Friday, June 05, 2009

What I Bought 6/4/09 - Part 2

Let's get this done, shall we?

Moon Knight #30 - That was a dud. Moon Knight enters Alcantra's compound, finds many dead guards. He finds the Punisher, who is not responsible for the dead guards, and is just sitting there drinking '40-year-old Macallan'. Then he leaves. Moon Knight finds some guards who are still alive, beats them up, finds Alcantra, then the Toltec drops from the ceiling, and Moon Knight leaves the room so the Toltec can do whatever he/she/it wants with Alcantra. Oh, and Moon Knight may be planning to go back to New York and take out Osborn.

So ultimately, Moon Knight did jack spit? Yes, he saved Alcantra's daughter initially, but the Zapatas protected her as much as he did. He didn't stop Alcantra, I can't tell whether he's prepared to be the killer Khonshu desires or not. 'Cause if not, why bother going after Osborn? Whatever, the books done, and if/when they start it up again, I won't be there.

Nova #25 - Rich tries to defend himself against Egomind's attacks, and eventually reclaims the majority of the Nova Force, which gives him the opportunity to fry Ego's mind, freeing the Worldmind. It appears Ego preyed on Worldmind's desperation for a safe haven, offered itself, then took over and took advantage. Meanwhile, Robbie and Qbit decide they're gonna try and rescue they're captured Nova brethren. And Malik Tarcel, who was Nova Prime, is tortured by the Shi'ar, and then greeted by Garthan Saal. For those of you not up on your Nova history, Garthan Saal was the last person to house all of the Nova Force, and was driven mad by it. Thus Rich's frequent concerns that he'd go bonkers from housing all the Nova Force.

So, not only is Richard back in space (hooray!), he's back to being Nova Prime (hooray!), and his brother is trying to be a hero (good luck, kid), and now we have the abrupt arrival of Saal on the playing field. Not sure what to make of that, but I'm sure it's nothing good. Kevin Sharpe handles the art chores, which is kind of disappointing, because I like Andrea DiVito's work, and DiVitio had only been on the title for three issues before we have a fill-in. Or is Sharpe the new artist? Either way, Sharpe's the 7th or 8th different penciler the books had, in just 25 issues. His work feels a bit like a combination of Wellinton Alves and DiVitio (considerably more DiVitio than Alves), with maybe a bit of Scott Kolins' thicker linework thrown in. I think he draws Rich too beefy, personally.

Secret Six #10 - OK, so Evil Slaver Guy is Evil. Bane is having nightmares, and Scandal helps him through it, for a night at least. Aww. Evil Slaver Guy hires the Six to protect some biohazard artifact thing. Oh, and Luthor's i.d. of Mockingbird is mentioned, to the consternation of the team. I don't know what's going on exactly, but I get the feeling Bane comes a little closer to killing Deadshot every day. Or, he comes closer to being killed by Deadshot every day. Depends on the writer, I suppose.

So that was all very well and interesting. I like the little touch Nicola Scott had with Jeanette. When she pulls that widow's band away from her neck, you can see the mark that shows she's been wearing it for a really long time, which is nifty, I think.

War of Kings #4 - So Lilandra challenges Vulcan's claim to the throne, which means the Shi'ar should be having a civil war. But that might have been cut shot before it started, and it looks as though Chris Powell's going to take the heat for it. Poor guy. Even so, her presence has been making things harder for Vulcan, so just when you think things might be looking up, here comes that stupid Talon with good news from Emperor Whiny Summers Brother #3. On the plus side, Crystal and Ronan seem to be growing closer, that's nice.

I don't know where this thing is going, which could be a good thing, or not, considering there's only two months to go. It could mean the story is spiraling out of control, getting too large, or it could just mean Abnett and Lanning are really planning to disrupt the status quo in Cosmic Marvel, and thus there won't be much in the way of neat resolutions by the end of War of Kings. On the art front, I normally like Pelletier's artwork, but for some reason I really don't like how he draws Darkhawks. Maybe he makes the armor look to form fitting, where I always kind of figured it to be more like Iron Man armor, little bulkier, less muscular definition in the torso. Also, there were a couple of scenes where I thought he faces in the background looked rushed.

3 comments:

SallyP said...

Secret Six is just so good, that I am beside myself...which can certainly be disconcerting.

I think I'm starting to develop a crush on Deadshot, and who ever thought that Bane would become a sympathetic figure?

Seangreyson said...

The Annual for Captain Britain was awesome, if you haven't read it. Meggan leads a civil war in Hell, while the MI13 team plays cricket.

It's not quite as ridiculous as that sounds.

Also I still haven't figured out what the Darkhawks are, and what they're trying to accomplish. I think the fact that they've proven that they lie to everyone doesn't help (the unreliable "narrator" problem in this case).

They've got a bird motif so Shi'ar origin wouldn't be completely unexpected. But the whole destroying the universe thing shouldn't really be popular with the Shi'ar.

CalvinPitt said...

sallyp: Re: Deadshot, is it the mustache that does it for ya, the smoking, or his general air of indifference in the face of, well, everything?

seangreyson: As best I can figure, the Darkhawks are like the Shi'ar version of what the Inhumans were supposed to be for the Kree. Or what the Rocket Reds were for the Soviets in the DCU.

As for why they'd be willing to destroy the universe, they could just be nuts. Based on Medusa's indifference to Star-Lord's warnings, it seems like none of the principals involved in War of Kings remember that the universe is not only where their enemies live, but where they keep all their stuff too.