Making up Ground

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Ok kids we have alot of ground to cover so hang on. First off lets hit this entry point thinking the big two have. My argument is if you have half a brain and have at least watched a comic or two , you can jump in at any point negating the tendency to keep re-starting a series at number one or in the case of marvel doing these point one issues. Or maybe people are that stupid and would be better off ready super hero squad or marvel adventures . First on the witness Avengers 12.1 , while it was an enjoyable read and pulled from alot of different directions in the marvel u, though this was a so called starting point , it referenced back to most recent skrull war series , the intelligencia , from loeb's Hulk run and a more current nod to the time line tony stark came across in this title a few issues ago . The over abundance of avenger was over kill, moon knight had no business or purpose in the book, the teams should have gone their separate or bendis could have shared the wealth and let this story go to the secret avengers and had thor guest in it . Instead its an avenger jambalaya and their are too many spices in the pot, ms marvel, beast , iron man , thor , and steve rogers should have done the trick , wolverine was of no use and is in 6 other books already.
don't have book numbers for on the ones that follow so we can say most recent as i read them on the wall today - and they go perfectly well with the theory it waqs just putting to and two together for me to jump in and see where it was going, action comics 900, super-mans return , the build on the doomsday plot we have steel , kara and connor fighting the cyborg super man and dooms day, outin space lex luthor had got a hold of the tech of all techs which has made him god like and he is slugging it out with super-man - easy connect the dots. The art was ok not great, would have like to have seen super-man un-load on lex a little more , but it was what it was, next up black panther - the god awful art was a distraction the cover billed it as a vs luke cage , which last two pages and the scrawniest luke cage i have ever seen, one kick to his steel skinned knee is all it takes for a de-powered black panther to put him down , uh yea right . i will never read that garbage again. Brightest day- followed enough to know basic developments, was stoked to see swamp thing return if i find more money than i need i will go back and pick it up just to have it , it sets things straight , and brings back hawk-man and aqua-man to where they need to be in the dcu proper, three of my favorite characters in one book. Read secret avengers and was under whelmed after the hype. also came across the first part of the war of the lanterns, not a big gl fan but it was well written and a good example of well balanced story that let me jump in with out having to dummy down. Now for the normal titles a re- numbered mighty thor starting at one , this one needed an explanation as to where it was supposed to fall in the continuity of fear it's self, other wise well drawn, and more action than you expect from fraction who bored on his last run in thor, he's starting to redeem himself.
As for the hulks, the last issue of the red hulk title was a snooze fest focusing to much on the origins of the rulk's new rogues gallery and not moving the story forward i think it could have been done in an easier manner and not taken the focus of the books character. in incredible hulks , now trimmed down to banner hulk- the green one and betty as the red she hulk, from the adverts its being dragged out into four issues to tell as story that looks like it can be told in the two issue, maybe pak will prove me wrong but it looks like that's the case, the first issue if this hulk spy arc which isn't as 007 as they were leading us to believe it would be not that i mind , tyrannus is back , in tux instead of his roman get up, in some ways i like him but he seems to be a poor fit for the hulk but i guess the tale of the tape would say the same thing about the leader , so i applaud pak's one smart move in having betty hook up with him as now there's more of emotional connection which wasn't there before , he felt like a pretty mole man

Fear Itself ...

Even though i have been leery of Fraction's writing after a redundantly boring Thor run, i will admit , there's nothing to fear in buying Fear Itself one. It proved worthy of the four bucks i invested in it and for the most part kept me happy, though i doubt Odin can school Thor in a fight like he does here. Take away the power of his hammer yes but not school him in fisticuffs, the red skull's daughter seems to come into this power rather easily, not even a raiders of the lost ark level of booby traps waiting for her, just nazi's easily shot down. Any ways , an entertaining read makes me less afraid of investing in this event.The art work was outstanding, as is the art work coming up in the red hulk series previewed in the back of the book which looks to be some of the best art work i have seen in some time even if the idea of trying the red hulk on planet hulk seems a weak idea to me .
Next up was Avengers issue 11, the weakest of the three title i bought this week, it seemed like Bendis wrote Fear Itself and Fraction wrote this issue as it dissolves into a comic amorphous soup. The scene where they are fighting on a shore of an island, hero's are ko'd in the desert then every one is in a stand off in an urban environment, with no teleportation shown just willy nilly scene changes. it was a distraction am i am going to need a re-read of this book to make sense of it , the red hood seems a transitory villain for another big bad , who i am not up to date on the cosmic characters so the flow of his appearance seems forced, of course Thor and Ross Hulk getting to share the spotlight with Stark is cool for me .
Next Skaar in the savage-land mini, seems promising, proves you can lead into a series and set up the danger with out having to skim on the smashing . Not familiar with the writer but , the pacing is excellent.

recently

We are going to get caught up, with my two normal titles this month and then maybe a few words about new from wonder- con. We'll start with Thor 621, which is hopefully the last of the Matt Fraction run on the title as his story line is best described in one word... obtuse. The build up as slow as it was had little pay off , did Thor hit anything with his hammer ? Did this right the Asgard on Earth , no but i have feeling that is going to be address further in Fear it's self . This makes me a little leery of that series .
Incredible Hulk 625 ending Greg Pak's Planter Savage, less fizzle than Thor, but i expected more from Pak , the end is a mish mash , with smashing set to stun. The shedding of Skaar, who picks up his own savage land title, Miek has gone crazy or was he sane at the end of wwh? In some ways it reminds me of classic 70's hulk , maybe in the sense characters are portrayed more like cartoon characters, in others not so much a mixed bag not sure how i feel , about two more story arch's from pak and he's off the book. The art work in this issue was a particular disappointment reminded me of those little comic books which use to come with masters of the universe figures back in the day.
Wonder -con we learned Hulk is getting a vs dracula title in fear it'self , Drac can only lift 4 tons so it's not going to be a slug fest, and we have seen how easily red hulk took care of vampires , so more to be revealed . Also no surprised Steve rogers is reclaims the cap america costume, not a shocker , you know they weren't going to let bucky be capt when the movie comes out .