Black Hammer

Black Hammer 1-11-13

Bought the first trade on the recommendation of a colleague.  I’m disappointed that I got the second.  Upon reflection, I’m sure it was a matter of “want to know what happens next” more than “I like this and must have more.”

There are a couple of nice moments - Eva’s death is pretty harrowing, and I like that Dr. Star is named Jimmy Robinson (an homage to James Robinson and his stellar run on Starman).  But other than that, the mood is too dreary, the art too drab (a mix of Mike Mignola and Guy Davis).  I may try to read the last 12 issues in the arc to see how it all ends, but these first 12 are getting cut.

(Went back to my initial reviews, and they almost completely mirror my thoughts today.)

Regret buying: Yes

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine

Movies

Some movies that I’ve watched while my daughter naps next to me:

Mile 22

A decent action film.  Iko Uwais of The Raid fame is the standout.  Mark Wahlberg could stand to tone down the intensity;  Maybe try a setting that’s below 13 once in a while, huh?  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Fine

Entertainers

A super fun documentary about the World Old-Time Piano Playing Championships.  It’s impossible to not feel happy listening to this music, and some of the playing is absolutely jaw dropping

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Pretty good

About Time

A satisfying romance that really provoked a lot of thought after it was over.  The time travel aspect really made me think about how I would use it myself.  Cheesily enough, the movie did reinforce my desire to appreciate the specialness of every single day.

 I love the subway montage at the beginning of the relationship.  The father-son bond is the real tear-jerker part of the film, wonderful work by Bill Nighy and Domhnall Gleeson.  Rachel McAdams is at her apex adorableness here.  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes 

Rating: Good

What If

One of the most generic romcom plots ever, but Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan sell the crap of it, elevating the material into something totally enjoyable.  

(I love Kazan's smile at the end of Big Sick)

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

To All the Boys: Always and Forever

Way better than the second one, I really liked the “going to different colleges” point of conflict.  It’s a lot less painful than the love triangle of the sequel, and it’s something that’s rarely addressed in high school romances.  I don’t know if I buy that Lara Jean and Peter will actually make it through four years of college, but they have a better shot than most.  I’d like to see the Before Sunrise treatment for the two of them, four years later.  

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Marriage Story

Holy geez, was this hard to watch.  So much emotional pain.  But the writing is superb, and the acting by Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver is really as good as you can get.  (I don’t think I’ve ever seen Driver do anything bad.)  I’m not eager to watch this again, but there’s no arguing its brilliance.

(One of my favorite Driver performances.)

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Would buy on DVD: No

Rating: Pure joy (Or whatever the equivalent is for emotionally exhausting in a good way)

Young Avengers, New comics

New comics!
Batman/Catwoman 3

It’s hard to come up with new stuff to say about this.  The usual early Tom King series fun, beautiful Clay Mann art.

Future State: Catwoman 2

At the end of the day, an Elseworlds story that probably wasn’t worth the purchase price: Otto Schmidt has done better work, this one was a little too sketchy.  One moment that I thought was nice:

Strange Academy 1-6

Heard some good buzz for this, and the Humberto Ramos art is excellent.  Don’t think it’s quite good enough to keep buying, though.

Young Avengers 1-12

Young Avengers Special 1

Not as fun as my memory recalls.  The Jim Cheung art is still gorgeous, but I realized that aside from Kate Bishop, I never found myself caring about any of the other team members; Patriot is a whiny, bitter, close-minded dick, Wiccan and Hulkling have little to distinguish themselves outside of “gay couple,” Stature can’t talk about anything besides her dead father, and Iron Lad takes off after five issues.  The concept of the Young Avengers is really strong, but the execution is surprisingly lacking.  

Always loved Cheung's Hawkeye design.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Civil War: Runaways and Young Avengers 1-4

Typical fight-each-other-make-up-then-fight-the-bad-guys crossover.  Sets up Noh-Varr for Kieron Gillen’s run.  I expected more from writer Zeb Wells after his hilarious Avenging Spider-Man stint.  Stefano Caselli’s distorted ugly faces are great for Secret Warriors, but not at all suitable for a book starring teenagers.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Young Avengers Presents 1-6

Meh.  Character building pieces for the team, but nothing that grabs my attention.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Avengers: Children’s Crusade 1-9

More fun than the original Young Avengers series, but I’m again underwhelmed despite the epicness of Wanda’s return.  Too much of it feels derivative, I think.  The argument over what punishment Wanda deserves for No More Mutants is a retread of all the Dark Phoenix disputes.  (Though AvX happens after this, I think.)  

For all his bluster about being willing to do the hard thing...

...even Wolverine is not immune to monologuing.

Doom with cosmic level powers was already done in the original Secret Wars.  Cyclops being a dick...well, he’s always been a dick.  

Eli's clearly a Scott-in-training.

What an idiot.

But damn if Jim Cheung doesn’t draw a stunning Scarlet Witch.

LOVE this outfit.

At the end of the series, the Young Avenger deaths had no emotional effect on me at all; the final indictment of its success (failure) as a series.    

Yeah, no great loss.

Credit to Allan Heinberg, though, for writing some pretty funny moments:

Callback to an amazing issue...

...with a superb retcon.

Kate rocks.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Young Avengers: Children’s Crusade 1

A waste of time one-shot explaining Iron Lad’s return in the series.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Didn’t suck

Young Avengers 1-15

Kieron Gillen’s run starts off with a bang.  I was completely enjoying myself with his sense of humor, the magnificent Jamie McKelvie art (super creative layouts!), and the overall fun. 

Three pages into the first issue...

...and I'm hooked.

I'm a fan of the humor.

But as things went on, one major factor dragged it down:  I hate Mother, and the fact that she’s the big bad makes her unignorable.  Her powers are visually gross (what she does to Hulkling is nightmare material) and her level of unfairness pisses me off.  Her unavoidable off-screen presence places a constant feeling of dread over the story that exhausts me and detracts from the reading experience.  

Gross gross gross gross

One of the not gross powers.  This is just sweet art.

But it sure is pretty.

I like that I never noticed until they called it out in the last issue.

Even the credits are amazing.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good to Nice after five or so issues

   

That’s it for X-Men box 6, with some Young Avengers thrown in to fill it out!

Box summary

Time spent reading: 17 hours 18 minutes

Issues read: 171

Issues cut: 5

Highlights (Good or better): Most of Bendis’ Uncanny X-Men, the Ultimates arc of All-Star X-Men

Project Summary:

Time spent reading: 33 days, 16 hours, 37 minutes

Issues read: 6940

Issues cut: 844

All-New X-Men

All-New X-Men 31-36

The X-Men adventure in the Ultimate universe.  It’s excellent, and probably my favorite arc in this title’s run.  Brain Michael Bendis writes the best initial meetings between characters.  He makes it seem so effortless, as if he’s just transcribing what really happened, as opposed to making it all up in his brain.  

Bendis really likes using this layout for telepathic brain dumps.  I like it too.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

All-New X-Men 37

Blech.  Emma Frost trains young Jean in what feels like a totally filler issue.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

All-New X-Men 38-39

I hated the Guardians of the Galaxy issues of the Black Vortex crossover, and I’m not a fan of these parts either.  Andrea Sorrentino’s art doesn’t work for these young, (relatively) innocent characters, and the story feels like Dark Phoenix-lite.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Didn’t suck

All-New X-Men 40-41

This title ends with a complete whimper as the X-Men deal with some remnant mutants living in the ruins of Utopia.  I would never have thought going into this that Bendis’ Uncanny would be better than All-New, but there you go.  This lacked the momentum and killer hooks that are in Uncanny.  I do like all the work Bendis did with young Jean Grey.  That’s a character I would have liked to continue following.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

All-New X-Men, New comics

New comics!

Taskmaster 3

Not bad, but it hasn’t reached the same humor levels as issue 1, which was the whole reason I subscribed to the titles in the first place.

Heh.  Nice parody.

Marvel Action: Chillers 4

Sadly, this written-for-kids series bored the heck out of me, even with nice art by Gretel Lusky and Jeremy Whitely on writing.  

Future State: Wonder Woman 2

A complete waste of my money, even with Joelle Jones’ art.  The story is nonsensical and this new WW character does nothing for me.  Not a good week for the sub box.

Rorschach 5

The usual Tom King goodness.  

All-New X-Men 18-21

A less-than-scintillating story with the Purifiers.  Luckily, it’s just a blip in the radar of Bendis’ strong X-Men writing.

Nice to get Brent Anderson to do the God Loves Man Kills flashback pages.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

All-New X-Men 22-24

Guardians of the Galaxy 11-13

The Shiar put Jean Grey on trial for the Dark Phoenix genocide she hasn’t committed yet.  It’s fun.

Love how David Marquez (?) fits a whole splash page into a tiny panel in the middle.

I'd forgotten how much I love the Angela/Gamora relationship

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

All-New X-Men 25

A waste of time splash page jam session extravaganza.  Blech.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Didn’t suck

All-New X-Men 26-30

The Brotherhood from Battle of the Atom returns.  Lots of well done action.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good