The Doomino Effect for the week of Apr 11, 2007
Well friends, this week’s Doomino Effect is much like when your mother cleans your room and puts all your stuff in places where you can’t find it. I don’t know where my doominoes are and I don’t know where the comics I bought last week are either.
So this week’s Doomino Effect is all from memory. Much like old people look back on better days and think that playing dominoes was fun, I’m going to review my comics with only the memories of reading them.
First up is Green Arrow #73, which focused more on Oliver Queen the mayor than Green Arrow the guy in green who shoots arrows. Jean-Claude Van Doom didn’t like the series’ return to the political side, but the political aspect of the book is what hooked me in the first place, so I was pleased. Green Arrow obviously has a long history of being intertwined with politics of the day, and Judd Winick has been handling Oliver Queen’s battles in the media and the polls quite well. The big bummer is that, since Green Arrow is being canceled with issue #75, one of my favorite books is going away soon.
Speaking of going away, that leads me to Ghost Rider #10, in which GR continues his quest to send Satan back downstairs. I have read some harsh, harsh reviews of this series, but I love it. I said it in a review of a previous issue, but this book has a charming balance of horror and campy humor that is just perfect for Ghost Rider in 2007. It’s not ashamed to be what it is, to the point of being cheap and self-deprecatory, but it’s also not obsessed with its own darkness as you might expect the book to be in the 90s. There was a scene in which the devil was trying to coordinate the efforts of his recently revived zombie army that had me laughing out loud. I’d love to tell you more about it but I lost my comics.
Speaking of an army of zombies, that leads me to New Avengers #29 in which the New Avengers continue to battle the red ninja brigade of Elektra and The Hand while also telling the story of how the New Avengers got away from the Mighty Avengers. I do really feel for people who have such a hatred of Brian Michael Bendis that they won’t allow themselves to enjoy this series. New Avengers has been my favorite monthly comic since Civil War started, and this issue has the delightful combination of action, drama and laugh-out-loud humor, not to mention the always amazing art of Leinil Yu.
I love the characterization. Luke Cage as the de facto leader. Doctor Strange as the reluctant participant. Spider Man as the wise-cracker. Tony Stark as the wise cracker. Carol Danvers as the frustrated soldier. I love the interactions, like Iron Man’s confrontation with Danny Rand, Doctor Strange’s escape plan, and Spider Man’s battle with dramatic tension. This is a fantastic book, month in and month out, and I’m glad that enough people agree with me so that Bendis gets the clout and free reign to do it how he wants to.
I also bought Uncanny X-Men #485 but I’ll be darned if I remember anything about it.
Green Arrow isn’t being cancelled, per se. DC hasn’t announced exactly what’s happening yet, but Judd Winick has said he’s not done with the character and will be writing Green Arrow in a comic in the future.
“I do really feel for people who have such a hatred of Brian Michael Bendis that they won’t allow themselves to enjoy this series.”
I can’t help but feel that was directed at me. I do have a hatred for Bendis, but it stems from me liking almost nothing he’s written. I’d buy The Pulse again in a second, but I’ve read Bendis on the Avengers several times and I didn’t like what I read. So it’s not that I don’t enjoy the series because I have a hatred of Bendis, it’s that I have a hatred Bendis because I don’t enjoy the series. That’s a very important difference.
Don’t you fret, Finny, there are people even more vocal than you about Bendis. You hate him, but you’ll still buy some stuff of his occasionally.
Wise cracker? Heh.