Meaningless Awards of the Week- 1/4/07
Cliffhanger of the Week- Blue Beetle returns? Manhunter #27
I’ll be honest–the solicitation of the cover with Ted Kord on it is the main reason I decided to start buying Manhunter. I didn’t think they’d actually bring him back, but I was curious as to why Ted would be featured on the cover. Turns out, they just might be bringing him back after all. I mean, that certainly looks like Ted Kord, and it certainly sounds like Ted Kord. But DC wouldn’t actually bring him back, would they? Would they?!
Villain of the Week- Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor made appearances in three books this week. He showed up in Superman Confidential #3, which revealed that he hired the Royal Flush Gang to find out what Superman’s weakness was (in Superman Confidential #1). He showed up in Nightwing #128, killing the group that had stolen a suit of armor he built. But what really takes the cake is his appearance in 52 Week 35. “Rain of the Supermen” indeed.
Reason I Hate Joe Quesada of the Week- Amazing Spider-Man #537
Why does Quesada have such a hard-on for killing Mary Jane? I don’t hear any fans clamoring for the change. In fact, I hear many doing the exact opposite, certain Spider-Man writers included. But judging by the last page of Amazing Spider-Man #537 and the fact that Spider-Man’s switch to the black threads next month is because he’s, “in mourning,” either MJ or Aunt May’s biting the bullet (literally). And as far as I know, Quesada doesn’t have anything against Aunt May.
Inconsistency of the Week- Villains try to join the anti-registration side, Civil War #6 & Punisher War Journal #2
In Civil War #6, Diamondback introduces some D-level villains to Captain America who want to join their cause. Before Cap has a chance to refuse (which he would do because he’s Captain friggin’ America), the Punisher fills them full of lead. In PWJ #2, Cap agrees to let them join before Castle mows the bad guys down. In CW, the meeting takes place in front of everyone and in PWJ, it takes place in a closed door meeting. That doesn’t exactly gel. The weird thing is Marvel has replayed the same moment in different books several times already, and inconsistency has never been a problem.
Unnecessarily Convoluted Exposition of the Week- newuniversal #2
Did anyone follow that explanation of the Superflow in newuniversal #2? Me neither. You don’t impress me with your big fancy words and philosophical ponderings, Warren Ellis. If I wanted to read that sort of stuff it wouldn’t be in a comic book, and it certainly wouldn’t be written by Warren Ellis.
Disappointment of the Week- the final double splash page, Civil War #6
As if Civil War #6 wasn’t disappointing enough (seriously, did anything happen this issue?), the capper is the second to last page (well, second and third to last, technically). It’s a huge splash page of the pro-reg side facing off against the anti-reg side and their new allies, the escaped prisoners from the 42 facility in the Negative Zone. Except there’s like eight guys from 42, and I can only recognize three of them. Honestly, this page could have been so much better it hurts. Turn back two pages and there’s a really sweet splash page of the pro-reg ranks leaping to action. McNiven manages to fit 24 characters in that splash, and it exudes energy. The double splash has only 37 characters, at least a dozen of which are little more than heads. And they’re all just standing there. If you were about to fight the biggest superhero battle in the history of superhero battles, would you just be standing there in a big clump? No, you’d be spreading out, giving yourself enough room to maneuver. At the very least you wouldn’t be standing flat-footed and complete erect (get your minds out of the gutter). Yet there they all are, just standing around trying to out grimace each other. This is the quality of art we waited around for two months for?
I can’t say enough how little McNiven’s artwork appeals to me. In the right book, I think it might be a good fit, but Civil War isn’t it.
Also, am I the only person who’s annoyed that Marvel’s making large-scale editorial opinions based on upcoming films?
Well, I’m not a McNiven fan at all, but I looked at that last page and thought “Sweet, I can’t wait til number 7.”
And I think the editorial decisions based upon upcoming films is unfortunate, but I think it does make business sense. If you want the film attention to translate to comic buys, you’re going to want some continuity.
That said, it doesn’t seem to me like there’s going to be any continuity beyond “black costume” between Spider-Man 3 and the comic book. So I think the good idea ends there.
And who wants to bet that Ted Kord is alive because Superboy punched a wall and the universe corrected itself or whatever?
It would probably be easier for everyone if DC just made a stock panel of Superboy punching the walls of his current prison with a caption reading, “If anything in this issue didn’t make sense, it’s not because we’re low on ideas. It’s because Superboy punched a wall. Enjoy!”