What I Bought 12/12/07

I looked through some DC comics this week, and well. . . I'm not sure what to say about Booster Gold, other than I think there were better, more entertaining ways for Johns to have Rip get the point across to Booster. That next event they're already hyping for Green Lantern sounds interesting, but also sounds like an absurd amount of overkill. And after reading Arena (I know, what the hell was I thinking doing that), how did Captain Atom get this powerful? I mean, he's kicking the crap out of everyone. Eh, I guess I'm better off sticking with Marvel. Or am I? Let's find out! Spoilers!

Amazing Spider-Girl #15 - Heh, check out Stan Lee with the thumbs-up, hanging out behind Namor there. Kind of an odd way to position the candles though, in a ring that only goes part way around the cake. Ah well, it's still a nice cover.

Hobgoblin has Mindworm attacking May psychically, seemingly around the clock. She's seeing villains that aren't there, and imagining she's years into the future. . . and the widow of the Black Tarantula. And she keeps getting grilled about the "Heart of the Spider" during these times, because Hobby wants to know about it. Hobgoblin also knows that May has a younger brother now, which could be bad. Anyway, the Hobgoblin's plans are eventually waylaid again, and May gets to celebrate an anniversary with her parents, apparently the day Kaine returned her to MJ, after rescuing her from Osborn's minion.

I think DeFalco actually moved too fast in this issue. He spent an entire issue around Hobgoblin and his drafting of Mindworm into his work, and two issues later that seems to have already faltered. Or maybe it hasn't. I suppose next time around Hobby could have Mindworm take his time, be a little more subtle, though I get the feeling things are fixing to come to a head. Black Tarantula seems ready to get personally involved. I continue to enjoy DeFalco's mixing of costumed and personal life within the issue, rather than just focusing on one of them. I like that when Mindworm is affecting May, the backgrounds seem to get darker, with occasional bright flashes of colors as backgrounds to break that up. The colors are usually following the outline of whoever she thinks is attacking her, so it kind of emphasizes the unreality of it all, that they don't fit. The fact that the issue felt too fast hurts my enjoyment of it, but overall, good times.

Nova #9 - At least Nova isn't just standing there, though there isn't much to suggest he's actually moving. Maybe a cover of Nova flying away from us, towards another character, to provide a sense of velocity?

It's Nova and Cosmo vs. Abyss and his army of "meat puppets". See, they aren't zombies, anymore than people controlled by the Puppet Master are. Except these people die when it's all said and done. Though Rich may wind up wishing he'd found a better way to handle things. His way was clever though, and pretty brave. And now he's off again, to the. . . Homeworld of the Phalanx?! Whoa, maybe not the best idea there, Richie boy.

I'm quite enjoying Alves work on the art. I'm not noticing the jaggedness I complained about last month, so maybe the inking has been toned down a little. He also draws very pretty ghosts and interiors of the Celestial's head. There is what seems to be a slip up when Rich starts to show signs of the Transmode Virus taking hold again, even though that shouldn't have occurred yet, based on Rich's orders to the Worldmind. It's a little thing, though. Also, the energy swirling around in this issue - whether it's from Rich, Cosmo (yeah, you better believe Cosmo whupped some butt), or the ghosts - looks as though it was drawn with a Spirograph. That's not meant as an insult, because it looks really beautiful, though it gives me the odd impression that light from other sources is reflecting/refracting off those energy sources, which wouldn't seem to make sense, but it's still very pretty.

And I continue to enjoy how Abnett and Lanning write Richard Rider and the Worldmind, how they work together or disagree, how Rich can still be overly headstrong, and perhaps not think of the bigger picture, but there's no doubt his heart is in the right place. It's good to see that in Marvel these days. I'm not sure I get why the "meat puppets" keep saying variations of 'Ready or not', unless it's supposed to emphasize that it's all just a game to Abyss. And now that I think of it, why wouldn't he have tried the "meat puppet" trick on the Luminals in one of their apparently numerous past conflicts, given the end result? OK, so certain things don't hold up, but still it's Nova and a telepathic dog against some sort of trickster villain and Not Zombies, inside a Celestial's head. Gold star, baby.

X-Factor #26 - I really do not care about the new X-Force, and I really do not want them on the cover of this book, and I certainly do not want them inside this book. Let's see if I get my wish on that second one together, shall we?

Well, that wish went crashing down the toilet in a hurry. And is Wolverine really telling Rahne that if Warpath isn't up to this, she'll have to take care of him? Cripes Logan, you wussing out in your old age? Take care of your own wetworks jobs. And why the hell are they assuming they have to kill Cable to get the baby? Because a virus made Sentinels attack them? Mr. Sinister is on the playing field, you think he can't make techno-viruses? What kind of dumbassedry is that? And Cyclops is getting Alpha Male with Xavier, and I don't care, so I'm gonna go watch Jimmy crack corn. And a "Peepers" gets eaten by that big silver thing that I keep seeing running allover the place in this crossover. Does that thing ever get tired of running? Why Peepers got eaten, I don't know. Was the silver thing hungry? Was Peepers just the nearest mutant, and it wanted to kill mutants, so bad luck of the draw? Does the death of Peepers serve some higher purpose in the story, beyond the fact that while all these mutants are running around killing each other over a stupid baby, their numbers are continuing to be whittled down?

As far as my reading enjoyment, PAD is up against the wall, because I want to read about the usual characters you see in X-Factor, and what there was of that wasn't particularly satisfying, and I have zero interest in the rest, so it's not a good combination on the whole. I am intrigued that Layla Miller sometimes reads as a mutant, and sometimes doesn't, but that's pretty slim pickings for a single issue. Look, X-writers and artists, you want me to care about this mess? Have Deadpool rushing to help Cable. I don't care how Wade knows where to be, just get him there. Then I will care. Or get X-Force out of my X-Factor. They are not two great tastes that go great together. I'm gonna have to drop this title for a couple months, aren't I?

And on that note, I'm stopping before I depress myself anymore.