What I Bought 7/1/09 - Part 1

Well, for the next several weeks, I'll be able to get my comics when they come out, same as you. Isn't that lovely? It was nice to visit the store and spend a little time shooting the breeze with the fellas. Apparently 4th of July isn't going to push next week's comics to Thursday, which is just super-peachy keen and neato. Sigh. It's rather sad that I've spent so much of my life being a smart aleck that even when I try to express enthusiasm, I look at it and think I'm coming off insincere. However, this is no time for moping, forward reviews!

Agents of Atlas #7 - So the Atlantean Council has dark motives for wanting Namor and Namora to get hitched, which leaves those two shaken. Namor gives Jimmy some advice about trying to run an organization, based on Namor's years of trying to run a country, and Derek Khanata reenters the field. Then there's a second story detailing some of Mr. Lao the Dragon's past, which I didn't totally follow on the first reading.

I wonder whether Parker will revisit the Namor/Namora thing down the line. Sure, they feel manipulated now, but as Gorilla Man pointed out, if their feelings are genuine they should follow them. I like how Parker writes Namor. He maintains his regal bearing, and that tendency to be bossy, but he also counsels Jimmy once he gets to know him a little and starts to respect him. Namor's should pretty much always be arrogant, but he can also be friendly, given the proper circumstances. I'm still not terribly pleased with Hardman's work on the undersea portions, though I think it may still be the coloring washing out some of the detail. On the other hand, I love how Carlos Pagulayan draws Mr. Lao.

Exiles #4 - The team fights some machines, travels a bit, learns what happened on this world (in short, Hank Pym screws things up again). Blink teleports to find food, and the rest of the team is captured by Ultron, Vision, and Machine Man, though that may have been a blessing.

One thing this issue makes clear is that Blink may know more than the others, but she doesn't know everything. What that means, I'm not sure. Someone brand new is pulling the strings? Who? Casey Jones took over as artist, which I guess isn't a bad idea for the book, rotating artists as they traverse realities, but I'm not quite as fond of his work as I was of Espin's. There's nothing wrong with it, really, except maybe that Jones doesn't go quite as detailed on the surroundings as Espin, it's just not as much to my liking. For what that's worth.

Guardians of the Galaxy #15 - Let's see. Inhumans attack the Guardians, retrieve Crystal, then run away like wusses because they can't risk their king being harmed. I'm sorry, I thought Black Bolt was supposed to be tough. The Shi'ar try to annex Knowhere, Rocket hands a beatdown to the Braniac wannabe, Adam Warlock turns purple again in the process of killing that annoying mage, and the Shi'ar have to retreat. Moondragon frees Starhawk, and then Knowhere wakes up. Suppose I should have seen that coming, as if decapitation would really kill a Space God.

I really expected that to be more chaotic, but Abnett and Lanning seem to decide it was better to sort of split the fight up. So the Inhumans dominated focus early, the Shi'ar late, and Starhawk got her time in the middle. Either way, lots going on, and I want to see where it all leads. I think Brad Walker continues to do a fine job on the art chores, keeping things readable despite the number of characters involved. My favorite line was Cosmo's 'Are you God?' to Lockjaw after the Imperial Guards telepath knocked him for a loop.

Immortal Iron Fist #27 - Danny's company is destroyed, but HYDRA can't let things go, so we get a little fighting with them, then Danny prepares for the next phase of his life, with Misty Knight, which leads him to have a conversation with Luke, because they're buddies and buddies talk about stuff like this. Then there's a preview of the first issue of the Immortal Weapons mini-series, which um, was not quite what I was expecting for a story involving Fat Cobra.

So we see a little of what became of Wendell Rand after he left the Heavenly City, and how Danny may and may not be his father's son. I don't guess Misty's announcement was any surprise, since Swierczynski mentioned it in his first arc, but Danny's chief operating officer being a drunk is not something I remember. Granted, we didn't see much of him in "The Mortal Iron Fist", but his being too drunk to save the company seems a bit out of left field.

Foreman and David Lapham handle most of the issue, with Timothy Green II drawing the flashbacks, which I tell you, feels like a waste of Mr. Green. Still, he does a good job of giving Wendell an air of exhaustion and dissatisfaction with his life, which contrasts with the bright colors used in those sections, which contrasted with the overwhelming inky blackness of the HYRDA stuff. I was less enthused with the art through the rest of the issue. The inky seemed a lot heavier which did not help things, because the lines seem much too thick, and the backgrounds seem rushed or non-existent. Also, I can't figure why initially, there are large sections of white space between panels in Foreman's, then partway though, the space between panels becomes black.

That's all for tonight, three more reviews tomorrow.