What I Bought 11/26/08

In the store today, it somehow got around to the Darkhawk tie-in to War of Kings that's being solicited for February, with Customer Jack trying to sell Customer Larry on it. Jack pointed out the solicitation mentioning this is planning to do for Darkhawk what Annihilation did for Nova, which was good enough for me, but not for Larry who dismissed Darkhawk as a knockoff of Batman. No, that's not a misprint. I was torn between laughing in his face or calling him a fucking idiot, so I did neither. What, because he has "Dark" in his name, he's related to Batman? Must have missed the part where Bruce Wayne was some average untrained teenager who finds a weird amulet that swaps his mind into a super-powered cyborg thing (that's how it works, right? Chris' body goes into storage somewhere). Wouldn't Captain Marvel be more accurate? Or Green Lantern? I just don't see the comparison myself.

Guardians of the Galaxy #7 - Something happening in the present is destroying the future, and that's why Starhawk keeps showing up trying to fix things. Except I'm not certain Starhawk knows precisely what needs to be fixed. Either way, the Badoon are getting feisty, and it's up to the new roster, with Rocket Raccoon as leader, to stop them. If they can. We also check in on the departed members of the previous roster, some of whom are having better days than others.

I'm a bit concerned this time stuff is going to make my head hurt when it's all over. On the plus side, nice to see somone using the Badoon as dangerous aliens. Other than the other Guardians of the Galaxy, the only time I've seen them was an issue of Silver Surfer where they were working for the Kree against the Skrulls, which kind of makes them look like cheap thugs. Now, they have an air of menace, in that "We've got big plans" way. Especially considering the current Guardians are a bit light on power, compared to the previous group. Which is half the fun really, watched the overmatched heroes prevail through judicious application of powers, combined with their wits.

Couple of other points. During the fight scenes, I'd like Pelletier to consider pulling back a little bit, give us a more expansive view of the battle. He gives us panels of all the characters doing their thing, but after the intial two-page spread to start the battle (the one for the current group, not the future group), we don't get a good sense of where characters are in relation to one another. Might be a way of demonstrating they don't operate as a team, rather as a group of individuals, except he did the same thing with the other Guardians in this issue, who presumably worked together more smoothly. Also, I think Abnett and Lanning might be going too Hulk with Groot's dialogue. It's a bit lacking in regal majesty or disdain for his teammates or opponents. For all that griping, I still liked the issue, and some of the concepts they seem to be throwing into this title.

Nova #19 - The Worldmind keeps building up the Corps without letting Rich know, even after Rich asks him to stop. Personally, I question the wisdom of selecting so many recruits from one species. In theory, it reduces the conflicts that might arise from having Shi'ar working with Kree, except Earthlings don't do too well getting along other Earthlings, even when they don't have superpowers to settle their disputes. Presumably the Worldmind would screen for this, but as gung-ho as it's getting, I think it lost some vital programming when it nearly burned out during the Galactus encounter. Or, it's related to the reemergence of Wendell Vaughn. Assuming that is Wendell. Worldmind's interest in the Quantum energy flask fills me with foreboding.

Meanwhile, Rich is having ego troubles, as all the new Novas make him feel less special I guess. Plus, he'd grown accustomed to having Worldmind in his head. I get that. I've had roommates move out, move on, and it always feels a little empty afterwards, but you adjust. As many changes as Rich has gone through in his life, I'm sure he can absorb this. I'm curious what Lanning and Abnett (might as well let Mr. Lanning get first mention sometimes) are planning with this arc. Is it to explore how Rich might handle no longer having a massive amount of power, which made him a one-man army? Is it to see if he can handle being reduced in power, but elevated in authority, as the other Novas will follow his lead? Is it to give Rich an Amazing Spider-Man #50 moment, of "Nova No More!", where he hangs it up? And what would that accomplish, since one of the solicits says he does hang it up? Maybe to demonstrate Rich was addicted to the power, the onset of becoming another Super-Nova? I assume there's some larger point, I just haven't sussed it out yet.

I was going to complain that Alves doesn't get to draw any really weird stuff like cute kitty people that turn into Super-Skrulls, but he did draw Taboo, The Thing from the Murky Swamp, which is kind of cool, I guess. He got to draw cooler stuff when Nova was still in space though. Stupid, lame Marvel-Earth.

I was originally expecting Immortal Iron Fist, but that got pushed back to next week, for some reason. Just as well I suppose. I didn't have much on the docket for next week.