Random Thoughts from 8/22/07
I’ve been doing the Meaningless Awards of the Week for about nine months now, and quite frankly I’m tired of the format. It seems to me like I’ve been in a bit of a blogging rut for a while now, and I figure a break from formula is probably the best way to deal with that. So Meaningless Awards will be going on hiatus for a while (maybe for good). Of course, there are still comics that came out last week I want to talk about, so please excuse the randomness of my thoughts:
It seems like Invincible and The Walking Dead have been coming out the same week for several months. Normally I’d have no problem with two awesome comics coming out the same week, but it kind of stinks to get all the Kirkman-y goodness of these two books at once and then have nothing for another four weeks. It looks like that’s about to come to an end, though, since another issue of The Walking Dead is coming out this Wednesday. TWD twice in as many weeks? Sweet!!!
That’s particularly good news since TWD #40 really wasn’t as good as most issues have been. Every so often Robert Kirkman will do one of these plot-free “just another day” issues, but usually he accentuates them with an incredibly dramatic moment or a great cliffhanger. That wasn’t the case this time. Thankfully, Invincible was better than it normally is, so it all evened out. Allen trying to break Nolan out of a Viltrumite prison from the inside has lots of potential.
I really like Cable & Deadpool, especially now that the guy with top billing is dead. Deadpool is just a fun character: questionable morals, a wicked sense of humor, virtual immortality and the skills to take on damn near anyone he mouths off to. Like Wolverine or a horde of Hydra agents, both of which he takes on in C&D #44. I’ve also particularly enjoyed Ron Lim’s artwork on the current arc. There’s just something about Lim’s semi-animated style that’s always appealed to me, and it works really well with the cartoonish antics of Deadpool, Weasel and Bob, Agent of Hydra. Too bad he’s only a fill-in guy (as far as I know).
Astonishing X-Men #22 was somewhat disappointing. For one thing, the last issue came out three fracking months ago, so naturally some of the little details were lost. Oh, and Cyclops died, which was kind of sad, except I don’t believe for a second he’ll be gone for any significant period of time. I can’t wait for the last two (unless they’re still doing the giant-sized 25th issue to end the run) issues to come out so I can read it all at once. At least Astonshing isn’t late to the point where I just don’t care anymore (Ultimates II, anyone?).
The Death of the New Gods storyline that’s sort of been brought up in Countdown showed up in Birds of Prey #109 this week. That was a nice surprise, because A) I didn’t see it coming, B) it makes Countdown seem somewhat more relevant, and C) it makes absolute sense with Big Barda on the team. I wish more stuff like that would happen.
Superman #666 was just bad. When did Kurt Busiek and Walter Simonson both become Frank Miller?
I didn’t like Amazing Spider-Man #543. I don’t understand why Peter would so upset over committing nine measly felonies, when he’s currently violating federal law as an unregistered superhuman and has been doing all sorts of extralegal stuff for the 40+ years he’s been in existence. Whether or not he’s wearing a mask shouldn’t matter to Pete, because he’s the same guy with it on as he is with it off. Otherwise Peter wouldn’t feel responsible for the 
deaths of Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man would. And that’s just not the way it is. A special shout-out goes to penciller Ron Garney, who’s done a tremendous job on Amazing over the last year and a half. His art will be missed, especially with Joe Quesada taking over next month. Yeesh.
Let’s wrap things up with a lightning round:
I don’t even care about X-Men: Endangered Species anymore. Hopefully Messiah Complex will be better.
Matter Eater Lad is such a cool codename. Glad to see him in the new Legion of Superheroes, if only for a bit.
Songbird leading the Thunderbolts is the way it should always be.
Narrators in The Spirit #9: The Spirit, Ebony, El Morte, El Morte’s mom, El Morte’s brother, back to El Morte’s mom, back to El Morte, back to Ebony. That’s just unnecessary. Has Darwyn Cooke lost it?
X-Men: First Class is fun. It’s like Ultimate Ultimate X-Men, except kid friendly. Try it.
I like your new format, especially since it gets you writing more.
I didn’t know cable died?! How’d he go out?
Gambit and Sunfire killed him. They blew up his island made out of a spaceship with him on it.
Translation: How’d he go out? He went out like a bitch.
I thought Cable initiated the self-destruct code himself, to make sure Gambit, Sunfire, and whoever else might show up couldn’t get their hands on any of his technology, or his files on what’s going to happen in the future.
What I can’t figure is how Gambit and Sunfire managed to escape the entire island blowing up, since it seemed to start when they were in the center of the island, about two feet away from Cable.
What didn’t you like about Superman? I haven’t read it, but the general consensus of reviews I’ve read have been positive, so I’m just curious.
-M
I’m amazed anyone understood anything from X-Men 200, what with the one-two punch of Bachalo and Ramos on art.
“What didn’t you like about Superman? I haven’t read it, but the general consensus of reviews I’ve read have been positive, so I’m just curious.”
Everything. Specifically, Superman acting like a dick throughout the entire issue (which I understand made sense in the context of the story), the ugly art (sorry Walt, not your best effort), and the complete insignifigance of the plot (unless this was tying up the “third Kryptonian” storyline, which I don’t think it was).
Do Oracle and Black Canary have the exact same pained expression on their face on that Birds of Prey cover? It’s kind of small from over here.