What I Bought 1/10/07

So, it's a pretty average week for me. Average number of comics, thoroughly average comics. Nothing spectacular. I guess all that's being saved for next week, when I'll need it more (the spring semester begins next week).

Amazing Spider-Girl #4 - May's feeling the pull of the webs again, and in Parker tradition, it's messing with her public life. Grades, friends, the student council president campaign, her relationship with Gene. Looks like Davidia is about as big a fan of Gene as I am. Good.

Televised bounty hunter Mad Dog is after the Hobgoblin. I find it hard to believe this twit actually captured Hobby once, whether Kingsley's brother helped or not. Irregardless, he's got a little better help this time around, even if he doesn't get to go after the big game, as Hobgoblin wisely keeps a low profile, entrusting eliminations to hired help. Very Kingpinish. Even though nobody died, Pete's probably about to learn May's been webslinging behind his back, so Hobby's got that working for him. The reaction should be fun.

I'm not really interested in the student council plot, so less of that for more brewing gang war would be good. I do think Jimmy Yama's crackpot plan to support his Spider-Girl comic should be amusing. 3.4 out of 5.

New Excalibur #15 - The issue starts with an interesting theory about Onslaught's actions. I suppose it works, but it's a bit too much "square peg, round hole". Either way, if Cain wants to keep his power, he's got to beat his replacement. I still saying giving swords to someone with Juggernaut's power is overkill. Not that Cain seems to mind. He gets into the challenge, which is both good and bad.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team still seems kind of testy, so Agents of Cyttorak showing up acts as a nice stress release. Wisdom in particular gets his best showing since the book started, displaying a particularly nasty streak. The team catches Cain in the midst of a self-defense kill, and Tieri takes the opportunity to add a little more to the Juggernaut Legacy. Not sure about this either, but I guess it works with what we know about Cyttorak. Or at least, with what I knew about him (which is zilcho).

Aftermath, Wisdom lays it out for Cain, and Pete sounds pretty in control, which is a change since he's seemed like a bit of a tosser (as he might say) during Tieri's stint. Hard to say what the long-term effects of this arc might be (to the extent any Marvel story has long-term effects, given their asleep-at-the-wheel editors), but there's something there for Black Knight and Juggernaut, if others choose to use it. Honestly, I was kind of itching for a Revitalized Juggernaut vs. Excalibur brawl, and I like Juggernaut as a good guy. Odd. 3.1 out of 5.

The Punisher #43 - The wives of gangsters Frank's killed since this comic started decide to have a team-up. This is them exchanging their stories, and recognizing their limitations. And there's something about a woman between them. Probably the lady shown club-hopping, then beating the guy she picked up like a drum. Could be interesting. Now that O'Brien's dead, and the social worker lady has decided she needs to stay away from Frank, there's a vacancy for the position of "lady that sometimes helps Punisher". Beyond that, there isn't much. Except for the thing I found most interesting.

It involves Frank getting information out of a criminal, then shooting him. But what Frank realizes is that all the torture he implemented during "The Slavers" storyarc, he didn't use here. The fact that he did use it back then actually troubles him. Could this be an arc where Frank begins to struggle to do what he seems sworn to do?

Still, it's not really a good thing when the most interesting part is the first two pages of the comic. 2.6 out of 5.