What I Bought 4/4/07

I wonder if this is how it's going to go for me: one huge week a month, and then very little the other three Wednesdays. I suppose Annihilation:Conquest will help with that a little this summer, but still... Anyway, if Marvel and DC's websites are to be believed, this is my big week for April. With so many books, I'm gonna try and shorten the reviews, or this post will drag on forever.

Annihilation: Heralds of Galactus #2 - Did not enjoy this one as much as the previous issue, but it had it's moments. The first story deals with Firelord hunting down and executing the Centurions, for the lives they took as part of the Annihilation Wave. Three things of note: One, Ravenous has set up a spoils system, handing out planets to loyal Centurions. Two, some Centurions are dismayed that the reasons for the war weren't what they thought they'd be. Three, Kolins art was making it kind of difficult for me to tell what was going on at times. Some of the perspectives and character positions he used were... odd.

The second story has the Silver Surfer tracking down Tenebrous and Aegis, because Galactus has warned him that if they aren't stopped they'll accomplish what Annihilus set out to do. Surfer finds them and resolves to hold them here until Big G arrives, except he's a little outclassed. Fortunately, if there's one thing we can count on from the Silver Surfer, it's that his nobe spirit will lead him to do really reckless (but cool) stuff. Sometimes it's odd to see the Surfer back taking orders from Galactus, but then I remembered that in his own series (the 80s-90s one) he seemed to be running into Galactus and making requests or granting them every time you turned around. 3.5 out of 5.

Bloodrayne: Plague of Dreams #3 - Wow. This thing had Ultimates-level delays (originally solicited for December, I believe). It's been awhile, but I did recall that Rayne needed to stop her telepathic relative Garek, who had a plan to destabilize the political world, leading to humans whaling on each other to the point where they'd be easy pickings for the vamps. Now Rayne's leading a squad of Brimstone Society troops to his desert stronghold to take him out.

Despite some setbacks - Garek expecting their assault prime among them - we eventually get to the major showdown between the siblings, and it's a pretty back and forth affair, with Garek running his yap constantly, about what he knows about Brimstone, and how they're using Rayne, and she's just a little girl and blah, blah, blah. To be fair, he's kicking her butt for a lot of the fight, so I suppose he can talk as much as he wants in that case. Oddly, even after Brimstone starts destroying the place (to stop Garek from spilling beans, natch), and Rayne tries crippling him so he can't escape, Garek still helps her escape. Can't quite track that, which was probably my main issue with this mini-series, characters' choices didn't seem to connect with their previous thoughts and deeds. Maybe it reads better if I go through it all at once. I'll have to try that later. 3.1 out of 5.

I do like how most of these one-shots and minis seem to be tying together a few strands at a time, building to something bigger. It shows a larger sense of design, planning.

Immortal Iron Fist #4 - This was pretty cool. Orson and Danny suit up and travel to Orson's father's pneumatic subway station. You New Yorkers with your fancy pneumatic subways. As they travel, Orson clues Danny into some facts about the legacy of the Iron Fist, which basically seems to boil down to "You're a stupid kid, who has no idea what he's capable of." Gotta love those grizzled old folks.

In other news, Davos slaughters dozens of HYDRA agents... because he felt like it, I think. Really, how do you expect to get peak performance out of your employees if you keep killing them? "Death avoidance" is not a proper incentive! Oh, and it looks like Rand Industries will be building that railroad for China after all. I think it's interesting when the big fight scene kicks off that Daniel isn't using any Iron Fist chi stuff. Curious. 4.5 out of 5.

Warbird #14 - Ken's still working on getting more copies of #13, so I'm flying moderately blind into this, but I think I get the gist. Carol wants to make amends for ripping Julia Carpenter's life apart. Hooray! But man, Julia got beat down by Arana? No respect for the Spider-Woman that took part in Secret Wars whatsoever. So, Carol helps Julia, and there's a sort-of happy ending on that front, though Julia makes it quite clear that she still hates Carol's guts. And Wonder Man's too, which is only proper as Simon Williams is a big loser (with moderate apologies to the Wonder Man fans in the audience).

Also, it seems that the first prediction I made in this post can be safely discarded. Or maybe not, but if not, it must be really crowded in there. Maybe it's the inker, but does anyone else think Aaron Lopresti draws hair a lot like Wieringo? Not a criticism, just a question. 3.4 out of 5, because I can't quite bring myself to say I enjoyed it more than Annihilation.

New Excalibur #18 - This is basically an origin issue for Albion. How much you like it would probably derive in part from how much that interests you. I was a little curious, so it worked alright for me. Albion was a soldier on a world where World War I became the Hundred Years War. Given those circumstances, not all that surprising he picked the sword over the amulet, which dismayed Roma greatly. And her attitude pissed Albion off, and so when he meets a Captain Britain (one of Roma's golden boys), he decides it's high time to mess with her goals. It's funny, but I don't remember Roma being part of Captain Britain's origin. I thought King Arthur was involved, but I've only seen his origin in that team-up he and Spidey had against Arcade and it's been awhile since I read that comic, so I'm probably wrong.

I read this is gonna be a seven-part story, which seems too long, but I guess I'll see. I'm mostly in it to see what happens with Lionheart, seeing as I may be her one and only fan. It was kind of an interesting issue, so I'm going to say 3.5 out of 5.

The Punisher #46 - The widows get their first shot at Castle, and well, it wasn't a total bust. I mean, they possibly punctured a lung, and only one of them died, that's better than a lot of the other suckers that put their sights on Frank can say. Of course, a couple of problems have arisen. One, Frank should now be somewhat wise to their scheme. Two, their odd lady stalker has finally stepped into the spotlight, and was the major reason why their plan didn't go better (that and the bait flipping out). Three, their firefight attracted the cops, including that "hero" cop from earlier in the arc, who realizes who the ladies are, and figures their being in one place together can't be coincidence. Hmm, that's more like a few problems, rather than a couple. Bugger.

Also, I imagine that it can't be fun to be lying wounded in a bed, receive a kiss, and have the person who kissed you follow up with the line 'You're the man who killed my husband.' But maybe that's just an everyday thing for Frank. We're nearing the end of the arc, and as things pick up, so do the scores, 4.2 out of 5.

So that's me for the week.