New Avengers Annual #2: I talked about it a little in the comments from Saturday's post, as a response to Pedro, but I might as well mention it here as well. Tigra gets a moment. I don't think it is the moment that Lenil Yu mentioned, but it's something. I'm still not certain that when it's all said and done, Bendis will have improved Tigra as a character, or that this will be viewed as a positive arc for the character, but I have hope that it'll turn out OK, which is more than I had on Saturday. And if he proves me to be a fool, as I stand humbled before the totally awesome story of Tigra he tells, then I guess I'll have to make an apology post for doubting his brilliance. But we aren't there yet. I still think Bendis may have dropped Tigra too low before he started to build her back up again. And someone mentioned this on scans_daily, I'll bring it up here, why didn't Tigra tell SHIELD about the Hood threatening her mother, and wanting Tigra to be a mole for him? Wouldn't SHIELD have had some response to that? Her stock can't be so low they'd just blow her off, would they? They'd get her mother to safety, or at least ask her to play along with him?
The Annual was pretty good on the whole. Not as good as the first one (in my opinion), which was the best issue of the title I actually bought, but pretty good. Bendis seems a lot better at putting a lot of story in an Annual that's equivalent in length to two regular issues, than he does with two regular issues. More substantial, which is good, with the increased price and all.
Batman: I don't know whether it was a hallucination, or just an example of what he sees in his mind, or if it's real, but there's a point where Bats is thinking of his Robin's, and we see memorial cases. Three of them, one of which holds a costume that looks a lot like the one Stephanie sported during her brief time as the Girl Wonder. I'm not sure why there are three though, unless he put one up for Grayson, even though he just switched names. Just thought I would mention that.
So, howzabout that one review? I know, I know, expand the pull list. Next month alright?
Ultimate Spider-Man #118 - It's a fine enough cover. I don't really have anything to say about it. I'm glad the covers at least give you a hint of what's going to happen, instead of just being generic pin-ups.It's mostly an interpersonal relationship issue. Liz is having some intermittent health issues, which is probably why she's been keeping to herself for awhile. Pete's thinking about Harry, Johnny's thinking about needing a change of pace dating-wise, and Kong knows something. I can't remember whether it's been hinted he knew this, or whether I heard people discussing that online. Bugger. So then two of the costumed sect show up at school. They don't cause trouble though, which probably made the teachers happy. And everybody has fun, for awhile. Then things get weird, as they have a tendency to do in the life of Peter Parker.
The Liz thing is a little odd. Not a lot, because Bendis has been making it pretty clear something was wrong with her for awhile, though the particulars of that something weren't entirely clear. I'm curious as to why BMB is handling the situation between Kitty and Bobby. Maybe Kirkman doesn't have the time? I do find it interesting that Kitty is sticking to the reason for her being at this school that she gave Pete initially, even though it conflicts with the reason she gave in Ultimate X-Men. It's not a big thing, I just figured there was a psychological reason she did that, and I think now it's more that Kirkman picked a reason, but it wasn't really a big deal since the character was leaving his title. Again, not a big thing, just something to note.
About the art. There seems to be a lot of putting character's faces in shadow. It happens on the first page, as Pete is trying to focus on reading, it happens later as Johnny tries to break down the specifics of the Pete/Kitty/MJ thing, and when Kitty and Bobby are having a to-do, it happens with all the background characters. I find it a little odd, because it seems to carry a different meaning in each case, but I think I need to spend more time reflecting on it. It's slow, but there were some things in this issue I definitely want to see followed up on, especially the thing Kong knows, so it works as a set-up at least, if not as an individual issue.
2 comments:
I thought Ultimate Spider-Man was pretty good. It's interesting that he isn't even costume for the entire issue. I did have a little trouble however telling Johnny from Bobby at the beach, since they are both blond and in bathing suits.
As for Liz...well I guess there is a little irony for you. Liz hates Mutants, so isn't it funny that she turns out to BE one? Har-de-har-har.
I'd still rather read this than regular Spider-Man.
sallyp: I had that same problem with Johnny and Bobby. I think Bobby's hair is flatter, probably from wearing that blasted do rag all the time. Consarn kids and their goofy fashion.
As for Liz, maybe she's not a mutant. Maybe she's the result of genetic tampering by some eeevil scientists. Then again, Magneto's on next month's cover, so yeah, mutant.
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