Going into Fear Itself

Fear Itself is of course the big event of the summer , to coincide with the Capt. America and Thor movies , the Hulk looks to play a large part along side Juggernaut and if i am going to call it on the third person from the teasers I'm going to say that's Dracula, there have been speculations as to it being the Grey Gargoyle but i would be surprised to see him in that big of a role. though he is in the teaser art along with the Absorbing man. Anyways since we are going to get that crammed down our throats i'm going to look at titles i have looked over that are not related.
The first being the New Avengers, a title which doesn't need to exist, but the last issue was very well executed and if you can't get your fill of characters who hav e no business being together it's a must. For fans of Dr. Strange and Ms Marvel it's a must as you can't catch those character's else where. I the roster needs to be re thought , it worked best back in the Sentry days or during Dark reign, but with Thunderbolts, Academy and the Bendis book is it really needed .
Wonder Woman has been surprising well written as well, the pacing of the action making more sense than alot of the Dc titles , it's all about the balance folks , while Matt Fraction bores me with the Build up and Loeb was insulting with all fists and no story a common occurrence of Batman/Superman title, the perfect blend we got in the 80's is rare but it happens .
Invincible Iron man- here Fraction gives us three issues that could have been two, the Dr. Ock dynamic with Toney Stark, is a one trick pony, best delved into way back in Marvel Fanfare which is winked at here. The sinister six would have been a better inclusion, it would have given Fraction the same chance to build off family, i'm guessing his was fairly co-dependent as his heroes are too defined by the supporting cast. A lesson in Spider- man could be well learned whose supporting cast fleshing out the gaps but he isn't reliant upon them.

state of the union

Decided to post a little something looking at where comics are heading as comic cons are popping up so is new and reveals for the upcoming year - this maybe spoilery as are most of my blogs so if you don't know this then oh well

Hulk- while the red hulk is in good hands - we now have heard the first few bars of Pak's swan song , which i have been predicting - the Incredible hulks will no no longer be plural , focusing on the hulk proper, I think Pak would really be best suited for a team book, the defenders and alpha flight both would be excellent choices or even the west coast avengers . This year we are going to have a hulk spy store , spies are the new zombie, not sure how i feel about this as mr fixit i could see this working as the hulk mmmm... i dunno i feel like his current incarnation is getting back into the same mode as when he was in the pantheon in the peter david run, the pantheon however i could see Pak doing well with and if i was doing a Hulk arc, i would defiantly include a pantheon arc. After the spy thing is his last arc this heart of a monster thing where we know the big bads are wendigo, bi-beast, fing fang foom and trauma .
Thor- this galactus eats asgard could be fun with the surfer fight thrown in am i sure. He is a big component of feat its self with bunch of bad guys getting thor hammers and running around for the new girl red skull. i think thor need to really be reestablished as lets face it a god . looking like from the teasers he is going to take some perhaps unneeded lumps , as for fear it's self , will get the hulk tie ins not sure if i can get every thor appearance, warned the local shop of the inevitable thor rape coming with the movie.

Also Spider -man is looking like it's turning into a vehicle to sell action figures and lets give him a new suit for everything rather than be creative for him to use the powers he has .
Avengers -heard line up changes i could join the chorus of do we really need a new avengers or any luke cage for that matter outside of thunderbolts , avngers academy is fun but there needs some shake ups for this team there's a space knight arc and i think ultron is coming back - big whopee

that's how it's done

Congrats Jeff Parker on Hulk 30.1 ,the Paks,and Fractions take note , we have got character development and plot build here but the right balance of smashing to make it a worthwhile and fun read , basically to sum it up this is what i want in a comic book, the art is on the weaker side but the panel placement is smart and it looks like parker and the artist really got their communication nailed down , not sure if this is all due to parker's scripting or not , the rogues gallery for the red hulk is really what is being focused on to let this character come into his own rather than just be the cranky villain Hulk, maybe file this away in the story ideas but at some point you got to think Ross , isn't going to let the schooling he took at the hands of banner before this run go unanswered, not saying he can kick the banner hulk's ass when he is at the top of his game but seem like that needs to be addressed though we get a look at some one else developing a oppression of there , the whole i don't tolerate my behavior in other people sums up the plot .

Incredible Hulk is at the other end of the spectrum , taking up back into loeb land though , i think the marvel hand book is throw out the window , no explanation on what happened to Banner's healing factor , we are talking about a guy who quickly regrows his skin after one of the u foes flays it off. Skaar's head moves after getting punched by Kazar , uh shouldn't that have broken his hand ? we got an ow. the bugs are all over the place popping up randomly when called for , or not and we end u with ok i'll warn you on spoilers , some sort of brain washed world breaker , with a bugged heart . Shouldn't hulk have gotten angry and speed up his metabolic healing rate ? Skaar seems lost most of the book losing his leaping ability it appears , maybe he doesn't do well in temperate environments i am going to re- read it and see if it has any more cohesion . Pak started off on a good run but all good things come to an end , let him have a kazar and devil dinosaur book, he might do a mean Conan, get dark horse on the phone , maybe even thor could work for him or taking over submariner .