
Marvel 1602: New World/Fantastick Four - Collects Marvel 1602: New World #1-5 by Greg Pak + Greg Tocchini, and Marvel 1602: Fantastick Four #1-5 by Peter David + Pascal Alixe/Khoi Pham. The second and third of the Marvel 1602 miniseries are collected in a single volume. Pretty good, but neither captures the same grandeur that the original series held.
Sub-Mariner: Revolution - Collects the 6 issue Sub-Mariner miniseries by Matt Cherniss/Peter Johnson + Phil Briones. The fall of Atlantis and, because of it, a lead-in to his alliance with the X-Men.
Wisdom: Rudiments of Wisdom - Collects the 6 issue Wisdom miniseries by Paul Cornell + Trevor Hairsine/Manuel Garcia. A fantastic series that gives Pete Wisdom more depth, adds some interesting characters to the Marvel Universe, and leads into the wonderful Captain Britain and MI:13.
Carnage #1 of 5 - Zeb Wells + Clayton Crain. The 90s return as Spider-Man and Iron Man become involved in a "Maximum Carnage" revival. Crain's art is still annoyingly dark, even in scenes of full daylight.
Chaos War #2 of 5 - Greg Pak/Fred Van Lente + Khoi Pham. The human heroes have all been immobilized, so Hercules has to recruit some more divine help to take on the Chaos King. It's the God Squad.
Deadpool #28 - Daniel Way + Carlo Barberi. Of course the idea of Deadpool joining the Secret Avengers was too incredible to believe. Featuring the return of Doctor Bong.
Halo: Fall of Reach - Boot Camp #2 of 4 - Brian Reed + Felix Ruiz. The children begin their military training, and John, the future Master Chief, quickly distinguishes himself as a skilled improvisor and natural leader.
Hulk #26 - Jeff Parker + Gabriel Hardman. Thor gets a measure of revenge upon the Red Hulk, and the big galoot just has to take it. With Parker taking over as writer, this series has quickly jumped to the top of my list.
A-Bomb back-up by Parker + Mark Robinson.
Loki #1 of 4 - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa + Sebastian Fiumara. Which is the true history, the one told in Marvel comics or the one told in Norse myths? Loki is confusing the two, and is left feeling even more the outsider than usual. The first issue has already impressed the hell out of me, and I'm very interested to see where it goes. Loki is rarely handled in a fashion that is so engagingly complex.
New Mutants #18 - Zeb Wells + Leonard Kirk. And the New Mutants are down. They aren't calling the story “Fall of the New Mutants” for nothing.
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: A-Z Update #4 of 5 - More files on folk.
Thor: First Thunder #2 of 5 - Bryan J. L. Glass + Tan Eng Huat. Thor's earliest Marvel stories retold. Pretty well written, very well illustrated, but poorly reproduced.
Ultimate New Ultimates #4 of 5 - Jeph Loeb + Frank Cho. There's nothing like a mad Thor. Gorgeous art.
X-Factor #210 - Peter David + Valentine De Landro. The Rahne and Rictor subplot continues, and unravels while something else, completely different, is introduced. I kind of hope it ends up going somewhere.
BOOM
Muppet Show Comic Book #11 - Roger Langridge. How can you go wrong with a Bunsen and Beaker focused issue?
DC
Green Lantern Corps #53 - Tony Bedard + Tyler Kirkham. Dammit, Kirkham is doing the art. His stuff looks like a 12 year old trying to mimic Marc Silvestri and Frank Turner. I give folks slack when they are amateur, but he's been at this a few years now and isn't getting any better. His work is as technically deficient now as it was the first time I saw it a couple of years ago. How he still gets work is beyond me.
Hellblazer #272 - Peter Milligan + Simon Bisley/Giuseppe Camuncoli. As if his fiance being in the past and getting to know his younger self wasn't bad enough, a group of demons have taken it upon themselves to try and ruin John's upcoming wedding. Pretty good stuff here.
Power Girl #17 - Judd Winick + Sami Basri. Batman!
Vertigo Resurrected one-shot - Features a Warren Ellis + Phil Jimenez Hellblazer story about a school shooting that was shelved because it was too close to the Columbine shootings. Now it's been brought out, probably somewhat due to the just-completed run on Astonishing X-Men of Ellis+Jimenez. The rest of the stories are from various anthologies and include work by Brian Bolland, Brian Azzarello + Essad Ribic, Grant Morrison + Frank Quitely, Garth Ennis + Jim Lee, Steven T. Seagle + Tim Sale, Peter Milligan + Eduardo Risso, Bill Willingham, and Bruce Jones + Bernie Wrightson with Tim Bradstreet.
IDW
G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero #159 - Larry Hama + Agustin Padilla. Wall-to-wall action as the Joes take the fight straight to the heart of Cobra. Hama's taken four issue to tell a tale that probably would have lasted t least twelve in the regular series. Sometimes a lack of decompression can be refreshing.
Transformers: Drift #4 of 4 - Shane McCarthy + Alex Milne. Drift fully gives up his identity as a Decepticon... but he never seemed all that dedicated to it in the first place, making the gesture, and climax of the story, rather hollow.
WILDSTORM
X-Files/30 Days of Night #4 of 6 - Steve Niles/Adam Jones + Tom Mandrake. More X-Files style storytelling with vampires in Alaska.
½ trade paperbacks!
MARVEL
Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2: War of Kings book 1 - Collects GotG #7-12 by Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Paul Pelletier/Brad Walker/Carlos Magno/Wesley Craig. Awesome!
Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3: War of Kings book 2 - Collects GotG #13-19 by Abnett/Lanning + Walker/Craig. Also awesome!
Marvel 1602: New World/Fantastick Four - Collects Marvel 1602: New World #1-5 by Greg Pak + Greg Tocchini, and Marvel 1602: Fantastick Four #1-5 by Peter David + Pascal Alixe/Khoi Pham. The second and third of the Marvel 1602 miniseries are collected in a single volume. Pretty good, but neither captures the same grandeur that the original series held.
Sub-Mariner: Revolution - Collects the 6 issue Sub-Mariner miniseries by Matt Cherniss/Peter Johnson + Phil Briones. The fall of Atlantis and, because of it, a lead-in to his alliance with the X-Men.
Wisdom: Rudiments of Wisdom - Collects the 6 issue Wisdom miniseries by Paul Cornell + Trevor Hairsine/Manuel Garcia. A fantastic series that gives Pete Wisdom more depth, adds some interesting characters to the Marvel Universe, and leads into the wonderful Captain Britain and MI:13.