Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Man of Steel, Justice League, Xerxes, Strangers in Paradise

New comics!

Justice League 1

Trying this out entirely because of Jim Cheung on pencils:

I’ve never been that impressed with Scott Snyder, but he’s off to a passable start.  The lineup (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Stewart GL, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, and Cyborg) is good and classic.  The interactions between them are more friendly than collegial, as it should be after all these years. They’re up against a new Injustice Gang, which is suitably epic.  All in all, a fine enough start for me to give it at least another month.

Strangers in Paradise XXV 4

Things are progressing at a glacial pace.  In this issue: Katchoo passes out, a Parker Girl rescues her, and Katchoo wakes up to have a chat with Tambi.  As an afterthought, Stephanie, the Parker Girl, commits a murder.

I don’t care how long this takes.  Terry Moore can take all the time he wants, I’ll be there for the ride.  

Xerxes 3

A weird issue.  Frank Miller starts by showing Xerxes’ death, then flashes back to his selection of Esther as his wife.  It’s a detour from the previous two issues, which focus on the martial side of Xerxes. Perhaps the final two issues will tie it all together.

Man of Steel 2

I’m disappointed after last week’s strong start.  Some more time wasted on Rogol Zaar, and even more time approaching the Clark/Lois estrangement from the most annoyingly angle possible: People at the Daily Planet gossiping about it.  Ugh. I’m as fed up with it as Perry White. With only six issues in the miniseries, this is a horrible misuse of 17% of it.

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 7, 16-19

Perhaps I would have liked these issue more if I’d read it at the beginning of this long run of Spider-Man titles.  It is Kurt Busiek, after all. But I doubt it. There’s a semblance of continuity across the issues, but they are mostly standalone.  There’s not much depth to them, and their superficial nature failed to grab my attention.

The only exception was issue 16.  It turns out MJ discovered Peter’s alter ego on the day of Uncle Ben’s murder.  The rest of the story deals with her struggle to reconcile the shy Peter that she sees everyday with the confident, wise-cracking Spider-Man.  It shows a depth to MJ that wasn’t present in Stan Lee’s original presentation, but manages to do it without contradicting it either. It’s the one issue of this bunch that I’ll keep.

Regret buying? Yes (No for 16)

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No (Yes for 16)

Rating: Boring (Fine for 16)

Spider-Woman 1

I had to try out a comic with this cover:

It’s a lot of fun.  Even jumping mid-story (it’s a continuation of the previous volume), the set up is perfectly clear.  The very pregnant Jessica Drew is about to go on maternity leave, and has trained the Porcupine to take over her crime fighting caseload.  I don’t know why I stopped buying it, and I’ll be picking up at least the trade containing this issue. I want to know what happens next. Dennis Hopeless wrote this, and his work on Avengers Arena is a good sign that this will be worth the investment.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice