Monthly archives: January, 2009

Doom DeLuise says: The Death of Captain America, Captain America!

This was truly an epic storyline that began in the wake of Civil War and continued to its conclusion just a couple months ago. It’s been said countless times before, but the true testament to this book’s awesomeness is that the title character’s death has made the series far more interesting than anything they could’ve done had he remained alive.

I remember back before all of this began, immediately after Civil War ended, I was thinking about how Brubaker had his work cut out for him, since Cap was going to be taken to prison, and Brubaker had just been spending the last year or so getting another of the characters he was writing (Daredevil) out of prison.

Luckily, they killed Steve Rogers off, and Brubaker instead gave us twenty-some issues of Bucky becoming the new Captain America. It was expertly written and gorgeous to look at, and, dare I say it, I kind of prefer Bucky over Steve now.

That’s sayin’ something.

Jim Doom says: (tie) Batman RIP, Batman; Brainiac, Action Comics! (more…)

Fin Fang Doom says: “New Ways to Die,” Amazing Spider-Man!

While Amazing Spider-Man has been disappointingly good since Brand New Day started at the beginning of the year, the first “major” arc really fell flat for me. With Spider-Man, the Thunderbolts, Anti-Venom and Norman Osborn, there was just way too much going on in a six-issue story. Just like Spider-Man 3, “New Ways to Die” would have been better if they had left everything involving Eddie Brock for a different story.

Another major problem I had with the story is that it was the first major mention of pre-Brand New Day continuity in the title. The history Spider-Man has with Osborn, Venom and Eddie Brock comes from a time when Mary Jane was Spider-Man’s wife. It’s hard to accept that with MJ out of the picture, nothing significant from that history would be different. It’s easy to forget the mistake Marvel made at the end of 2007 when Amazing Spider-Man doesn’t mention anything from before that. But that’s the only thing I can think of otherwise.

Doom DeLuise says: “Search for a Hero,” Robin! (more…)

As we enter the final week of our year-end awards, here are some more thoughts from several friends of Doomkopf.

Robb @ Capes Comics:

Best Ongoing Series: Green Lantern
As a whole, Green Lantern has been the best title out there for your money. The team of Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis have delivered the perfect blend of Earth grounded drama and epic Sci-Fi Space Adventure. Hal is a cowboy and has had more character development since John’s has been writing than he did in his entire history before.

We started the 2008 with the end of the Sinestro Corps Wars and eventually led us to a re-telling origin story of Carol Ferris and Hal Jordan early relationship, Hal’s early pilot years, and his first meeting with Sinestro. Carol is a woman trying to prove herself and hold onto what belongs to her family. Hal is a cocky, plane jocky, who appears to have no regard for rules. Throw in Sinestro as a mentor to the “green” Lantern, and you have the best origin story for Hal ever. We learn that Hal’s origin has strong ties and helps to set the “Blackest Night” into motion.
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