Ah, New Comic Day. The one slim glimmer of beauty in my otherwise freaking dismal and depressing life.
Let's get to the reviews. Beware the spoilers, for they lie in wait, like Albert Pujols waiting for Brad Lidge to hang another slider. Poor Brad Lidge, there's just no hole deep enough for you to hide in right now, is there?
Annihilation #2 - This book was what I was waiting for, and lo and behold, it's on time! What a concept!
Thanos has acquired himself a little bargaining chip. Maybe. How Drax ultimately reacts remains to be seen. In the short term, I'd guess his response will involve lots of stabbing and killing. I'm curious to see whether Phyla hangs around to help.
Ronan has some valid criticisms of the Kree running the show, but they don't consider him as having any place to say anything. Which leads to Ronan showing them what he thinks of that. Nova gets pretty frustrated with that, I guess he's feeling a bit stressed. Can't imagine why.
Hey Praxagora, and she still seems to have her powers! She can keep fighting Annihilus! My fears were unfounded! Maybe. Of course Ronan has about the reaction you'd expect of a Kree to the story of Super Skrull's awesome death. Jeez Big R, just because your mini-series was a meandering load, no reason to be jealous.
I like that a point brought up almost randomly early in the issue, comes into play with Ravenous' appearance in the resistance camp. Paging Mallet, we have a Zombie sighting! And it's a Zombie Terrax! Holy crap! And a Mad Thinker Android?! Where the hell did Annihilus come up with that?! Hmm. Maybe Terrax is being controlled.
And then, remarkably, things get worse for our heroes. Oh, and Thanos is having a pretty good time experimenting on Big G and the Surfer. Creepy.
I am. . . Freaking. . . Amped. . . Up. . For Issue 3. You can't even imagine. Bring it to me NOW!! 5.0 out of 5.
Warbird #7 - So, Arana signed up, because she wants to be able to help people and not have to worry about SHIELD showing up and trying to kill her. OK, I'm cool with that reasoning. It's the best reason I've seen for actually going along with it. Now that we've dealt with that, time for the crux of the issue.
Arachne and Shroud running for the border. Julia's had a change of heart, after finding out Stark wasn't helping heroes who didn't want to register escape. Uh, duh? He's working with the government, why would he help people defy it? Granted, Tony acts like enough of a dick these days I wouldn't put it past him to double cross them too, but still. And hey, that might just redeem him, if it turns out this whole thing is to draw out some evil elements in the government into the open.
Well, not "redeem", but it's a start.
Also, Kelvin brought up a good point, Canada already has a Superhuman Registration Act, and has for a decade (our time). Yet everyone keeps going there. Hey, I like cold, snowy wilderness, but it's really six of one, half dozen of another, you know? Personally, I go to Wakanda. Or do they have their own version?
Anyway, the escape attempt does not go entirely well, though it is funny to see Carol get so ticked about Julia 'fighting dirty'. Uh, Carol, it's you and Wonder Man against Arachne and The Shroud. I'm sure even the Fortress Keeper, with his great love for Maximilian Coleridge (cool name), would agree that's not a fair fight. In the interests of fairness, I'll mention that Carol wanted to talk first, punch second. Still, throwing the Shroud out of a moving vehicle? Not cool, Wonder Man.
The scenes between Arana and her dad were pretty nice, and the fight at the end was pretty nifty, and does the name "Agent Owen" ring a bell for anyone? He's in the book, and I could swear I know that name. Eh, I'll say. . . 3.3 out of 5, as the parts just don't add up to the whole, somehow.
New Excalibur #11 - So Len told me that Michael Ryan, the artist of the book, is leaving soon, to collaborate with Joss Whedon on Runaways. To which I say, 'Screw you Joss Whedon; I'm not reading your crap, give Frank Tieri Michael Ryan back.'
Does that rhyme when anyone else says it, or is it just me?
On the other hand, maybe Ryan needs a break. His work looked a little rough this issue.
Anyhoo, the team stands poised to travel back to Camelot with Sir Percy. Except Pete Wisdom, who finds the idea of time travel by jumping in a lake. . . objectionable. His concerns are roundly ignored, and here we are. And, hey dragons! Awesome! I wanted more dragons in comics, and I got dragons! Props to Frank Tieri! And it looks like Pete is a little miffed that Captain Britain has assumed authority. Hey, it's your fault Pete; I told you to recruit Kelsey Leigh, but noooo, you just had to have Braddock.
Wanker.
Dragons repelled, it's feasting time, and Dazzler is really enjoying being in olden times. Hmm, is there some backstory about Dazzler really liking fairy tales I'm missing? Either way, it's all padding to set up a big fight next issue. Works for me, though I think Tieri is pushing the romantic entanglements too hard. Juggernaut likes Dazzler (which is at least previously established), but Nocturne likes Juggy, and Wisdom is trying desperately to get Sage into the sack. And given that we're talking the sixth century, I may mean "sack" in a literal sense.
I sense the Hand of Claremont at work there. Maybe Tieri's just following the plan?
Oh, and Sir Percy is being kind of rude to Dane Whitman. Medieval dork. Let's see you survive the Crusades. Despite being a filler issue, this actually worked better for me than Warbird, so 3.8 out of 5.
Except for the weird "bwa-ha-ha" thing between Nocturne and Braddock. What the hell was that about? Yeah, the Exiles used to frequently mess with the timelines of the realities they visited, is it really that amusing?
Ultimate X-Men #74 - This is the end, my only friend, the end. Ok, so it's not the end, but combined with that Annual, it's damn close. Jean shows up, and Magician (who apparently isn't Proteus reborn - damn, that makes roughly 700 false predicitions since I started this blog) somehow creates the Brotherhood to attack her.
So Jean demonstrates that not only is she telepathic and telekinetic, she's also a fucking pyrokinetic as well, as she nearly roasts the flesh from Logan's body to get him free of his metal enclosure. Interesting. I could have sworn that the melting point of the X-Mansion's floor was higher than Wolverine's flesh, but I was wrong. Wolverine does the stabby-stabby, and everything is back to normal. No Magician in sight. No trace of him anywhere, which is too bad, because Nick Fury really wanted to find something he could give to the boys' parents.
Sure, that's why he wanted to find a trace of the kid. *rolls eyes*
The end of the story sets things up for the story from the Annual, as well as some future story Kirkman's going to tell, which I'm sure will involve Magneto and Longshot. Eh, whatever. 2.6 out of 5, because I hate reality-alterers. Not as much as telepaths, but close.
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7 comments:
I love the cosmic Marvel stuff, but even I wasn't expecting Annihilation to be as good as it's turned out to be; it is Marvel after all. It shows up the rubbishosity of Civil Bore.
They'll fudge it up with the follow-ups, I'm sure.
Never did like that Simon Williams #$%^$! This will probably be the last time we see Shroud for the next decade too, although I bet Julia Carpenter going to be part of Omega Flight.
I was toying with the idea of adding Ultimate X-Men to my list, but the current issue was pretty lame. That's $2.99 I get to spend on something else!
kelvin: It's funny, I'd never been much for cosmic Marvel. I stuck to Spidey and the other street-level guys. Sure, the New warriors or the X-Men might get mixed up in something big once and awhile, but it was never my thing.
But this series? Damn. Freaking awesome. And I'm waiting to see this "Peter" guy in action.
It's a shame that Civil War is the one seeling a quarter-million copies, while Annihilation is languishing in the 30-40 thousand range (at least, that's where the mini-series were, I don't think sales for August have been released yet).
fortress: Yeah, the whole Simon/Wanda/Vision thing never interested me, so I've never had much use for him. And I didn't even mention there's a moment where it looks like Simon was trying to grind Shroud's face on the pavement beneath the speeding car.
And you're the second person to suggest Julia in Omega Flight. Which, if she's going to work for a government, why leave the U.S. and her daughter?
Good call on Ultimate X-Men. By your Two-Month rule, I'll give it next issue, but somehow, I think I've run out of steam on it.
Blame the increasing Phoenix presence.
Is it me or was the whole Magician thing kid of useless? Oh, big awesome powers that say you really can't kill me but because I am such a ridiculous character I'm going to go far off screen now and be forgotten 'cause I want to be. It was like a waste of our time that could hve been use to characters who are more interesting, like Kitty and her Spider-Man romance, etc.
And YES! God good loving damn, do I love me some Annihilation! The whole 'grabbing a heroine's BIG DANGLY EARRING and ripping it from her skull' made me giggle madly from the backroom at work. Keeping my Marvel Heart happy.
Annihilation is doing well enough that Marvel have taken notice, all the more surprising since they haven't hyped it to the wazoo llke Iron Asshat's Big Adventure. They've only done one variant cover!
Just read Annihilation #2, and wow. I'd like to see wossname from Young Avengers involved, because of the Kree/Skrull stuff, but otherwise, they're pitching this exactly right (in sharp conrast to Civil Bore).
Assuming the good guys do win, I hope Giffen can make it happen without piling on the unlikely plot inconsistncies. The good guys are up against it, and I'd like to se them pull through on their own merits and not shabby writing.
carla: Yeah, the whole deal with Magician at the end, pretty weak.
kelvin: Yeah Hulkling needs to show up. He'd be useful, and it'd be a better way to use him than Young Avengers/Runaways.
And it is going to be interesting to see how the Good Guys survive this. I've been racking my brain, trying to figure who could show up to help turn the tables. Maybe Beta Ray Bill?
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