What I Bought 11/8/06

So, the pull list came up quite nicely for me this week. The store didn't receive any Dr. Strange: The Oath, but there'll be some in on Friday, so it's OK. I just feel it's very important to buy that comic and demonstrate to Marvel that people will buy a comic where Strange gets some respect, and isn't treated like a freaking plot device.

With that out of the way, let us proceed to the books of the week. Some good, some bad, some "Huh?", and all with potential spoilers in the reviews.

Amazing Spider-Girl #2 - Where to start? Well, May dons the costume this week, at her mother's request no less. What this means about parental approval for future vigilante work, neither May, nor I, can guess. But before we get to the webslinging, May decided to do a little snooping as Red Hoodie Girl, paying a visit to an ice cream palor she saw two thugs last issue enter. At which point she runs into the villain of the day, and beats a retreat.

In typical Parker fashion, superheroing leads to school troubles, and might have hurt her chances for Student Council President, and one character is hoping it also hurts May's chances with Gene Thompson. I'm totally with her on that one. Either way, MJ bails May out of some school trouble, so May can get to the aforementioned webslinging.

Additionally, we find out what Hobgoblin's up to, even if we don't know what the lady he's looking for has yet, and Peter - as part of the police CSI guys - is getting a hint that something is brewing. All in all, a nice follow up, so 4.4 out of 5.

Annihilation #4 - Is it really worth it to review this? I'm clearly not objective, as there's simply no way that we can be four issues in and I haven't been seen a misstep yet. Oh well. For starters, love that cover. It really gives a sense of just how large Thanos is, which I hadn't ever realized, but he's freaking huge! Once within the book, we pick up with Drax doing what he was doing when we last saw him - killing bugs. Of course he's been doing that for six days now, and doesn't show much sign of slowing down. And yet all he cares about is getting to Thanos. Well, he's also kind of sad about splitting from Cammi, and kind of pissed he doesn't feel more sad about his daughter. Complex man.

And what of the Titan? Well, Annihilus is getting pretty bossy, demanding Thanos hurry up and fill his ship with cosmic control rods containing the power cosmic their Galactus Weapon is siphoning off for them. Allow me to say that sounds like a very bad thing. Moondragon lets it slip that she's been poking around in the Big Bug's mind. Which piques Thanos' curiosity (as Giffen seems to be going with a Thanos who's scientist first, death-dealing powerhouse second), and he finds out exactly what Annihilus is up to and well... it's bigger than we thought, which is saying something. But not, as Moondragon mentions, out of line with his very name.

So Thanos decides it's time to bollox Annihilus' plans, except guess who caught up with him? And guess who won't let anyone, including his own daughter, stop him from getting at Thanos? All things considered, Thanos takes it pretty well. Hopefully Reed Richards and Tony Stark take their eventual fates at the Hulk's hands that well.

Oh, and Nova gets down to business, but not before throwing in some nice digs at the heroes of Earth. Go Richard Rider! Like I said, I'm not objective. I see only gold. Or Pop-Tarts. I'm not sure which I like more. 5 out of 5.

The Punisher #40 - Well, it's time for Frank and O'Brien to get down to business. Not that! They did that last issue! I mean that Zakharov has followed the trail that Frank left, and that Zakharov knows he's leaving, and it's soldier fighting time. One helicopter is driving Frank towards all the soldiers they just dropped at the egde of the mountains, and things are looking good for the bad guys. But, as so often happens with burly men, they forget what good things can happen when you just add a woman's touch.

"Touch", in this case refers to O'Brien's finger on the trigger of that Stinger missile. Boom, big badda-boom. At which point the battle turns, and Zakharov turns to plan B. It's not exactly a new plan, more a refresher on an old plan, but it certainly forces the good guys to come up with something new. I hope the surrender was part of it. 3.7 out of 5.

Teen Titans #40 - A DC comic? On my pull list? That can't be. I had a DC book on my list, but it stopped coming out. Wait, this is that book? Oh joy!

Or not. Accusations are thrown at Ravager being the traitor, which causes her to leave, while Bombshell teams up with the Titans to find Raven. Miss Martian shows up, and yes, she is a White Martian, run for your life. Rose is preparing to say adios to the Titans life for good, when Marvin and Wendy (crap, I'd almost forgotten about them), give us another clue as to what was actually stolen.

We find out who the real traitor was, and we find out what Raven was up to, and honestly? I got nothing. I have no idea what Johns wants to accomplish here, which is too bad because in the early part of the issue I thought he was building to something. Well, maybe next issue. At least I only have to wait like two weeks for it. Hooray? 2.8 out of 5.

Ultimate X-Men #76 - Hmm, not as many answers as I'd hoped. Very few actually. Cable wants to kill Xavier? Check. Cable is Wolverine, or trying really hard to convince everyone he's Wolverine? Check. Bishop shows up hunting Cable? O...K, sure, why not? The X-Men are prepping for the next conflict with Cable, but they don't know he's got himself a team. Not a six-pack, so I guess they're the Wild Pack? Was that a '90s comics team? One of the groups of losers Sinister organized? Whatever.

The good part for me was the moments between Storm and Kitty. I hadn't really pegged Storm as a playwright, but I remember Hank had been encouraging her to expand her mind, before the separation and, you know, death. And Kitty thinking about leaving? It's a valid idea. She can control her powers, she can pass for a non-powered human, and other than the fact Nick Fury will probably show up to arrest her, or force her to join his squad, it's a good thought. Well, it was kind of a letdown issue, but last issue was enough to keep me locked in until next month. Maybe that's Kirkman's strategy: alternate intriguing issues with less intriguing issues. Can't keep the excitement at fever pitch constantly, I suppose. 3.1 out of 5.