What I Bought 2/6/08

I was surprised by Conquest coming this week. The last time I checked Marvel's website it said it came out next week, but here it is, which Marvel's website now assures me was always the plan. That's fine, next week should be big anyway, and this week was light in the periodical column, so it's nice when things start to even out a bit more. And I got my Harley Quinn and Madrox hardcovers, so I'll have to pore over those later this week. Or tonight. Whichever works. Also, I'm going back to scoring books. I'm going to try and simplify, no more decimals, and just score on whether I liked it or not, as opposed to cutting an issue I didn't enjoy slack because it's the middle of an arc, or I like the concept of what they're attempting, but not the execution, or whatever. Judge the issue by itself. May not be fair, but I bought it by itself, so that's how it shall be graded. I don't know why I'm going back to that, reviews just haven't felt right, ending with some vague comment on whether I liked the comic. Sigh, I'm never going to get this figured out satisfactorily.

Annihilation: Conquest #4 - Ronan needs to step back, he's blocking part of the title. Stupid Kree, always aggressively claiming ground wherever they go. Everybody is converging on Hala. Starlord's group is already there, High Evolutionary, Quasar and Warlock are en route, and Ronan's going to be getting underway shortly I'm sure. So it's all coming together. Too bad things are going so poorly for the good guys. Ultron's trying to extract info from Starlord, Ronan's a bit extreme, and Phyla's having a serious crisis of conscience. It's largely a set-up issue.

There are a couple of errors regarding Phyla in the issue. At one point she tells Warlock she can't fly, except when her bands originally ran out of juice in her mini-series, she told Moondragon flight was pretty much all she had left. The problem is, the "no flight" thing is kind of important for how the end plays out, because it leads to that trio getting split up. The second thing is that Phyla's sword broke - the one created from quantum energy - broke like it's a regular sword, which doesn't seem right. Maybe it is, but it seemed to be added so Phyla could have a brief pity-party, and Warlock could be unpleasant to get her going again. Raney's art is OK, but I agree with someone (Jason?) in that I don't really dig his Rocket Raccoon. Maybe Rocket's face seemed too reminiscent of a cartoon character, which seems out of place in a story that seems so serious. It would have worked better in the Starlord mini, which had a bit more of a humorous streak to it, I think. 2 out of 5.

Ms. Marvel #24 - Carol certainly looks imposing doesn't she? The tail is odd. I assume it's supposed to draw our eye to Carol, but I'd think she draws the eye pretty well on her own. I'm not sure what happened in this issue. Carol was Binary again, she's kicking Brood butt, then Arana says something, and suddenly Carol feels like she's powering down. Then she is powering down. Then Cru shows up, but not for long. Then Carol puts a temporary fix on the Brood Queen problem, and then it's time for the cast to rest as they gear up for Secret Invasion! Are you ready?

I say "you", because I'm done. I just have no energy to deal with giant Skrull crossover junk. I was dumb enough to stay through those Civil War tie-in issues of Ms. Marvel that made me hate the character (not to mention all the depressing Amazing Spider-Man CW tie-ins I bought), I'm not making that mistake twice. As for this issue, I don't know. On, I think, Page 5 Carol releases a lot of energy and fries whatever Brood were left in one shot. Except it's hard to see the Brood through all the energy. They're there, but as outlines that weren't all that easy to pick out. First two times reading through, I thought Carol was just showing off, not actually doing anything, and that was why on the next page Brood Queen is smashing into a window of the mini-carrier, because the blast had inadvertently knocked her backwards, rather than the Queen smashing the window to get at humans inside. I'm not sure why Carol's powers faded when then did, or what's the significance of it (I have an idea, but nothing to back it up). Even Aaron Stack proclaiming that he had found the sexy in his new (non-Captain Marvel LMD) body didn't bring much of a smile to my face. And that's never a good sign. 2 out of 5.

Bummer. Well, I suppose the trades I got will be better, and next week is going to be large, so something will have to be good, right? Right?!