The Doomino Effect for the week of June 13, 2007

Hello friends, and welcome to this week’s Doomino Effect! Did you know the best way to get your doominoes to fall over is to get them really drunk?

Starting off, we have Avengers Classic #1, which – according to the inside back cover editors’ notes – was inspired by the Classic X-Men series. You see, that series included stories from the Claremont days of Uncanny X-Men with backup stories by other creative teams that took place in roughly the same timeline. This series, however, is apparently going to have stories from the beginning of the Avengers series with backup stories that will be all ironic and sarcastic and just plain cute.

I think you can see the problem here. For every person that says Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were geniuses, there is probably at least one person who forgets how much comic books in the 1960s were really awful. Sure, they may have transformed a genre, and maybe their work is a step up from the other brands of awful that were the norm at the time, but I think comics from the 1960s are best left as fond memories and not dug up for all the kids to see just how full of crap the 50 year olds at the comic store really are.

Now, if the double-backup cutesiness was just a special thing for this first issue, I could maybe see this thing going somewhere. But it already lacks two out of the two things that Classic X-Men had going for it, and that eventually got canceled in an era when reprints weren’t readily available and the internet wasn’t really accessible. Probably not a bright future for this comic. What a bummer of a first issue.

And speaking of first issues of series, that leads me to World War Hulk #1. I was pleased with the first two World War Hulk books that came out last month, so I figured I’d give this a shot, and I was really happy with it. I even liked John Romita Junior’s art! I mean, he made Iron Man’s mask smile! There was some fair setup but a lot of smashing and fighting too. Good parts of the smashing and fighting: Hulk showing up with a bloody, beaten Blackbolt. Bad part of the smashing and fighting: the blatant reference to the World Trade Center coming down. The characters did a great job of selling what a huge problem this is, and as long as the rest of the series stays as decent as #1, Marvel can keep cranking out crossovers for all I care.

And speaking of green people, that leads me to Green Arrow #75 the final issue of the Green Arrow series. I didn’t start reading Green Arrow until One Year Later, but I also haven’t stopped reading it since then. I’ve really enjoyed Judd Winick’s balance of superhero action, contemporary politics and Oliver Queen’s sassiness. I’m very sad to see the book go, but I thought it was a fantastic climax and a great way to resolve the Oliver Queen as Mayor era. The JLA coming in to make the save was a bit convenient, but also somewhat symbolic of Ollie’s mellowing out – being unafraid to rely on friends. The same thing happened in his dual life as mayor, with the sly twist of outsmarting the corrupt, opportunistic forces that were at the eve of ousting him from office. Much like them, I didn’t see it coming, but it could not have been a more fitting conclusion for the way this series has gone. I do hate to see the series go, but I guess that’ll save me $2.99 a month.

Speaking of series ending and saving money, that leads me to Justice #12. I still can’t remember when the last time was that I read an issue, but I think it was around #3 or #4. Since then I just kind of flip through the issues, see if there’s anything pretty to look at, and then just put them down until #12 comes out. Well, #12 is out, and now I’m at the point where I should sit down and read them all like I promised myself I would do two years ago or whenever that was, but I’m not really motivated. And I think I’ve read in a few places that the ending stinks too. Bummer.

Well speaking of endings and funny smells, that leads me to New Avengers #31. I’ve been trumpeting the praises of this series for a while now, probably really starting around the time of Civil War when I felt like this book went from decent to consistently really good. Spoilers are coming up, but the battle with the Hand finally reaches a bizarre conclusion when Echo stabs Elektra and dead Elektra turns into a Skrull! Even worse, Wolverine couldn’t sniff it until she died! Even WORSE worse, Luke and Jessica’s baby is a Skrull! Does that mean Luke is a Skrull? Jessica is? Or was the baby just swapped out? Everyone could be a Skrull! As Doom DeLuise and I discussed a few days ago in our exclusive interview with each other about the implications of New Avengers #31, this could be pretty awesome! Good job to Marvel for planning something out a few years ahead…it has the potential to be awesome, so I hope that there’s some good payoff. If nothing else, there’s going to be plenty of webboy speculation about who is and who isn’t a Skrull.