War Journal Entry number 806 - Weekly Haul 11/10/10
Such a Thor week. Four different Thor comics, you'd think I like him a lot more than I actually do. It's also a week devoid of anything X-Men related which is just bizarre.
MARVEL
Ant-Man & Wasp #1 of 3 - Tim Seeley. Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man now calling himself the Wasp, finds himself forced to work with the incorrigible Eric O'Grady, the current Ant-Man, who stole his suit from Pym. Hey, the best “buddy cop” stories star characters that hate each other, right? And this is a lot of fun.
Avengers Prime #4 of 5 - Brian Michael Bendis + Alan Davis. The three Avengers biggies get a little bonding time before they go into battle with Hela. And character interaction is really Bendis's strongest area, so, hey, it finally starts working.
Chaos War: Thor #1 of 2 - J.M. DeMatteis + Brian Ching. In the midst of the War, Thor falls to Earth with his memory wiped and form returned to Don Blake. From cosmic scale action to intimate personal drama, DeMatteis excels at both.
Incredible Hulks #616 - Greg Pak + Barry Kitson. Hulk confronts his second child, but will he realize in time that he is now dealing with a true monster?
She-Hulk back-up by Tim Seeley + Al Rio. Seeley is getting around lately, eh? Well, it's a good thing and this is some good stuff.
She-Hulks #1 (limited series?) - Harrison Wilcox + Ryan Stegman. Jennifer Walters and Lyra working together hunt down the Intelligencia. But during the day Lyra has the real challenge for a girl from a post-apocalyptic future, going to high school. Highly enjoyable.
Thanos Imperative #6 of 6 - Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Miguel Sepulveda. A spectacular finale to a spectacular series. Drama and action, humor and tragedy, closure and denial, this series has the perfect mix of every damn thing. This series, and all the Abnett&Lanning books that led into it, were the most exciting and enjoyable reads I've had.
Thor #617 - Matt Fraction + Pascul Ferry. This story is going way too slow, I was expecting more energy from Fraction after his stuff in Immortal Iron Fist, Uncanny X-Men, the Order, and Invincible Iron Man. I think he's trying for epic grandeur here, but it just feels ponderous. This is my least enjoyed Thor series out of the way-too-many that are out right now, and I was expecting so much more.
Thor: For Asgard #4 of 6 - Robert Rodi + Simone Bianchi. Thor continues to be a couple of steps behind the unknown villain, and now others are taking advantage of Asgards weakness. Yep, I'm talking about Hela, as if she wasn't getting enough action in Avengers Prime.
Ultimate Thor #2 of 4(?) - Jonathan Hickman + Carlos Pacheco. Baron Zemo stands revealed as Asgard is besieged on multiple fronts in a tale told in multiple time periods. I wish that Fantastic Four and SHIELD were as enjoyable as this, perhaps the limited nature of a miniseries keeps him on task.
BONGO
Comic Book Guy: The Comic Book #5 of 5 - Ian Boothby + John Delaney. For a miniseries about Comic Book Guy, he didn't really appear that much. Hell, he was absent from more issues than he was in. But he's back here, along with revelations into his history and some more comic book spoofs. Fun, but not something I'm going to recommend to anyone that doesn't already like the Simpsons.
BOOM
Muppet Sherlock Holmes #3 of 4 - Patrick Storck + Amy Mebberson. It's wacky! And highly enjoyable. I heartily recommend picking this one up. Gonzo as Sherlock and Fozzi as Dr Watson. Awesome!
DARK HORSE
Hellboy/Beasts of Burden one-shot - Evan Dorkin (with Mike Mignola) + Jill Thompson. Some of the charm of Beasts of Burden is lost with the inclusion of Hellboy. His cynicism and indifferent attitude towards the supernatural affects the entire tone of the book. Still enjoyable, but not as much as the original series.
DC
Booster Gold #38 - Keith Giffen/J.M. Dematteis + Chris Batista. A WWII era tale featuring the return of General Glory, a hero no one ever wanted to see again. Yay for JLI call-backs.
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #3 - Peter Tomasi + Fernando Pasarin. Ion, the most powerful Green Lantern of them all, has gone off the map. But Guy can't deal with that right now, he's got a Red Lantern to keep in check. Love this series. Then again, I love Guy.
Hellblazer: City of Demons #3 of 5 - Si Spencer + Sean Murphy. John's damnable demon blood is causing havoc in the folks that have received in via transfusions. Violence, ahoy!
Justice League: Generation Lost #13 - Judd Winick + Joe Bennett. A significant hero of the last couple years dies in a spectacularly violent fashion (read massive collateral damage and civilian deaths), and Captain Atom gets blamed for it. Wow. Very unexpectedly wow.
IDW
G.I.Joe Origins #21 - David Lapham + Werther Dell'Edera. Maybe Mad Monk is featured in the Cobra series that I haven't been reading. I've been enjoying it despite being confused about a number of things. I'm just worried it won't have a satisfying ending, Lapham has a history of good build-up with poor pay-off.
G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero #160 - Larry Hama + Agustin Padilla. Storm Shadow rescues Scarlet while Snake Eyes is brainwashed into joining Cobra? Is this ninja swap day? Has everyone been taking crazy pills? No, Larry's just keep things fresh.
Transformers #13 - Mike Costa + Nick Roche. Hot Rod takes the fight to Starscream utilizing an homage to one of the most ludicrous pieces of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Interesting...
WILDSTORM
WildStorm Presents #1 - In the vein of the recent DC Presents specials, we get a 100-page “spectacular” of various WildStorm short stories. Some, of course, I already have. But most of these were new for me. Unfortunately they weren't all that great. It leads with the Deathblow story by Allen Warren and Carlos D'Anda which is smart since I think it's the strongest piece despite being so brief. That's followed by a Geoff Johns written tale that was surprisingly weak for something from Johns. It's illustrated by the damn fine Jason Pearson and features time traveling hitmen. Paul Jenkins and Georges Jeanty have a tale of a very horny Engineer (of the Authority). Brian Azzarello and Brian Stelfreeze do a silent black/white story featuring Coda of the Wildcats which is trying to be fancier than it deserves, switching between a modern street fight and a ancient battle with samurai. I had high hopes for Masks: Too Hot For TV! since writers included Ed Brubaker, Judd Winick, Patton Oswalt, Marc Andreyko and Jill Thompson, while it is illustrated by Dough Mahnke, Whilce Portacio, Amanda Conner, Richard Corben, and Tony Akins. Unfortunately it wasn't nearly as funny as it tried to be, and it just felt like it was trying too hard.
MARVEL
Ant-Man & Wasp #1 of 3 - Tim Seeley. Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man now calling himself the Wasp, finds himself forced to work with the incorrigible Eric O'Grady, the current Ant-Man, who stole his suit from Pym. Hey, the best “buddy cop” stories star characters that hate each other, right? And this is a lot of fun.
Avengers Prime #4 of 5 - Brian Michael Bendis + Alan Davis. The three Avengers biggies get a little bonding time before they go into battle with Hela. And character interaction is really Bendis's strongest area, so, hey, it finally starts working.
Chaos War: Thor #1 of 2 - J.M. DeMatteis + Brian Ching. In the midst of the War, Thor falls to Earth with his memory wiped and form returned to Don Blake. From cosmic scale action to intimate personal drama, DeMatteis excels at both.
Incredible Hulks #616 - Greg Pak + Barry Kitson. Hulk confronts his second child, but will he realize in time that he is now dealing with a true monster?
She-Hulk back-up by Tim Seeley + Al Rio. Seeley is getting around lately, eh? Well, it's a good thing and this is some good stuff.
She-Hulks #1 (limited series?) - Harrison Wilcox + Ryan Stegman. Jennifer Walters and Lyra working together hunt down the Intelligencia. But during the day Lyra has the real challenge for a girl from a post-apocalyptic future, going to high school. Highly enjoyable.
Thanos Imperative #6 of 6 - Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning + Miguel Sepulveda. A spectacular finale to a spectacular series. Drama and action, humor and tragedy, closure and denial, this series has the perfect mix of every damn thing. This series, and all the Abnett&Lanning books that led into it, were the most exciting and enjoyable reads I've had.
Thor #617 - Matt Fraction + Pascul Ferry. This story is going way too slow, I was expecting more energy from Fraction after his stuff in Immortal Iron Fist, Uncanny X-Men, the Order, and Invincible Iron Man. I think he's trying for epic grandeur here, but it just feels ponderous. This is my least enjoyed Thor series out of the way-too-many that are out right now, and I was expecting so much more.
Thor: For Asgard #4 of 6 - Robert Rodi + Simone Bianchi. Thor continues to be a couple of steps behind the unknown villain, and now others are taking advantage of Asgards weakness. Yep, I'm talking about Hela, as if she wasn't getting enough action in Avengers Prime.
Ultimate Thor #2 of 4(?) - Jonathan Hickman + Carlos Pacheco. Baron Zemo stands revealed as Asgard is besieged on multiple fronts in a tale told in multiple time periods. I wish that Fantastic Four and SHIELD were as enjoyable as this, perhaps the limited nature of a miniseries keeps him on task.
BONGO
Comic Book Guy: The Comic Book #5 of 5 - Ian Boothby + John Delaney. For a miniseries about Comic Book Guy, he didn't really appear that much. Hell, he was absent from more issues than he was in. But he's back here, along with revelations into his history and some more comic book spoofs. Fun, but not something I'm going to recommend to anyone that doesn't already like the Simpsons.
BOOM
Muppet Sherlock Holmes #3 of 4 - Patrick Storck + Amy Mebberson. It's wacky! And highly enjoyable. I heartily recommend picking this one up. Gonzo as Sherlock and Fozzi as Dr Watson. Awesome!
DARK HORSE
Hellboy/Beasts of Burden one-shot - Evan Dorkin (with Mike Mignola) + Jill Thompson. Some of the charm of Beasts of Burden is lost with the inclusion of Hellboy. His cynicism and indifferent attitude towards the supernatural affects the entire tone of the book. Still enjoyable, but not as much as the original series.
DC
Booster Gold #38 - Keith Giffen/J.M. Dematteis + Chris Batista. A WWII era tale featuring the return of General Glory, a hero no one ever wanted to see again. Yay for JLI call-backs.
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #3 - Peter Tomasi + Fernando Pasarin. Ion, the most powerful Green Lantern of them all, has gone off the map. But Guy can't deal with that right now, he's got a Red Lantern to keep in check. Love this series. Then again, I love Guy.
Hellblazer: City of Demons #3 of 5 - Si Spencer + Sean Murphy. John's damnable demon blood is causing havoc in the folks that have received in via transfusions. Violence, ahoy!
Justice League: Generation Lost #13 - Judd Winick + Joe Bennett. A significant hero of the last couple years dies in a spectacularly violent fashion (read massive collateral damage and civilian deaths), and Captain Atom gets blamed for it. Wow. Very unexpectedly wow.
IDW
G.I.Joe Origins #21 - David Lapham + Werther Dell'Edera. Maybe Mad Monk is featured in the Cobra series that I haven't been reading. I've been enjoying it despite being confused about a number of things. I'm just worried it won't have a satisfying ending, Lapham has a history of good build-up with poor pay-off.
G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero #160 - Larry Hama + Agustin Padilla. Storm Shadow rescues Scarlet while Snake Eyes is brainwashed into joining Cobra? Is this ninja swap day? Has everyone been taking crazy pills? No, Larry's just keep things fresh.
Transformers #13 - Mike Costa + Nick Roche. Hot Rod takes the fight to Starscream utilizing an homage to one of the most ludicrous pieces of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Interesting...
WILDSTORM
WildStorm Presents #1 - In the vein of the recent DC Presents specials, we get a 100-page “spectacular” of various WildStorm short stories. Some, of course, I already have. But most of these were new for me. Unfortunately they weren't all that great. It leads with the Deathblow story by Allen Warren and Carlos D'Anda which is smart since I think it's the strongest piece despite being so brief. That's followed by a Geoff Johns written tale that was surprisingly weak for something from Johns. It's illustrated by the damn fine Jason Pearson and features time traveling hitmen. Paul Jenkins and Georges Jeanty have a tale of a very horny Engineer (of the Authority). Brian Azzarello and Brian Stelfreeze do a silent black/white story featuring Coda of the Wildcats which is trying to be fancier than it deserves, switching between a modern street fight and a ancient battle with samurai. I had high hopes for Masks: Too Hot For TV! since writers included Ed Brubaker, Judd Winick, Patton Oswalt, Marc Andreyko and Jill Thompson, while it is illustrated by Dough Mahnke, Whilce Portacio, Amanda Conner, Richard Corben, and Tony Akins. Unfortunately it wasn't nearly as funny as it tried to be, and it just felt like it was trying too hard.